macOS Sonoma desktop items won't move from top right corner

I think I figured out the reason this was happening. I had desktop widgets turned on, when I turned them off the overlapping behavior completely stopped and dropped/created icons behaved like they did on my pre-Sonoma desktop.

In Setting - > Desktop & Dock, uncheck 'On Desktop' under the Widgets sections:

I have Stack By set to "None" and Sort By set to "Snap to Grid."

This problem occurs a lot less often than it used to, but it does recur. When it does, this fixes it for me, every time:

1. Turn off (disable) Snap To Grid.

2. Launch Terminal.

3. Paste into Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop true; killall Finder

Even if I forget step 1, this allows me to move icons out of the upper right corner and put them where I want them. It also prevents the random rearrangement of the many icons on my Desktop, which used to happen every time I used a different solution suggested elsewhere in this thread.

Again, the problem comes back, eventually, but those steps will get you running again until it does.

(...and yes, it's astonishing that people smart enough to sustain a company as successful as Apple aren't smart enough to fix a bug they themselves introduced with Sonoma.)

After playing around with this problem for a while I came up with the quickest temporary fix yet.

This is what happens on one of my computers, a 16” 2019 MacBook Pro. Your computer may act differently.

This problem is related to certain programs. After a restart and before opening any programs everything is normal. The problem starts when I open any one of the following programs,

Quark XPress, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop (but not Adobe Acrobat), 4K Video Downloader, HitPaw Video Converter, and here is something interesting, I have 2 different versions of AnyMP4 Mac Video Converters, one works without the problem and the other one has the problem. There are of course many more, the issue is not related to any particular vendor or program and it is also not related to all programs.

When I start any of the programs the problem starts and when I quit the program everything is back to normal. When I start the program and I fix the problem by going to System Prefs as outlined elsewhere all works normal until i quit the program and then the issue reappears although the program has been quit. Now I have to go back to System Settings and Desktop and Dock etc. to get back to normal again.

So here is my quick temporary fix. Go to System Settings, on the left side scroll down to Keyboard, on the right side click on Keyboard Shortcuts, on the pop-up panel make sure “Turn Dock hiding on/off” has a checkmark and on the right side you will see “option command d”, this is your key combination shortcut. You can change this if you like. Click Done.

Now the dock will be on screen until you move the curser over it or use the shortcut and it will disappear and the dock will work as before.

Now whenever the problem appears, all you need to do is to press “Option Command d” and the issue has been resolved until the next time it occurs. 

I hope someone can figure out a permanent solution.

THANK YOU! Right click in the MacBook Pro desktop area, uncheck "Use Stacks". Problem solved.

This solution is unavailable anywhere in Apple help. I wasted a lot of time before I found this solution.

I encountered this problem earlier tonight, where all of a sudden everything on the desktop jumped up and flew off to the upper right area of the screen and snapped to some kind of grid. Anything I tried to move just ignored me and snapped back to its new position. Kind of annoying and I had no clue what was causing it.

Well, for what it's worth, a couple minutes ago I right clicked in the MacBook Pro desktop area and noticed in the menu that appeared was an item, "Use Stacks" with a check mark next to it. Not knowing what "Use Stacks" even means, I un-checked it and by sheer dumb luck, my desktop immediately re-oriented back to what I was familiar with and was apparently functioning "normally" again. I say, "for what it's worth" because I noticed comments from other people saying that un-checking "Use Stacks" had NOT worked for them. Why it worked for me is a mystery.

Oh, I should also mention (in case it has some bearing on things) that before solving the problem by un-checking "Use Stacks" as described above, I first tried advice from someone called jskoizumi, who said go to settings/ Desktop and Dock, scroll down to the Widgets section and uncheck the box next to "On Desktop". That had worked, apparently, and it must have also worked for others because jskoizumi's post is now in position 2 of the thread (isn't that an idicator of the most popular answer?).

Anyway, I tried that first but got no discernible result. Still, perhaps it somehow played a part a few minutes later when I had success with a method that hadn't worked for some other folks. Again, it's a mystery.

Solution so far.

Pasting;

defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop true; killall Finder

Into terminal is working so far.

Will update if it glitches again.

Possibly Solved?—(edit…nope)

I’ve been having the identical issue with several files. After reading this post I turned off “Snap to Grid” (I don’t use Stacks). After closing that Preference window the offending file still wouldn’t move out of the top right (directly over where I’ve always kept my hard drive icon).

I tried it again, turning it on and off, still no luck. Finally, I turned Snap to Grid back on and then gave a slight “wiggle” to “Grid Spacing”, just kind of shifting my desktop file spacing back and forth a tiny bit. Dunno if I’m actually even on a slightly different spacing than I was before, but it WORKED! I was immediately able to drag the offending file away and place it anywhere on the desktop. I also used “Clean Up” and everything spaced out normally. Shut down, restarted, but so far it’s still working fine. I’ve been trying to replicate the issue now but cannot and all those tools are working normally (Snap to Grid, Grid Spacing, Icon Size, etc). Try "wiggling" and report back?

PS—another thing about when the issue was happening—if the file was moved anywhere else on the desktop it kept snapping back to the top right. However, it WOULD let me place the item into a folder, any folder. But, the moment I removed it from that folder no matter where I placed it, it once again snapped to the top right. Just something for all of us with this issue to also try to help narrow down the bug.

Sorry—I re-read the OP’s post and it looks like they tried some of this too. Dunno; maybe it will start with me again. Wiggle EVERYTHING in View Options and see what happens.

@juancasini, here's what fixes the problem for me, every time, on my 2019 15"/16" MBP running Sonoma:

1. Turn off (disable) Snap To Grid.

2. Launch Terminal.

3. Paste into Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop true; killall Finder

4. Press return, if necessary.

Hello All. Had this issue when I first updated to Sonoma. I actually went back to Ventura. figured this would have been fixed by now, but looks like nope. Nice work Apple.

I did find a workaround so I thought I would share. I have 4 icons on my desktop. one is a folder (it's actually an alias) the other 3 are drives. every time I restart the icons would move - but only the drive icons. The alias was always where I left it.

I created an alias for each of the drives by right clicking on the drive and placing on the desktop. I then updated finder preferences not to show the drive.

I have done a few reboots and the alias are all organized and arranged the way I left them. don't know if this will work for others .

The issue keeps coming back, It has something to do with Snap To Grid for sure. I found these instructions to just completely reset desktop item settings which fixes the problem for a while, but i have to rearrange my desktop icons everytime and resize them again:

Try resetting the desktop view settings:

1. 1. 1. Open Terminal.
      2. Paste the following, and then press return:
      3. rm -f "${HOME}/Desktop/.DS_Store" && defaults delete com.apple.finder DesktopViewSettings && killall Finder
      4. Choose Log out <Name> from the Apple menu, and then click on Log out.
      5. Log back in.

After playing around with this problem for a while I came up with the quickest temporary fix yet.

This is what happens on one of my computers, a 16” 2019 MacBook Pro. Your computer may act differently.

This problem is related to certain programs. After a restart and before opening any programs everything is normal. The problem starts when I open any one of the following programs,

Quark XPress, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop (but not Adobe Acrobat), 4K Video Downloader, HitPaw Video Converter, and here is something interesting, I have 2 different versions of AnyMP4 Mac Video Converters, one works without the problem and the other one has the problem. There are of course many more, the issue is not related to any particular vendor or program and it is also not related to all programs.

When I start any of the programs the problem starts and when I quit the program everything is back to normal. When I start the program and I fix the problem by going to System Prefs as outlined elsewhere all works normal until i quit the program and then the issue reappears although the program has been quit. Now I have to go back to System Settings and Desktop and Dock etc. to get back to normal again.

So here is my quick temporary fix. Go to System Settings, on the left side scroll down to Keyboard, on the right side click on Keyboard Shortcuts, on the pop-up panel make sure “Turn Dock hiding on/off” has a checkmark and on the right side you will see “option command d”, this is your key combination shortcut. You can change this if you like. Click Done.

Now the dock will be on screen until you move the curser over it or use the shortcut and it will disappear and the dock will work as before.

Now whenever the problem appears, all you need to do is to press “Option Command d” and the issue has been resolved until the next time it occurs. 

I hope someone can figure out a permanent solution.

This isn't usual behaviour nor is it Stacks turned on. I suggest turning off Snap to Grid for a second, moving all files from the desktop to your Documents folder, restarting the computer and then moving them back. After that, download a new file and see how it works. This isn't expected behaviour in any way.

I missed one step in my earlier post so I am reposting all steps in it's entirety regarding file & folder icons jumping to top right..

After playing around with this problem for a while I came up with the quickest temporary fix yet.

This is what happens on one of my computers, a 16” 2019 MacBook Pro. Your computer may act differently.

This problem is related to certain programs. After a restart and before opening any programs everything is normal. The problem starts when I open any one of the following programs,

Quark XPress, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop (but not Adobe Acrobat), 4K Video Downloader, HitPaw Video Converter, and here is something interesting, I have 2 different versions of AnyMP4 Mac Video Converters, one works without the problem and the other one has the problem. There are of course many more, the issue is not related to any particular vendor or program and it is also not related to all programs.

When I start any of the programs the problem starts and when I quit the program everything is back to normal. When I start the program and I fix the problem by going to System Prefs as outlined by others all works normal until i quit the program and then the issue reappears although the program has been quit. Now I have to go back to System Settings and Desktop and Dock etc. to get back to normal again.

So here is my quick temporary fix. Go to System Settings, Desktop & Dock, turn on “Automatically hide and show the Dock”, then again in System Settings on the left side scroll down to Keyboard, on the right side click on Keyboard Shortcuts, on the pop-up panel make sure “Turn Dock hiding on/off” has a checkmark and on the right side you will see “option command d”, this is your key combination shortcut. You can change this if you like. Click Done.

Now the dock will be on screen until you move the curser over it or use the shortcut and it will disappear and the dock will work as before.

Now whenever the problem appears, all you need to do is to press “Option Command d” and the issue has been resolved until the next time. 

I hope someone can figure out a permanent solution.

Try repositioning the dock back and forth between the bottom of the screen and the right side of the screen.

Also, try turning on and off hiding the dock when it is on the right side of the screen.

The problem both started and stopped for me while I was doing the above, trying to decide how I wanted my dock to be displayed in macOS Sonoma after recently upgrading to it.

@PeteBradford:

I tried that two or three times, yesterday, and got a "usage" message (which I assume means something was wrong with the command string) every time.

In frustration, I just tried it again, and it appears to have worked: with Snap To Grid enabled, icons no longer stack in the upper right corner.

Fingers crossed it continues working. :-)