Why can't I drag and drop documents into folder on desktop post macOS sonoma?

Neither do I. We could explore a bunch of options such as creating an empty folder somewhere and dragging it onto the Desktop to see what happens, but I think it's a moot point: you're simply unable to do something that you were able to do prior to updating macOS.

Trackpad options should have nothing to do with it. The only suggestion I have is to reinstall macOS.

How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

There are TWO different settings that need to be adjusted for this:

1. Accessibility > Pointer Control > Trackpad Options > Turn ON "Use trackpad for dragging" and set "Dragging Style" to Without Drag Lock.
2. Trackpad > Point & Click (you land here by default) > Turn OFF "Force Click and haptic feedback"

I had to do BOTH of these things for the drag-and-drop functionality to return to normal, where a regular/hard press selects the item and you continue holding down to drag it to where you want.

(If you want to not have to hold it down while you drag, check out the other options under the "Dragging Style" options in Accessibility settings above.)

Please describe what happens when you drag an item onto the Desktop. It should work the way it always has. What settings did you change?

Try restarting your Mac in the usual manner.

Go to your settings for your trackpad and make an adjustment to move the images. You should be good after that.

what i did was disabling the TURN ON SPRING LOADING and it worked

Thank goodness - that finally worked, all other suggested solutions did not. I have spent not one but many hours on this, what a waste of valuable time. Thank you!

restarted and the problem seems. Before the restart clicking on the file icon would open a thumbnail of the document so I couldn't drag it anywhere. Now it won't even do that. Click on the file icon and you can't drag it or do anything really

I know why this happens. It is not about system settings. It is that if you tap with a tiny tip of your finger, it doesn't work. You have to first tap touch pad to select a file, then with forefinger so that LARGE part of your finger touches the touch pad do the drag and drop. Don't make the touch pad click, but just touch the touchpad with large part of your finger touching the touchpad. Works every time, after I realised it.

I got intel-based 2020 macbook air. I think it is about a particular type of touchpads that doesn't work like other macbook touchpads.

seekir wrote:

vesque (see above) had the solution that worked for me. In OS Sonoma on my MacBook, a lighter pressure on the trackpad till a subtle click is felt will permit drag and drop. Firm pressure opens a preview of the file. Extremely annoying to those of us who are accustomed to the old click and drag but are uninformed about this feature.

Turn off the Force Click gesture, or don’t press that hard.

i fixed it by pressing down with 2 fingers onto my desktop then selecting the "show view options." at the top it says "stack by:" there's a drop down menu and i selected the "none" option.

hope this works!

CORRECTION: This does work! I was in the Pointer & Trackpad settings under Accessibility which is why I didn't see it at first, but there are additional trackpad settings under Trackpad in the left nav of settings. That's where you can find the "Force Click and haptic feedback" setting. Turning that off worked for me, as the original poster said.

I spent an hour on this! Here is what finally worked:

• Right-click on empty space on desktop
• Uncheck "Use Stacks"

Problem solved!!

None of it worked. This did:

Finder

View

Sort by

"none"

Thank you mate, it worked for me. Best.