Drag and drop not working on macOS Sequoia.

I'm was having the same issue (or sounds similar to some of the other users here) which started after updating to Sequoia 15.0 last night.

From my perspective the issue appears to be related to finder. I usually open finder and drag files from it to programs.

Today dragging an item from with finder selects the files, in the direction of the drag starting, from where you click. (The same experience as shift clicking multiple files)

The experience happens in both List and Columns view, but not Icons or gallery view, dragging is still not possible in icon view.

Dragging does appear possible in many other apps, so this appears to be related to at least finder

Using windows before I've had experiences where Scroll Lock was enabled, and this is very similar to the experience. I've tried toggling scroll lock using shft + fn + f12.

I've also tried toggling the "Use trackpad for dragging" under Accessibility > Trackpad Options.

Disabled the Haptic feedback under Trackpad.

Hardware I'm using a wired keyboard and mouse, but also experience the issue with the trackpad, and a different bluetooth mouse.

For me I was able to use `Force Quit Application` and then Relaunch finder, which resolved the issue for me.

I just got a new Mac with Sequoia 15.1. In Settings > Trackpad > Point & Click > and a pull down menu with Force Click with 1 Finger or Tap with 3 fingers. I turned that OFF. Then drag and drop the old way works.

william welch1 wrote:

Yes! Disabling Haptic for the trackpad solved the problem (Did haptic feedback come in with a recent update, already turned on?). I'll never get back the lost hair, but at least I can drag and drop once again.

This is a feature that has been in Apple laptops for several years now. My 2019 Intel had it. It is nothing new, maybe you have just switched from an older laptop that did not have it?

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

You may want to go to the trackpad pane in System Settings and turn OFF "force click and haptic feedback", and see if that makes things work for you.

Yes, I had to do that on a MacBook Pro because I could not adjust my fingers to that feature when dragging files around.

The Force Quit on Finder resolved this for me on my M1 iMac running Sequoia, where restarting and changing Trackpad settings did not.

Same here. M1 MacBook Pro has worked flawlessly since ownership until the update to 15.4.1 and I’ve experienced the problem using the trackpad and 2 different bluetooth mice, both of which are proven good items.

There are various issues, in the Finder selecting a file and starting to move it results in the cursor ‘letting go’ of the file and selecting files it passes over. Dragging slightly to the right then up has been the most successful way of getting around this very annoying bug.

I’ve also had problems dragging over text in Safari and BBEdit.

Maybe the change of TrackPad settings will work, but what we need is v15.4.2 to fix this.

Just restarting the MacBook sorted it. It was very annoying when it was happening.

A restart fixed this for me

Holding down the command key when moving files across has sorted out this issue for me.

I wonder if it's the trackpad that is defective, or if you were accidentally producing a "force click" by pressing too hard on the trackpad.

You may want to go to the trackpad pane in System Settings and turn OFF "force click and haptic feedback", and see if that makes things work for you.

Yes! Disabling Haptic for the trackpad solved the problem (Did haptic feedback come in with a recent update, already turned on?). I'll never get back the lost hair, but at least I can drag and drop once again.

I'm having the same issue. Restarted the Finder to no avail. When I D&D I get a window with a progress bar that says "Preparing to move to"

....aaaand after several minutes logging into the Apple Discussions site, I found that the file finally transferred. It just took MUCH longer than expected.

I just transferred two additional files to a different folder...same process only much faster. Still, this is a longer delay than in previous OS.

Can you elaborate a bit?

What happens when you try to drag and drop?

And, very importantly: where are you trying to drop to? Some locations are read only.

What happens when you try to click and drag?

Try restarting in Safe Mode. Same problem?