You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

belosh Author

Level 1

3 points

Can't Drag and Drop Anything

I've installed OS X Lion and now when I click on an icon on my desktop and drag it, it follows along nicely, only letting go of the mouse button doesn't drop it. In fact, nothing does. Instead the icon hangs onto the cursor as if I have kept holding down the mouse button. If I want to drag something to the trash, when I hover over the Trash icon and let go, it acts like I'm still holding down the mouse button and instead opens up the Trash folder. It's not limited to trash, it's just where I first noticed it. I can't move files between folders.

This pretty much happens across the board, too. Drag an icon off of the dock to remove it, it just hangs onto the mouse pointer and never goes away. Drag an icon from the icon bar at the top (command-click) and you can pick up the icon and move it, but never drop it. Is there a solution to this?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Jul 20, 2011 6:11 PM

261 replies

Apr 10, 2012 11:04 AM in response to belosh

Ok, just did a reinstall of Lion and not even 10 minutes after it's the same as before. Ready to give up!!!!

Apr 10, 2012 11:12 AM in response to kevin10451

Dont give up, did you install any third party display drivers?

I found my issue was the displaylink driver, also reports from the airparrot too.

The consensus is people are using a kext that has issues with some apple display drivers.

Apr 10, 2012 11:13 AM in response to kevin10451

Also remeber just doing a single sleep, then wake has fixed everyones issues ( after a reboot ).

brattner

Level 1

0 points

Apr 10, 2012 11:34 AM in response to belosh

Sleep + Wake worked for me too.

MacBook Pro

10.7.3

2.66GHz

Apr 10, 2012 11:35 AM in response to belosh

No, I did not install any third party display drivers. Seems like it all started after I deleted Java from my machine a couple days ago. When my machine started after the reinstall Software Update kept coming on wanting me to install Java Runtime. So I did. Not sure if it has anything to do with it though. Again logged out of my main account and into my test account then back to my main and it's ok for now but I know it will act up again.

I was on the phone talking at Apple Support for quite awhile and he suggested I do a backup from time machine before this all started but I think that will take forever with no guarantees.

I will try a "reboot then single sleep then wake" if it happens again. YEP, it's froze again!!! Gonna try it now. Been working on this for 5 1/2 hours now!

Apr 10, 2012 11:40 AM in response to kevin10451

Now I am confused, this is not about a freeze, this is just a drag and drop issue.

If you machine is freezing, then this is not the thread for you.

The symptom is after a reboot, when you drag an item it is not released.

The fix: sleep and then wake, this will fix it till the next reboot.

If you are experiencing freezes , mouse sticking issues or others then i dont know if we can help.

PS I had an issue with a mouse click sticking once on the laptop and we worked out it was a defromed battery.

Apr 10, 2012 12:07 PM in response to belosh

Freeze was probably the wrong word. Could not drag & drop, move folders/files in iTunes, Finder, desktop etc. or move or remove app icons in my dock. Just did the sleep/wake after a reboot and see if that works. So far so good. Tried that before but not after a reboot. Apple support made an appointment at my Apple Store for tomorrow to try to fix it. We'll see what happens.

Apr 10, 2012 12:32 PM in response to belosh

It's happening again. Can't move stuff in the dock and drag & drop. Guess I'll have to wait till tomorrow and see what the people at the Apple Store say.

Apr 10, 2012 5:17 PM in response to symonty Gresham

Sleep wake does not help me. I have to reboot my machine, and it will work for a short period of time not sure how long. Ususally the next time I need to drag something it no longer works, so I have to reboot again..... So frustrating.

Apr 10, 2012 6:04 PM in response to belosh

Starting having the same problem today. Very frustrating. Starting doing some research and discovered all of you struggling with the this issue.

Based on a few threads I read through I was able to figure out that a recent video driver I had installed was the problem. I installed the video driver to use my ipad as a secondary monitor for my MacBook. This is when the problem appeared. I unistalled the driver and the problem went away.

I would check for any new video drivers recently installed.

I hope this helps.

Apr 10, 2012 9:08 PM in response to belosh

yup, the sleep/wake worked for me as well

Apr 11, 2012 4:09 AM in response to raider7593

Sounds like you have the same bug as I do. When you can't D&D can you move icons in you dock or move files/folders in your finder? I have an appointment this afternoon at the Genious Bar at my Apple Store and hopefully it's something simple to resolve.

Apr 11, 2012 6:59 AM in response to kevin10451

I just updated Air Display to Retina screen update. My computer then started the Drag and Drop problem that is being experienced here. I slept and woke it and it cleared the problem.

Apr 11, 2012 3:01 PM in response to belosh

Back from the Genious Bar at the Apple Store. Of course all morning before my appointment my Mac was acting normally. D&D worked. They did a diagnostic and everything was fine. The consensus was that when I removed Java it may have screwed something up. Seems like I needed it after all for MLB.com that I watch in Safari.

I'm thinking that after I reinstalled Lion and then Java it may have taken a couple restarts to get things right. I'll wait a few days and see if it acts up again.

So far so good!

Apr 12, 2012 9:04 AM in response to MickeyiMac

It was the "Air Display" app for me that caused the problem too. Did you re-install the driver to see it worked afterwards? I really liked using my ipad as secondary monitor.

Can't Drag and Drop Anything