Kevin Callahan

Q: How to drag and drop with Magic Trackpad 2?

I just got my new Magic Trackpad 2.  I plugged it into my keyboard and turned it on.  Worked right away (charging).  I changed a few settings in the System Preferences.  Everything is working great - fast, smooth.  I'm running El Capitan on an iMac Retina 27.  The only thing I haven't been able to do is figure out how to SELECT and DRAG an object.  When I do any sort of gesture I typical did to drag an object with my older trackpad, the new trackpad simply invoke ForceTouch and opens the file in QuickLook.   How do you select to drag a file?  I have my old trackpad still paired via bluetooth and it is working side-by-side with the new trackpad 2.

 

Thanks,

K

iMac with Retina 5K display, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 16, 2015 10:23 AM

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Q: How to drag and drop with Magic Trackpad 2?

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  • by Kevin Callahan,Helpful

    Kevin Callahan Kevin Callahan Oct 16, 2015 11:01 AM in response to Kevin Callahan
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Oct 16, 2015 11:01 AM in response to Kevin Callahan

    Hmm.... upon further use:  The trackpad can get wonky.  It seems to get confused - the cursor will just lock up.  Also, having a hard time trying to figure out how to move a window!  How do you select/grab an object?  It's effortless with my older Magic Trackpad which is still connected.  But when trying to select a window or a file object to move, it invokes Force Touch.   Most things work as normal though: two-finger tap for contextual menu, and now the three-finger tap for look-up.  I don't know how to select text, either.  And just now when trying to select text, the cursor locked up for a few seconds. 

  • by Tim Hill1,Helpful

    Tim Hill1 Tim Hill1 Oct 17, 2015 2:33 PM in response to Kevin Callahan
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Oct 17, 2015 2:33 PM in response to Kevin Callahan

    Same problem here .. I think Apple have overloaded the device with so many gestures they overlap.

     

    If you turn off Force Click in System Preferences > Trackpad, then drag+drop works as normal. But of course that really defeats much of the purpose of buying the new trackpad in the first place. I've been unable to find any workaround.

     

    For others unclear on the problem: When using the new Magic Trackpad 2 with Force Click on, it's nearly impossible to drag+drop (say) a file in Finder from one folder to another. This is because it's too easy to trigger Force Touch and do a Quick Look on the file (or, in many cases, trigger a rename on the file).

     

    --Tim

  • by Kevin Callahan,

    Kevin Callahan Kevin Callahan Oct 18, 2015 5:56 PM in response to Tim Hill1
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Oct 18, 2015 5:56 PM in response to Tim Hill1

    Yeah, I saw that I could uncheck "Use Force Touch"... but then what's the purpose of the trackpad 2?   With Force Touch enabled, I can't figure out how to drag an object (window, file etc) without invoking FT.

  • by Kevin Callahan,

    Kevin Callahan Kevin Callahan Oct 18, 2015 6:17 PM in response to Kevin Callahan
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Oct 18, 2015 6:17 PM in response to Kevin Callahan

    Okay - just after writing the above, I decided to turn my trackpad 2 on again and try it once more (I had gone back to my original trackpad).  This time, however, instead of having it tethered to my iMac's keyboard via the lightning cable knowing it's now fully charged, I just turned the trackpad 2 ON to use it over BT.  It's working great.  And yes, even with Force Touch checked ON in the settings, I can drag and drop windows and files. 

     

    Then I decide to plug the trackpad 2 into my iMac's keyboard with the cable to see if the issues were related to having it plugged in.  Lo and behold, once I connected the trackpad 2 with the lightning cable, I had the same problems as before.  Couldn't drag a window or file.   As soon as I unplugged the cable, it worked as expected including all the Force Touch features.

  • by Tim Hill1,

    Tim Hill1 Tim Hill1 Oct 18, 2015 10:41 PM in response to Kevin Callahan
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Oct 18, 2015 10:41 PM in response to Kevin Callahan

    Hmm I was seeing the problem unplugged. I admit I can't see how it would *ever* work for files in Finder .. you have to be able to touch JUST enough to drag the file but never at any point in the drag accidentally press too hard. How does anyone finesse that?

     

    --Tim

  • by Kevin Callahan,

    Kevin Callahan Kevin Callahan Oct 18, 2015 11:19 PM in response to Tim Hill1
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Oct 18, 2015 11:19 PM in response to Tim Hill1

    It's quite difficult - seem to have to be able to time it just right. 

  • by cheeseb,

    cheeseb cheeseb Oct 19, 2015 2:19 AM in response to Tim Hill1
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Oct 19, 2015 2:19 AM in response to Tim Hill1

    Tim Hill1 wrote:

     

    Hmm I was seeing the problem unplugged. I admit I can't see how it would *ever* work for files in Finder .. you have to be able to touch JUST enough to drag the file but never at any point in the drag accidentally press too hard. How does anyone finesse that?

    Practice makes perfect. I am slowly but surely developing a more delicate touch and seeing fewer and fewer accidental QuickLook windows. The hard part is reverting to a more forceful touch when I switch to the non-force trackpad on my MacBook Pro.


    There is a setting in the Trackpad preference pane to require a "Firm" click for "Click." I have mine set that way to make it harder to click by accident, and I have the vague and possibly spurious feeling that it helped a little bit with the delicate touch issue -- maybe by giving me a little more room between a light touch and a click.

  • by poil66,

    poil66 poil66 Oct 24, 2015 3:02 PM in response to cheeseb
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 24, 2015 3:02 PM in response to cheeseb

    i can move application windows easily but not desktop files at all. doesn't matter how delicate i click, its like dragging doesn't work that way when force click is turned on. would really like to use force click, but still need to be able to drag and drop. its the same with selecting multiple files in a folder. I used to be able to sort of click one off to the side a little, then drag up and it would select all the files, can't do this anymore either

  • by Tim Hill1,

    Tim Hill1 Tim Hill1 Oct 25, 2015 11:09 AM in response to poil66
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Oct 25, 2015 11:09 AM in response to poil66

    Same here .. I just don't think Apple thought through drag+drop and Force Touch interactions/interference.

     

    --Tim

  • by Tim Hill1,Helpful

    Tim Hill1 Tim Hill1 Oct 25, 2015 5:24 PM in response to Tim Hill1
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Oct 25, 2015 5:24 PM in response to Tim Hill1

    Well, I finally figured it out. The trick is to force click on the ICON for the file in Finder to drag+drop, not the filename. Since I use Finder mostly in column mode (with small icons) this distinction wasnt clear to me.

     

    So, to anyone else who hits this problem:

    -- Force click on the file NAME to edit it (rename)

    -- Force click on the file ICON to Quick Look it

    -- Click normally on the file ICON to drag+drop it

  • by Kevin Callahan,

    Kevin Callahan Kevin Callahan Oct 25, 2015 6:33 PM in response to Tim Hill1
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Oct 25, 2015 6:33 PM in response to Tim Hill1

    Yes to what you say.   Ever since I unplugged my trackpad 2 from the lightning cable (when charging it) it seems to work just like my trackpad 1, with the addition of ForceTouch. So it is working as expected.  When I plug it in, however, it doesn't behave properly - so when charging, I will do so at night or when I'm not using it.

  • by poil66,

    poil66 poil66 Oct 25, 2015 6:40 PM in response to Tim Hill1
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 25, 2015 6:40 PM in response to Tim Hill1

    this isn't working for me, when I click on icons, nothing happens except selecting the icon

  • by Kevin Callahan,

    Kevin Callahan Kevin Callahan Oct 25, 2015 7:05 PM in response to poil66
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Oct 25, 2015 7:05 PM in response to poil66

    So you can't force touch to get quick look?  I just tried on several different file types - force clicking on their respective icons, and they all opened in QL. Is your trackpad 2 tethered via your cable? or is it running via Bluetooth?

  • by poil66,

    poil66 poil66 Oct 25, 2015 7:07 PM in response to Kevin Callahan
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 25, 2015 7:07 PM in response to Kevin Callahan

    I can definitely force touch to get quick look, I just can't then do a regular click to drag files. its running via bluetooth. and yup, trackpad 2

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