No drag & drop in High Sierra

See this article macOS Sierra: Mouse & Trackpad pane of Accessibility System Preferences

@KAPPY and @TYGB :Pls pls CHANGE or EDIT YR ANSWER as Kappy's steps are a massive "fluster cuck", A HUGE TIME SUCK & not even the FIX for this MADDENINGpain in the butt issue which I also lost my mind over. I too lost my ability to DRAG and DROP any folder contents when migrating & ** even had to COPY/PASTE contents into new folders manually which created dupes & my storage went to ****...THE FIX is a quick click.

1. Yes, go to System Preferences
2. Then to TRACKPAD- not ACCESSiBILITY as this is NOT accessibility issue!
3. UNCHECK the "Force Click & Heirtics" box which is checked by default in the High Sierra update i think.
4. This allowed me to instantly GRAB, DRAG & DROP again without all that other jibbity jab mess! U do not need to even go IN to Accessibility settings at all to restore yr DRAGGING ability.

**(In my attempt to drag them to MOVE em like before, i'd SELECT ALL contents in a folder, click to drag & it would select only the 1 file/flder the curser physically touched-UNselecting all Id just highlighted & BURST the 1 item into a QuickLook window, not allowing a drag at all)

QUICK EASY 1-CLICK FIX for NO DRAG & DROP IN HIGH SIERRA!

@KAPPY and @TYGB :Pls pls CHANGE or EDIT YR ANSWER as Kappy's steps are a massive "fluster cuck", A HUGE TIME SUCK & not even the FIX for this MADDENINGpain in the butt issue which I also lost my mind over. @TYGB's reply is also overkill as this is NOT about Accessibility! I too lost my ability to DRAG and DROP any folder contents when migrating after High Sierra upgrade & ** even had to COPY/PASTE contents into new folders manually which created dupes & my storage went to ****...THE FIX is a quick click.

1. yes, go to System Preferences
2. Then to TRACKPAD- not ACCESSiBILITY as this is NOT accessibility issue!
3. UNCHECK the "Force Click & Heirtics" box which is checked by default in the High Sierra update i think.
4. I personally prefer a 1 tap over dbl taps or clicks- especially with this issue

**(In my attempt to drag them to MOVE em like before, i'd SELECT ALL contents in a folder, click to drag & it would select only the 1 file/flder the curser physically touched-UNselecting all Id just highlighted & BURST the 1 item into a QuickLook window, not allowing a drag at all)

Possible Fixes for High Sierra

You should try each, one at a time, then test to see if the problem is fixed before going on to the next.

Be sure to backup your files before proceeding if possible.

1. Shutdown the computer, wait 30 seconds, restart the computer.
2. Resetting your Mac’s PRAM and NVRAM
3. Reset the System Management Controller (SMC)
4. Start the computer in Safe Mode, then restart normally. This is slower than a standard startup.
5. Repair the disk by booting from the Recovery HD. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Utility Menu appears. Choose Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the indented (usually, Macintosh HD) volume entry from the side list. Click on the First Aid button in the toolbar. Wait for the Done button to appear. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu. Restart the computer from the Apple Menu.
6. Create a New User Account Open Users & Groups preferences. Click on the lock icon and enter your Admin password when prompted. On the left under Current User click on the Add [+] button below Login Options. Setup a new Admin user account. Upon completion log out of your current account then log into the new account. If your problems cease, then consider switching to the new account and transferring your files to it - Transferring files from one User Account to another.
7. Download and Install 10.13.1 High Sierra Update
8. Reinstall OS X by booting from the Recovery HD using the Command and R keys. When the Utility Menu appears select Reinstall OS X then click on the Continue button.
9. Erase and Install OS X Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the CommandandRkeys until the Apple logo appears. When the Utility Menu appears:

1. Select Disk Utility from the Utility Menu and click on Continue button.
2. When Disk Utility loads select the drive (out-dented entry) from the Device list.
3. Click on the Erase icon in Disk Utility's toolbar. A panel will drop down.
4. Set the Format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
5. Click on the Apply button, then wait for the Done button to activate and click on it.
6. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
7. Select Install OS X and click on the Continue button.

This only works if you use a trackpad. How do I fix this if I only use a mouse? The options shown in your screenshot are not available to me. These are the only options I have:

When I click "options" and "Mouse Options" This is all I see:

No ability to check "enable dragging"

U r correct rebel & even if u did use a trackpad its not necessary to do any of the changes in ACCESSIBILITY... as u will get DRAGGING back in the TRACKPAD prefs instead (even tho u use mouse) by UNCHECKING the box in the TRACKPAD settings below...

It should offer u same Pref settings in HIGH SIERRA even tho u dont USE yr trackpad so see if this wrks for ya.... i hope so as the issue was INTOLERABLE for me...

Thanks ! BecCanDo

for the information in my Mac this feature that you are mentioning is not available as using Mac book air so that is the reason , but the users who are having force click and haptic feedback can use it please read this article macOS Sierra: Change the way your trackpad works

I was having the problem with inability to drag and drop in OS High Sierra on my new Macbook Pro. I used the solution of Accessibility/Mouse & Trackpad/Trackpad Options/ 3 fingers. That solved that problem, but then several of my keys stopped working, including "o" and "l".

I reversed the drag and drop solution, and now my keys are working again. Very odd. I should not have to choose between drag and drop functionality and losing some keys!

I've been playing with the Trackpad settings and click and drag works with Force Click and haptic feedback. You cannot click, wait and then drag. You have to click and quickly start your drag without waiting. It also helps to have the the trackpad speed halfway or better towards fast. It doesn't work as well on a slower setting.

On a side note, I unchecked Tap to click. Before when I scrolled with two fingers, it would occasionally display the contextual menu instead of scrolling the page.

I'm on System Version: macOS 10.13.4 (17E182a)

Using the mouse in a Finder window, if I click on an item and initiate a drag very quickly, it works.

If I click on an item and release to highlight it and then:

1. Mousedown and drag up or down, it selects multiple items (perhaps a good thing).

2. Mousedown and quickly drag left or right maybe 50% of the time it will allow me to drag and drop.

3. If the above fails to drag, then a second mousedown will always allow you to drag and drop.

I guess the algorithm is trying to determine if you want to select multiple items or drag and drop. Tough to do.

Hi and thank you for the reply’s. unforturely I am running an iMac 27 with High Sierra and there is no trackpad installed. I have tried a number of programs but still cannot drag and drop. Any other help would be really great. Thanks in advance

FIXED!!!

Hi there, I was having the same issue as you and tried to look for the options mentioned above but I also don’t have them.

The issue is with files that have the little cloud icon with a down arrow (file in the cloud, not your computer)

To fix this just click on the cloud icon and this will download it. Now you can drag and drop.

If there are many files, you can select them all and click on Download Now

Thank YOU! Why @apple would make a change like this that effects such a fundamental tenet of the operating system and not have a tutorial be part of your initial log-in on a new machine is beyond me. I was happy to hear that they are apparently going to focus on fixing all of the things that have gone wrong over the last few years in 'amending' the OS with new bells and whistles to make sure that they 'just work'. It seems to me that they've lost their way and are headed down the same path as MicroSoft in that for most of their staff their work isn't about making a better product but preserving or justifying the existence of their jobs. Speaking of Jobs, he wouldn't have let most of this fly. I could go on... the headphone interface, enough faith in it to strip it from the iPhone but not to provide for the same port across their other hardware so you can't use the same pair of headphones you use with your iPhone with your laptop, really?! @timcook and @jonyivey, this is n'ecosystem' right? shouldn't you be able to move from device to device with hardware as easily as you can with software? baffled.

My issue is the opposite. When I have a photo on my desktop, I can't always drag it into Photos. I can usually drag one or two, then it won't work anymore unless I close Photos and re-open it. This is so annoying since previously I could always drag pics into Photos and iPhotos.

Any solutions?

There is no force click and I can't even take a screenshot and show you that I can't see that or the 3-finger drag option. What am I missing? High Sierra - 10.13.4.

The left side of my trackpad is all but useless after having the technicians "vacuum" it out and maybe tighten it down at an Apple store. Thankfully I could at least get the right side of the trackpad to function (double click) with a 2-finger tap. This is getting ridiculous.