Hi,
When moving files into another folder by dragging them over that folder's icon, they hang there for a much longer delay than with El Capitan, before they go in. This becomes worse when I drag about 40 or so files at the same time.
This problem doesn't happen when I drag files between open folder windows.
Any idea how to fix it?
iMac with Retina 5K display, macOS Mojave (10.14), null
Two things:
1) If you are dragging over a folder icon, you can press the space key to open that folder immediately
2) You can change or even turn off the delay by going to System Preferences->Accessibility->Mouse & Trackpad. I recommend keeping it on, but shortening the duration, as keeping off may make a folder open in unintended circumstances (as if you are dragging and accidentally pass over a folder icon).
Two things:
1) If you are dragging over a folder icon, you can press the space key to open that folder immediately
2) You can change or even turn off the delay by going to System Preferences->Accessibility->Mouse & Trackpad. I recommend keeping it on, but shortening the duration, as keeping off may make a folder open in unintended circumstances (as if you are dragging and accidentally pass over a folder icon).
I have tried and it is working for me.
If I uncheck the box, folders do not open when I drag; if I check the box, the slider does affect the delay before a folder pops open.
[Note: the wording or perhaps the positioning of the box and slider is a bit misleading.
The box allows for turning "spring loading" on or off (not the delay!).
The slider controls the delay (when spring loading is ON).]
I believe that in previous versions it used to look more like this montage, which would be clearer:
AppleQer wrote:
I am not talking about the delay before the folder pops open.
I am talking about the delay before the dragged files disappear into an unopened folder.
It is possible to drag files into a folder before it pops open.
If I drag the files over the folder and release them (by releasing the mouse button) before the folder pops open, they disappear into it and the folder does not pop open.
The problem is that when I release the mouse button, the files just hang over the folder for a while before disappearing into it. This delay has become much much longer in Mojave. I want to reduce it.
Playing with spring loading does not affect this (the time it takes for a file to disappear into an unopened folder).
Thank you for clarifying.
I do NOT see the same problem on my mac. The files go into the folder and disappear instantaneously. The following gif file reflects what I see. The moment I let go of the trackpad button the files disappear into the closed folder.
I spoke with Apple Support on 1/9/2019. They saw that while using Finder, I am unable to move (drag & drop) a file from Downloads folder to the Documents folder. It works fine with the Icon view and the Gallery view.
They are reporting this to engineering for a fix in a future release of the Mojave OS. They also asked me to report this on website www.apple.com/feedback
Thanks for the reply.
I have tried shortening spring-loading and turning it off completely.
Neither reduces the time the file hangs over the destination folder, regardless of whether it springs open immediately or not at all.
I am not talking about the delay before the folder pops open.
I am talking about the delay before the dragged files disappear into an unopened folder.
It is possible to drag files into a folder before it pops open.
If I drag the files over the folder and release them (by releasing the mouse button) before the folder pops open, they disappear into it and the folder does not pop open.
The problem is that when I release the mouse button, the files just hang over the folder for a while before disappearing into it. This delay has become much much longer in Mojave. I want to reduce it.
Playing with spring loading does not affect this (the time it takes for a file to disappear into an unopened folder).
Thanks for the GIF.
Dragging seven PDFs totaling 6.3MB from one folder on my desktop to another folder on my desktop results in a lag of about 5 seconds versus your less-than-a-second. The files hang there over the destination folder with the red number '7", then finally disappear inside the folder. This gets worse the more files I drag.
Yeah, I tried a new user account (tried standard and admin) and logged out of main admin while testing.
Also tried in Safe Mode.
Made no difference. I still have that long hang over the folder before they pop in. When it is more than 30 files, I get the multicolored swirly wheel, spinning-rainbow-ball-of-****, or whatever it is called, for a few seconds.
Hi I tried Safe Mode again with a new Admin account and I also deleted some plist files related to Finder and Dock in the Preferences folder within the "Username" Folder (I also took screenshots of my Finder sidebar, Desktop layout, and Dock, plus related preference settings before doing so, to remember how to set them up again later). After that restarted the iMac.
That seems to have done the trick at least for now.
I just upgraded from High Sierra to Mojave and I'm seeing this as well. I first noticed it when dragging an image out of Safari to save it to a folder on my desktop or even to the desktop itself. If I drag an image to the desktop, I see a duplicate of the icon show up where I "dropped" it before a second later it then snaps into the grid.
Anyway, I trashed all Finder and Dock .plist files from ~/Library/Preferences and ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost and it didn't fix it. What others might it be?
I was having the same problem and this solution, setting the spring loading duration to short that another poster suggested worked for me: System Preferences->Accessibility->Mouse & Trackpad. I recommend keeping it on, but shortening the duration, as keeping off may make a folder open in unintended circumstances (as if you are dragging and accidentally pass over a folder icon).
"I was having the same problem and this solution, setting the spring loading duration to short that another poster suggested worked for me: System Preferences->Accessibility->Mouse & Trackpad. I recommend keeping it on, but shortening the duration, as keeping off may make a folder open in unintended circumstances (as if you are dragging and accidentally pass over a folder icon)."
I tried that, it makes no difference.
I have the same problem but for me it seems worse. When I click/drag a row in a list (e.g. iTunes or Spotify playlist) the row does not stay selected and sometimes grabs another row in the process. I often end up moving a row that I didn't intend to.
I also see something similar when I try to resize a window where I "lose hold" of the window and another window below in the path of my pointer is selected. This is very frustrating and super inefficient for something so core that should just work.
So I am running the latest version the Mojave OS and am having the same issue. The fix is this... open accessibility, select Mouse & trackpad, then select Spring Loaded Delay - Set to the 3rd line from the left going right. Now you will be able to drag files directly to your folder without the folders immediately opening, if you let it hover for a second the folder will then pop open. I hope this helps.
To add some more detail:
Dragging a file in the following manner is fast:
Desktop --> Open folder
Desktop --> Closed folder
Open folder --> Desktop
Open folder --> Open folder
Application --> Open folder
Dragging a file in the following manner hangs the UI for a full second on my laptop:
Application --> Desktop
Application --> Closed folder
Open folder --> Closed folder
Changing the "Spring-loading delay" has ZERO effect on this behavior (the file is dropped immediately and the folder doesn't, and wasn't intended to, ever open).
Drag and Drop broken after Mojave update
