Resolved Can’t click/drag multiple files?

[T Coma]

I’m coming from High Sierra to Monterey so I don’t know if this is a bug or a feature. I’m using a new 16” MBP and copied over my first big batch of files. As I’m rearranging them into folders, I noticed that I cannot drag multiple files into other folders. I can drag one file no problem. If I highlight multiple files in list view, I can’t drag them at all. If I highlight multiple files in thumbnail view, it will only drag the one I click on and deselect all other files.

I checked the usual spots in Preferences including Accessibility and have not found a setting that would cause this behavior.

And yes, I’ve rebooted.

Is anyone familiar with this issue, and more importantly know how to resolve it? I had no issue with this action on my old machine’s trackpad in High Sierra.

 

[Jim Lahey]

Had seemingly the same problem for years with a 2017 Intel Pro but only intermittently. It also happens with external Magic Trackpad so I assume it’s an OS level bug rather than hardware. For me it materialises as a refusal to drag multiple files but it will eventually work if I take a few bites at the cherry.

Your problem sounds a little more serious than mine but nevertheless it could be related.

 

[T Coma]

Ok, so it is possible to select multiple files and drag them around -- by holding the shift key.

I realize I have skipped like 4 or 5 OS but I'm curious to know if this is a software change. I'm on a new 16" m1 Pro, so I don't think it's a software/hardware incompatibility issue.

 

[HDFan]

Ok, so it is possible to select multiple files and drag them around -- by holding the shift key.

I realize I have skipped like 4 or 5 OS but I'm curious to know if this is a software change.

Multiple selections with shift have been around for as long as I can remember.

 

[T Coma]

Multiple selections with shift have been around for as long as I can remember.

That's a neat bit of history, but it doesn't really apply to the question. The issue is that click and drag does not require shift on my old Magic Trackpad-equipped iMac running High Sierra (or on any Windows machine I owned previous to that), but seems to require shift on this new M1 MBP running Monterey -- at least that's the only way I can drag multiple files.

It might be easier to understand in an animated GIF. In this first example, using the old iMac, you can see I select multiple files and then drag them as a group, without use of the shift key, as shown on the on-screen keyboard. So, select multiple files, click and hold on one, drag all.

In the next example, using the new M1 MBP, I also select multiple files, but when I click to drag, in the first case I click over the filename and it allows the "rename" function, in the next cases I again select multiple files and click to drag elsewhere on the line and instead the files open - in these cases into photo preview mode.

I realize this may not be an OS issue; it may be a hardware issue or a user issue, but I had to start asking somewhere. I do know that I've been clicking and dragging multiple files as long as I've owned Macs (and before then with PCs) and the shift key had never been required. What has changed?

 

[T Coma]

Fixed - there is a setting not in High Sierra that I had never seen. Unclicked it, and click and drag works as usual.