How to Drag and Drop on Mac. You can drag and drop items to do things like move or copy files and folders, add an image to an email, or move text around in a document. On your Mac, select an item you want to drag — such as an image or block of text. Press and hold the trackpad or mouse while you drag the item to a new location. To copy the item instead of moving it, press and hold the Option key while you drag. Release the trackpad or mouse to drop the item in the new location.
How Do You Click and Drag on a MacBook?
- Click or tap to click and highlight the item you want to move.
- Press and hold the trackpad or mouse while dragging the object.
- When you’re ready to reposition the highlighted item, release the trackpad or mouse to drop it in the new place.
- Select text or images and drag them onto your desktop to create text clippings or save images.
- To move items in the Dock, click and drag the apps to your preferred arrangement.
- Add a folder to Favorites in the Finder app by selecting and dragging the item. To add an app, press Command.
- Remove items from Favorites in Finder or the Dock by selecting and dragging them away from the area.
How Do I Drag and Drop With Touchpad?
Click and hold to drag and move items with the trackpad on your Mac.. To enable three-finger dragging, go to Settings > Accessibility > Pointer control > Mouse & Trackpad > Trackpad Options > Enable dragging > select three finger drag > OK.
- Select a single item or click, hold, and drag your finger across the touchpad to highlight text or multiple files.
Hold Shift for side-by-side files or Command for non-sequential files while using the trackpad to highlight all the things you want to move.
- Press and hold the touchpad and begin to move the highlighted selection.
To copy files to a different folder rather than relocating them, press Option while highlighting and dragging and dropping them.
- Release the trackpad to drop the items in a new location.
How Do You Drag and Drop on a Mac Without Trackpad?
You don’t need to use a trackpad to drag and drop on your Mac. Use the left-click or primary click on your Mac to highlight and move files on your device.
- If you haven’t already, connect a Bluetooth or wired mouse with your Mac.
- To move a single image or block of text, click to select it or click and move the mouse to highlight the object.
- To move multiple items, press Shift and click nearby files. Alternatively, click and drag your mouse around the items you want to move to highlight them.
Select files that aren’t close to each other by pressing and holding Command while clicking objects individually.
- Hold and drag your mouse to the new destination. Let go to move the highlighted selection to the new folder or position.
If you have trouble dragging a highlighted selection, ensure you press the mouse the entire time without lifting your finger.
Right-click on Mac
Control-click on a Mac is similar to right-click on a Windows computer—it’s how you open shortcut (or contextual) menus on a Mac.
- Control-click: Press and hold the Control key while you click an item.
For example, Control-click an icon, a window, the toolbar, the desktop, or another item. The options shown in the shortcut menu vary depending on the item you click.
- Customise how you Control-click: Change options for secondary click for your trackpad or for your mouse.
Use trackpad and mouse gestures on Mac
When you use an Apple trackpad or a Magic Mouse with your Mac, you can use gestures — such as click, tap, pinch and swipe — to zoom in on documents, browse through music or webpages, rotate photos, open Notification Centre, and more.
Trackpad gestures
Use one or more fingers on the surface of your trackpad to click, tap, slide, swipe, and more. For example, to move between pages of a document, swipe left or right with two fingers.
- To view the trackpad gestures you can use on your Mac and a brief video demonstrating each gesture, choose Apple menu
.
You can also turn off or customise gestures in Trackpad preferences.
Mouse gestures
Use one or more fingers on the surface of your mouse to click, tap, slide or swipe items. For example, to move between pages of a document, swipe left or right with one finger.
- To view the mouse gestures you can use on your Mac and a brief video demonstrating each gesture, choose Apple menu
.
You can also turn off or customise gestures in Mouse preferences.
