[TonyTrapp]

> Even more interesting is when I see my partner try to do something on my Mac using a trackpad, he seems... apprehensive? Like he is so afraid of doing the wrong thing and for me this trackpad has never done something I didn't want it to do. Like without even thinking about it while I was re-reading this comment, I had fingers just resting on my trackpad.

I think I'll never "get" drag&drop on MacBook touchpads. Every time I try to do it, I accidentally open the file info, or the touchpad is too small to actually reach the place where I want to drop the file to. It is absolutely doing things I don't want it to do. I absolutely dread having to use the touchpad. (that applies to other laptops too, though)

[nerdjon]

Since you mention the touchpad being too small, are you trying to drag and drop with one finger or multiple?

What I always just do is click with my thumb and move around with my other fingers. As long as my thumb stays down it stays selected. Then just a few quick swipes with my finger gets whatever it is I am selecting where I want to go.

Same works for windows and anything you click and drag. Admittedly there is a quirk here that I have noticed, if for some reason I click and try to drag with the same finger, I then can't switch to dragging around with a different finger.

But personally I treat my thumb just resting no the track pad as my click finger and move/gesture with my other fingers.

[pico303]

This is 100% the way to do it.

It just came so naturally because I’ve used Macs for years. But I’ve noticed on Linux and Windows laptops (even Windows on an Intel MacBook) this approach doesn’t work. I find it so frustrating when I have to use a trackpad with any other OS, I completely understand all those users carrying around a mouse to use with their laptop, and why they look at us like we’re nuts!

[nerdjon]

You know I never really thought about where that habit came from. It’s been so long that it’s just second nature at this point, I dont think about it anymore than I think about typing or using a game controller.

That presents an interesting problem. The older physical click trackpads had a physical thing to encourage a specific use of it. Now that the device doesn’t care where you click, there is no longer something there to naturally find using it in this way.

[fernmyth]

This works on my system76 lemur pro 10 with pop!_os: - click and hold on the touchpad with thumb - swipe with another finger to drag around. Multiple, disjoint strokes work, so there's nothing special about switching fingers

It would be a bit uncomfortable to do for long periods, since my thumb has to hold down with clicking force.

[Sakos]

On that note, why is this possible on iOS but not Android? It's even possible to pick up several icons on the homescreen and then move them to a different screen with your other fingers. Android is a nightmare by comparison.

[macintux]

One configuration I always immediately make is enabling three-finger dragging, along with tap-to-click. Significantly reduces the friction (both literal and figurative).

[vmirnv]

I've found that many Mac users aren't aware of the three-finger drag and select feature, and it seems Apple has somewhat hidden this setting for some reason: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/102341

With tap-to-click, my touchpad is completely silent.

[c-hendricks]

I've used it since before it was shunted to Accessibility settings.

Nowadays, sometimes Finder gets confused when you use 3-finger drag, and it doesn't work with sliders in the newer control center released years ago.

[Toutouxc]

FWIW, 3-finger drag works perfectly for me. I've never used anything else. Currently on M1 Air with Sonoma.

[lhamil64]

I don't have a MacBook but I looked up a video and this seems interesting. But how does it solve the problem of hitting the edge of the trackpad? If anything, it seems like it makes the problem worse because now you have three fingers on the trackpad so you will hit the edge quicker.

[macintux]

The gesture is "sticky" when moving objects: you can lift your fingers long enough to move them to the other side of the trackpad to continue dragging.

For selecting text, the trackpad is large enough for nearly any selection.

[nerdjon]

So I will do my best to explain it, one of the hard problems here is this is just kinda second nature for me. So I may not do a good enough job of explaining it.

But ok so for me, I basically am always resting my thumb (I am right handed if that helps visualize) on the bottom-ish part of my trackpad. So so when I am moving my mouse I have 2 fingers on it. My thumb is just sitting there and my index is moving around.

My thumb is basically my clicking button. It doesn't have to be, but for me it is. It also doesn't have to be at the bottom, I can click anywhere which is nice when I am quickly going from my keyboard to my trackpad and need to click something.

So because I click with my thumb and move with my other finger(s). I can click to drag, select, whatever it is that I am doing with my thumb. And them move with my other finger. With my thumb staying down, I am free to pickup and move my finger as many times as I need. I can pickup my finger for as long as I need to and it will stay selected for as long as my thumb is still there "pressed".

With acceleration that Mac uses, with just a few quick swipes I can easily move a window between 3 monitors.

Since the trackpad is also not physically moving when I "click", it is just pressure sensitive. It also isn't a strain to keep my thumb down.

[lhamil64]

Oh I get using your thumb to click/hold like it's a button. I was questioning the three-finger-drag but the other comment answered it, the gesture is "sticky" so you can reposition quickly when you hit the edge.

[prewett]

I find it easier to rest my second finger and drag with the third finger as I don't have to twist my hand that way.

[FergusArgyll]

Someone I know who's been using apple forever does the same and it always confuses me. Now I know why!

[al_borland]

This is also a holdover from how older trackpads with physical buttons worked. The buttons were at the bottom, so click with the thumb and move with the finger(s).

This is how I first used a trackpad 20+ years ago and I never felt the need to change. I tried some of the newer ways to click and drag and they all seemed worse. Tap to click is the first thing I disable on any laptop, that’s what my thumb is for.

[TonyTrapp]

Thanks for the hint, I will give that a try.

[TN1ck]

Try accessibility settings and then 3 finger drag (switching spaces will become 4 fingers). It works really great and makes working in design tools feasible.

[mewpmewp2]

Doesn't putting 3 fingers on a track pad already feel so damn awkward? I have to position my wrist so oddly to do something like that.

[eyelidlessness]

Are you positioning your wrist differently for three fingers than for one to place your fingers at a particular angle on the trackpad? Or just to reach further into the trackpad to make room for the other fingers? If it’s the former, you don’t need to do that, it will work at whatever angle feels comfortable to you.

[mewpmewp2]

So my hands are always resting on ASDF and JKL;

Most natural to use the track pad is to curl my right hand towards me with my wrist still touching the macbook. One finger feels decent, but already 2 fingers feels a bit off to me. And 3 fingers even worse. It's really stretching my wrist at that point. My wrist is always positioned on right of the trackpad, but putting 3 fingers on the trackpad is putting it at an uncomfortable angle.

Even with one finger I think I have to bring my wrist quite away from the usual position though, off the laptop with its bottom. But three fingers feels uncomfortable even when I do that.

[Vegenoid]

Personally, I find 3-finger drag to be a dream. I have spent many hours happily using a MacBook this way, and can’t imagine how I’d want it to change.

[mikae1]

Three finger drag is a dream. I have switched to Linux and I'm missing it sorely. Linux is lagging behind, but there are hacks. https://github.com/marsqing/libinput-three-finger-drag

[jxdxbx]

I love drag-and-dropping to arbitrary locations in the Finder using spring-loaded folders. I think it is a bit tricky…if you don’t know the trick.

[int_19h]

On laptops with physical left/right buttons, it's as easy and straightforward as it is with the mouse. Thinkpads would be one prominent example.

[data-ottawa]

I turn on the accessibility setting for drag lock as the first thing I do on any new macOS install, that helps a lot

[piva00]

I always turn on 3-finger drag in any Mac I use, not once someone complained I enabled that option for them. I don't understand why it isn't the default...