On my new M4 refurbished Mac mini, when I drag a file onto a folder, the folder wont open.

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Level 1

11 points

On my new M4 refurbished Mac mini, when I drag a file onto a folder, the folder wont open.

Hello,

I recently got a refurbished M4 Mac mini, with 256 Gb, running on Sequoia. While using it, I noticed that when I drag a file onto a folder and hold it there for a while (sometimes a looooong time), the folder doesn't open. I use a Kensington trackball and it's under settings of Kensington Konnect (the newest version). I have tried through Shared Screen (LAN connection to my M1 Macbook Pro) and again the folder doesn't open.

After reading through the community, I tried relaunching Finder but that didn't solve the problem.

I have been a long time Mac user for decades and this is the first time I haven't been able to drag a file onto a folder and have it open.

Also, this isn't the only weird thing. When I am sharing the screen and I want to drag a file from my Macbook Pro to a hard drive that is connected to the Mac Mini via usb, it will not allow me.

I have opened the usb hard drive and tried to drag a file from my Macbook Pro to the window of the opened hard drive and it still will not allow me. I did a get info and made sure I had permission.

I can drag a file to the usb drive if I go to network > Mac mini > usb hard drive, and mount it onto my Macbook Pro's desktop. However, I can't do it through the GUI of Share Screen. If I go GUI, I always need to drag it to the Mac mini's desktop then drag it from desktop to the window of the opened hard drive.

Are there any settings in System Settings, that I need to look at? I have used the Kensington trackball without any problems for many years. Are there any problems with Kensington Konnect software?

Thank you for any Help

Mac mini, macOS 15.5

Posted on Jul 2, 2025 1:19 PM

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Answer 1

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,120 points

Jul 2, 2025 1:23 PM in response to Scarpogre

Are there any settings in System Settings, that I need to look at? I

yes, the accessibility system settings under pointer control you’re looking for the spring loading delay must be turned on and then adjust the timing to what suits you

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Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

68,612 points

Jul 3, 2025 9:10 AM in response to Scarpogre

Scarpogre wrote:

Hello,

I recently got a refurbished M4 Mac mini, with 256 Gb, running on Sequoia.

When you first booted this refurbished Mac, were you greeted with Setup Assistant to configure the system or did it already have a user account configured? If the latter, then the seller did not properly prepare the Mac for sale as detailed in the following Apple article:

What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac - Apple Support

I would never use a device which had an existing user account (even if empty) since you don't know what may have been done to it or what nasties may be lurking out of sight....in fact I recommend people perform a clean install even if the seller has already done so because it could reveal other issues with the device, plus then you know without a doubt the device was properly setup & configured. Doing this with a Mac can also sometimes reveal that the device is still being managed by a previous owner.

If you bought a refurbished Mac directly from Apple, then those steps should have already been done properly, but third parties are not usually that reliable or trustworthy in that regard.

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Answer 3

Jul 2, 2025 1:33 PM in response to Scarpogre

For your first-noted issue, folder not opening:

EXACTLY what folder are you trying to drop this file into? There are many folders on a Mac you do NOT have access to, including Top_level on the Boot drive.

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For your second-noted issue, can't seem to drag-and-drop while screen sharing:

There are settings inside Screen Sharing App that allow or dis-allow the ability to share clipboards.

The ability to drag and drop Icons between Shared screen and Host screen, SHOULD be available, provided you have proper write access to the destination Folder.

Keep in mind such File Transfers will be glacially slow across only a Wi-Fi network, so the folders do not SPRING open and they may seem to be not making any progress. I use fast Ethernet, and they are still a bit slower than I would like.

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Answer 4

Scarpogre Author

Level 1

11 points

Jul 2, 2025 2:00 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks Bennet-Alder!

My laptop most of the time, is connected to LAN via wifi, the Mini is connected via Ethernet, although if I want to transfer a large file I'll connect laptop to ethernet.

I'm not overly concerned with small file sharing GUI style, I can easily just put file to the Mac mini's desktop, then move it to specific location. However, for large files I will mount the location to the Macbook Pro's desktop and transfer to specific location.

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Answer 5

Jul 2, 2025 2:15 PM in response to Scarpogre

You should be able to drag and drop wherever you please (except not inside system-reserved folders).

Check that same setting Barney-15E pointed out on your remote Mac as well.

If you move a file on the same DRIVE, your Mac modifies the Directory, only. So once you get it on the right Drive, adjusting it to a different folder on the same drive is trivial. Even if the file itself is immense, it will not be replicated to effect a MOVE operation.

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