# Can't Drag & Drop or Copy & Paste



## DivineMsEm (Jul 27, 2009)

I suddenly lost the ability to drag and drop and copy and paste.  I've looked up previous threads and have done what they suggested to no avail.  I've restarted finder; rebooted the computer; repaired disk permissions; and tried to trash the cache file "com.apple.dock.iconcache" but when I ctrl + clicked it to send it to the trash, it was removed from the cache folder but doesn't show up in the trash bin.  This is my work computer so I need this resolved ASAP.  

G5 Powermac Dual 2 GHz PowerPC with OS 10.5.6

Thanks!


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## djackmac (Jul 27, 2009)

There are at least 3 different ways to do those functions.
1. Edit menu
2. control + click
3. keyboard shortcuts
4. If using a two button mouse, right click

Which of these methods is not working or are all not working?


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## DivineMsEm (Jul 27, 2009)

Actually, none of them were working.  I cleared out all the cache and preferences that I could think of that wouldn't cause any harm to the comp or any programs, then rebooted, and somehow that solved the problem.  I guess it was some weird preference somewhere that caused Finder to freak out.  Thanks for your help, though!


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## MisterMe (Jul 27, 2009)

DivineMsEm said:


> I suddenly lost the ability to drag and drop and copy and paste.  ...


Which applications are you not able to cut & paste in?


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## minou (Jul 29, 2009)

I am having the same problem. Two days ago, I suddenly couldn't drag and drop anymore, from ANY application. I found a few threads that deal with this but no real solution. The OS and model don't seem to be the issue.

The macosxhints Forums - Can't Drag and Drop [Archive]
Macrumors - Can't Drag and Drop! Help
Daniweb - Can't Drag and Drop


Finder : 
Can't copy, paste, drag, drop. Icons can be clicked on and selected but can't be moved. 
Sherlock doesn't work - the magnifying glass icon has disappeared from the top right corner, command+space doesn't get it open either. Can still search for files by clicking in the search bar in the folder window. 

Adobe :
In Design + Illustrator won't open anymore
Photoshop starts up but I get two dialog boxes before it gets stuck:
'Could not import the clipboard because of a program error' then
'An unexpected and unrecoverable problem has occurred. Photoshop will now exit.'
Acrobat seems OK, can import via import option.

Microsoft :
Importing (attachments for mails in Entourage, images into Word/Excel) seems to work but needs to be done from within the program. Maybe related, last week the Entourage database was damaged and had to be rebuilt after only 4 months of use. 
BUT when copying/pasting in Excel I get the message : 'Cannot empty the Clipboard'.
In Word I get 'There is not enough memory or disk space to complete the operation'.
In Entourage - no message but it doesn't work.

Apple :
FCP - can import via import option AND drag and drop within the application. 
Motion - movies can be imported via import but CAN'T drag and drop within the app. Can't copy/paste either


Have tried :

° Deleting the prefs files
com.apple.desktop.plist
com.apple.dock.plist
com.apple.finder.plist
com.apple.LaunchServices.plist

° Logging in as a new user

° Safe rebooting + launching Disk Utility
verified the disk  - 'The volume seems to be OK.'
around 30 permissions were repaired, mostly
System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/...
System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/iPhotoAccess.framework/Versions/...
System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileDevice.framework/Versions/...
Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/...

° Clearing the pasteboard
by typing 'echo "" | pbcopy' into the terminal
(judging from the errors something big is stuck in the pasteboard)


But the problem persists. I'm hesitant to do a clean install, it may fix the problem but it only seems to work for a short while. I'd like to run a disk utility from a MBP running  10.4.11. The affected machine is a MBP - OS 10.5.6. Can I do this? Or is there something else I shoud try?

thanks


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## Rafael V (Aug 11, 2009)

Im having the exactly same problem here, the problems began shortly after updating some minor Apple softwares (itunes, isomething, ietc) and now i'm stuck. I'm afraid to reinstall everything cause i'm not familiar with Macs (started using 1 week ago, since i got this Mac) and i can't lose all the documents and data here.

And i cant back them up cause i cant copy nor drag anything!


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## Rafael V (Aug 12, 2009)

minou, i tryied upgrading the 10.5.6 to 10.5.8 and it didn't fixed my problem. Only made it worst, i couldn't reinstall the OS X that came with the computer cause now i had a newer version!

So i partitioned my HD in 2, and installed the Mac OSX it on the second partition. Imported all settings, applications and files. Now everything seems to be working just fine, i can drag and drop and all Adobe CS4 products are OK.


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## minou (Aug 13, 2009)

thanks rafael, was hoping for a less drastic solution for the same reason - i couldn't back anything up. got an external hd now so looks like i'm going to have to bite the bullet... if anyone ever finds another solution to this mysterious problem please post!


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## Rafael V (Aug 14, 2009)

The problem is, even with an external HD, you probably won't be able to backup any file. Unless you share your entire hard drive and acess your Mac from another computer on your network. With no dragging nor copying/cutting you can't select anything!

If you have enough space in your hard drive, just partition and then import all settings from the "old" OS X after you reinstall on the new partition. I've read that OS X 10.5 and beyond can partition without losing data, so i decided to give it a try.

Go to Applications\Utilities\Disk Utilities - select your disk, click on the *+* add a name and drag the partition to define it's size. Then Apply. (i had no idea how to do it so i googled "partition mac")

During the operation, Disk Utility crashed 3 times, i created the partition (crashed in the end), It was there but wasn't working.

Then verifyied it (another crash) and finally Erased it even though it was already empty - and voilà, it worked!

Reinstalling on the new partition was pretty easy, importing all data and account information took a long time (81 Gb of data). All data and applications were duplicated, now my " old" partition is my backup and Mac is working again, happily dragging and dropping.


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## minou (Aug 15, 2009)

didn't know you could partition without wiping everything. was going to connect it to my old powerbook and copy bits and pieces in target mode, then put it on the hd... 

thanks for this. hope to drag and drop again soon


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## Redspin (Sep 2, 2009)

Don't know if you fixed the drag and drop problem. I had the exact same problem until today. I tried everything the apple tech guy took me through. The last thing he wanted me to do was upgrade to snow leopard as I did not have the original install disks for 10.5. Well I went out and got the upgrade, installed it and now everything works fine. I can even print as well as drag and drop. My cs3 programs launch without quitting too. Hope this helps.


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## minou (Sep 4, 2009)

Thanks, I managed to fix it. For some reason I couldn't partition the disk, it kept saying no space left on device even when I split the partitions in half (only a third of the disk was used). So went for the clean install and so far so good - I lost nothing and everything's back as it was.


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## mara_snh (Sep 17, 2009)

I've had the same problem with Word for over a month and it was driving me nuts. I finally deleted two files from User/Library/Preferences

_com.microsoft.Word.plist
Microsoft Word_ (located in the "Microsoft Word" subfolder)

I then rebooted and the problem was gone.

EDIT: Well, that lasted for one launch of Word. This is so maddening! I guess I'll just have to stick to Pages and SAve As Word for clients on the Dark Side. You lost me, Microsoft, though it's not like you ever really had me.


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## dushuai (Sep 18, 2009)

djackmac said:


> There are at least 3 different ways to do those functions.
> 1. Edit menu
> 2. control + click
> 3. keyboard shortcuts
> ...



still studying


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## jmcintyre (Sep 21, 2009)

I found another solution to this problem that worked for me, and it was much simpler than an archive & install: the file "/tmp" (a symbolic link to "/private/tmp") was missing from my startup disk. More information and detailed instructions:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7980907#post7980907


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## webpilot (Dec 12, 2009)

I have this problem all the time and it is extremely annoying. The way I solve it is to run snow leopard cache cleaner. I do a "deep clean" which requires a restart, although maybe some less severe setting would work fine. It works every time when I start my computer back up, but only for a little while.

It seems that there must be some file that keeps getting corrupted, and if I just knew which one to delete it would save me a lot of shut down/start up time.


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## webpilot (Dec 12, 2009)

...1 minute later. Now it's working again without having done anything at all. There's something weird with the mac os.


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## MikeS11 (May 18, 2012)

I suddenly lost the ability to drag and drop or cut and past images from one TextEdit file into another TextEdit file.  If I try to copy and paste an image from the same file, everything works!
I verified that /tmp@ -> /private/tmp and made is writable, but the problem persists.

I noticed that every time I try to copy from one TextEdit file into another, the system console print two messages upon attempting a paste:
TextEdit(149) deny system-socket
and
TextEdit(149) deny network-outbound 69.###.###.##:80
Any ideas?


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