How to scroll while dragging a file on a Mac

Hold the dragged file at the top or bottom edge of the list and the window scrolls by itself. With a mouse, you can usually keep the button held and roll the scroll wheel at the same time. When the destination is a long way down, the calmer fix is to bring it into view before you pick the file up, or to put the file down somewhere while you scroll.

Let the window scroll for you

Finder, and most Mac apps with a scrolling list, scroll automatically when you hold a dragged item at the edge of the visible area.

1. Pick up the file and carry it to the list you want to scroll.
2. Hold the pointer at the top or bottom edge of that list.
3. The list starts to move. Nudge the pointer toward the edge to speed it up and away from it to slow down. Exactly where scrolling kicks in varies a little from app to app, so a few seconds of feeling for it is normal.
4. When the folder you want comes into view, move onto it and let go.

The catch is control. In a long list the scrolling is either too slow to be useful or fast enough to overshoot, and in list view every row you pass is a possible drop target. Pause over a folder for a moment and spring-loading opens it, which is helpful when you meant it and confusing when you did not. The delay, or the whole feature, lives in System Settings > Accessibility > Pointer Control.

Scroll with your other hand or other fingers

• Mouse with a scroll wheel. Keep the button held and roll the wheel. The list under the pointer scrolls while the file stays attached. This is the most dependable way to scroll mid-drag.
• Trackpad. Some people hold the click with a thumb and scroll with two fingers of the same hand. It takes practice, and some apps ignore scrolling during a drag. If you use three-finger drag, scrolling mid-drag is harder still, since the drag ends as soon as you lift. How to turn on three-finger drag on a Mac, and when to use it covers the trade-offs.
• Mouse with a touch surface. Holding the click while swiping on the same surface is awkward for most hands. Edge scrolling is the more reliable option.

Bring the target into view first

Often the best answer is to avoid scrolling during the drag at all. Before you pick the file up, rearrange the view so the file and its destination are both on screen.

1. Collapse what you are not using. In list view, click the arrow beside an open folder to close it. Option-click the arrow to close that folder and every folder inside it.
2. Keep folders on top. In Finder > Settings > Advanced, turn on “Keep folders on top” for windows sorted by name. Destinations then sit together at the start of the list instead of scattered among files.
3. Sort by what you remember. Click a column header such as Date Modified to bring the folders you use most often near the top.
4. Give the destination its own place. Right-click the destination folder and choose Open in New Tab, then drag the file onto that tab’s title. How to move a file between Finder tabs on a Mac walks through it.
5. Use the sidebar or path bar. Drag a folder you file into often into the sidebar’s Favorites section, and it becomes a drop target that never scrolls away. For a folder above the current one, choose View > Show Path Bar; each folder shown along the bottom of the window accepts drops.

Skip the drag entirely

If you are moving a file within Finder, cut and paste avoids the whole problem. Select the file and press Command-C. Scroll, collapse and open folders as much as you like with nothing in your hand. When you are inside the destination folder, press Option-Command-V to move the file there. How to cut and paste files on a Mac explains why Command-X does not work on files and what to use instead.

This works well inside Finder. It helps less when the file starts in another app, such as a mail message or a browser window, because not every app puts a file on the clipboard in a form Finder can paste.

Put the file down while you scroll

The real difficulty is that a drag asks you to do two things at once: hold something and look for somewhere. Separate the two jobs and scrolling stops being a problem.

Ledge gives you somewhere to put the file down. Drag it a short way up to the notch at the top of the screen and let go; it lands on a shelf that drops from the notch and stays there until you take it somewhere. Now scroll, collapse folders, change the sort, open the subfolder you need, with both hands free and nothing to drop by accident. When the destination is on screen, open the shelf with Option-Space or a click on the notch, and drag the file down onto the folder. Dropped on a Finder folder, the file itself moves there.

The same shelf holds several files at once, which helps when the destination is far away and you have more than one thing to take there. Pick each up as you find it, then make the trip once. On a Mac without a notch, the shelf sits at the top center of the screen. Picking up a file now and deciding where it goes later describes the habit in more detail.

Questions

Why does the list fly past the folder I want?

The pointer is sitting too close to the edge. Move it slightly back toward the middle of the list to slow the scrolling, or collapse folders first so there is less to scroll past.

Why did a folder open while I was scrolling?

That is spring-loading. Pausing over a folder with a file in hand opens it after a short delay. Move the pointer away and it closes again. You can lengthen the delay or turn the feature off in System Settings > Accessibility > Pointer Control.

Does edge scrolling work outside Finder?

In most apps with lists, sidebars or long documents, yes. Some custom views and web pages do not scroll during a drag, and those are the places where putting the file down first saves the most effort.