Resolved Finder: drag item to other folder, and...

[DeltaMac]

Ah, maybe. I don't have anything that uses gestures, so that might make a difference, too.

As far as the preferences goes - I tried it checked, then unchecked, restarted, and found the spring-loaded folders didn't work at all without the preference checked (no surprise there ), then re-checked the setting. The spring-loaded folders did not work on my system until I restarted the Mac. And, no change in the response after toggling that setting (dragging to the finder icon would only show a folder open when at least one is already open, otherwise just a blank screen.)

 

[bmac89]

I am not sure if you are replying to me or bmac89.

Starting with no open Finder windows, on my MBA running PB2, dragging from the desktop to the Folder Icon on the Dock does open a new Finder window and I can drill down any folder structure and finally drop the item at the proper location.

DS

There may be some confusion here...?

Dragging a file from the desktop onto a "Folder Icon" on the dock opens the folder as expected, however dragging a file to the "Finder Icon" on the dock does not open a finder window unless one is already open. Instead it activates the show all windows... only there are no finder windows to show because none are open.

 

[dsemf]

There may be some confusion here...?

Dragging a file from the desktop onto a "Folder Icon" on the dock opens the folder as expected, however dragging a file to the "Finder Icon" on the dock does not open a finder window unless one is already open. Instead it activates the show all windows... only there are no finder windows to show because none are open.

My mistake. I meant to say Finder icon, not Folder icon.

Do you use a mouse? I suspect that DeltaMac does since he has a Mac Mini. I use a the MBA trackpad. I wonder if the pointer device type has an impact on the results?

DS

 

[dsemf]

Latest test results:

You guys are not going to believe this, but it appears to be tied to "System Preferences > General > Automatically hide and show menu bar".

I decided to see if hiding the Dock had any impact but it did not. Then I tried disabling the menu bar option. It stopped working. Enabled it again and it started working. The spring delay only affects what happens after the window is open.

Like I mentioned earlier, it takes a couple of seconds. If you watch the Finder icon while hovering over the icon, it flashes when it tries to open the window.

DS

 

[bmac89]

My mistake. I meant to say Finder icon, not Folder icon.

Do you use a mouse? I suspect that DeltaMac does since he has a Mac Mini. I use a the MBA trackpad. I wonder if the pointer device type has an impact on the results?

DS

I have tried using both mouse and trackpad. Also my Dock/menu bar is always visible.

P.S. I have taken a screen recording (using quicktime) of the behaviour on Snow Leopard and El Capitan. I will upload it later.
If you don't mind can you do the same - I can't understand why it would be working for you. I'm convinced it is a removed feature rather than a bug.

 

[DeltaMac]

To paraphrase what I said in an earlier post, dragging a file or folder to the finder icon in the Dock in Lion, or older OS X will spring open a Finder folder, whether one is already open or not. Allows one to drill down through folders, as needed. Try that in Mountain Lion or later, again with no folder already open, you only get the "show finder windows", I suppose, but with no folders open, you get nothing. If you have any application windows open, those will show when you trigger "show all windows", but (you can try this), even if you have applications windows open, but no finder windows open, then you get a blank screen. The older result was to show all finder windows, and that apparently is the difference, as that feature no longer works after Lion. And, apparently system-wide, and one of the results is that the spring-open folders have less direct utility. And, that was changed about 3 years ago, when Mountain Lion was released.

 

[dsemf]

Here is my screen recording:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pcmx0779ijow3qg/finder.mov?dl=0

DS

 

[DeltaMac]

Ah, OK, I see it.
I can get it to work if I turn on "Automatically hide and show the menu bar".
If that is off (unchecked), then the spring-open to the finder icon doesn't work...
I tried a number of different combinations. The only one that works for me is that choice "Automatically hide and show menu bar"
I don't use that option, but who would have thought that would affect it. Something to do with the Dock service, I expect.
But, then that option doesn't exist prior to El Capitan.

 

[dsemf]

Ah, OK, I see it.
I can get it to work if I turn on "Automatically hide and show the menu bar".
If that is off (unchecked), then the spring-open to the finder icon doesn't work...
I tried a number of different combinations. The only one that works for me is that choice "Automatically hide and show menu bar"
I don't use that option, but who would have thought that would affect it. Something to do with the Dock service, I expect.
But, then that option doesn't exist prior to El Capitan.

Thanks for confirming that I was not crazy.

It took a long time to determine that the menu bar option was the key. Since I like a clean desktop, I have been running with the menu bar hidden since PB1.

Now we can provide detailed feedback to Apple to make the Finder Dock icon process generally available.

DS

 

[bmac89]

Thanks for confirming that I was not crazy.

It took a long time to determine that the menu bar option was the key. Since I like a clean desktop, I have been running with the menu bar hidden since PB1.

Now we can provide detailed feedback to Apple to make the Finder Dock icon process generally available.

DS

Wow, I just tested what you said (Automatically hide menu bar) and dragging a file to the finder now works.
Now we can be much more specific wth providing feedback. I hope you and others will provide feedback even if this does not directly effect your workflow.

I really hope Apple fixes this and brings back the proper function.

Thanks for your discovery and for hearing me out regarding this issue.