I can't find airdrop in the finder

[Omar Zeiada]

I can't find airdrop in the finder
and when I located it in the library and clicked on it I got error message
" the operation could not be completed because the item can't be found "

I have MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011) with macOS Catalina 10.15.3 (19D76)
Please Help

 

[avz]

I can't find airdrop in the finder
and when I located it in the library and clicked on it I got error message
" the operation could not be completed because the item can't be found "

I have MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011) with macOS Catalina 10.15.3 (19D76)
Please Help

Install Mojave and "leave your machine there".

 

[jparker402]

I have an early 2015 MacBook Air, am running Catalina, and Airdrop does show in Finder. Do you have to go to preferences and select what shows up in Finder? Afraid I don't know.

 

[avz]

I have an early 2015 MacBook Air, am running Catalina, and Airdrop does show in Finder. Do you have to go to preferences and select what shows up in Finder? Afraid I don't know.

Your machine is supported and the OP's machine is unsupported even for Mojave.

 

[jparker402]

Guess my edit didn't work. Go to Finder Preferences, and select Airdrop. Believe it should show up then.

Edit: Just Read ave's comment on the OP's machine being unsupported. So maybe my suggestion won't work.

 

[chabig]

How to tell if your Mac supports AirDrop, a device-to-device wireless file transfer feature

Wondering if your Mac, iPad, or iPhone supports AirDrop file transfer or not? Check out this guide to find out.

www.idownloadblog.com

However, Airdrop is only supported on mid-2012 MacBook Pros and newer:

AirDrop - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[avz]

How to tell if your Mac supports AirDrop, a device-to-device wireless file transfer feature

Wondering if your Mac, iPad, or iPhone supports AirDrop file transfer or not? Check out this guide to find out.

www.idownloadblog.com

However, Airdrop is only supported on mid-2012 MacBook Pros and newer:

AirDrop - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Airdrop works without any issues on my late 2008 MacBook, it is the Catalina that makes it difficult. The guys in the Catalina unsupported thread figured it out how to enable Airdrop on unsupported machines but I just can't recommend to the OP fiddling with the kext replacements. The fact that he had to ask this question means that he is not very technical.

 

[jparker402]

Avz, just reading on MSN.com technology news this morning that Apple's iCloud Drive lets you set up and share files across Apple systems. Just needs for each person to have an Apple ID, an iCloud account and set up the systems. Might want to check on that. Sounds like perhaps that replaces Airdrop.

 

[Murgatroyd314]

Avz, just reading on MSN.com technology news this morning that Apple's iCloud Drive lets you set up and share files across Apple systems. Just needs for each person to have an Apple ID, an iCloud account and set up the systems. Might want to check on that. Sounds like perhaps that replaces Airdrop.

The key difference is that iCloud Drive requires an active internet connection, while Airdrop does not.

 

[avz]

The key difference is that iCloud Drive requires an active internet connection, while Airdrop does not.

Plus most telco providers don't give you an unlimited free mobile data to use with cloud services. And mobile data is not cheap.

 

[MBAir2010]

I just installed Catalina on a MacBook Air 2010 and air dry does not show in the sidebar
I cannot right click and send a file to the macmini
and nothing can go to the MacBook Air Catalina
Oh well this could be a (insert impressive piece of tech equipment here) oversight.
wa can't complain since  won't support our s

 

[wonderings]

I just installed Catalina on a MacBook Air 2010 and air dry does not show in the sidebar
I cannot right click and send a file to the macmini
and nothing can go to the MacBook Air Catalina
Oh well this could be a (insert impressive piece of tech equipment here) oversight.
wa can't complain since  won't support our s

Just Apple's way of saying your computer is no longer good enough. No technical reason why Air Drop should not work, only Apple deems it no longer worthy and holds back. One of the great things about Apple, they hold back on features so you know it is time to give them more money.

 

[Boyd01]

Just Apple's way of saying your computer is no longer good enough.

According to Apple, the mid-2012 model is the oldest MacBook Air supported by Catalina. Hopefully somebody will have a helpful suggestion, but IMO it's not surprising there are some incompatibilies when installing an unsupported operating system on a twelve year old Mac.