The MacBook Pro’s desktop contains icons that represent files, folders, mounted drives and aliases to files, folders and applications. A double-click on an icon accesses a folder, opens a file or launches a program. You can rearrange the icons on your MacBook Pro’s desktop manually or by choosing different sorting options.
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Click any empty space on the MacBook Pro's desktop. Click “View” in the menu bar and select “Show View Options.”
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Drag the “Icon Size” slider to the left to make icons smaller or drag it to the right to make them larger. Drag the “Grid Spacing” slider to the left to arrange your icons in a tight grid or drag it to the right to make a larger grid.
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Click the “Text Size” drop-down menu and then click a size for the text label of each icon, such as “10” or “12.” Click a “Label Position” radio button to make labels appear at the bottom or to the right of their icons. Click the “Show Icon Preview” check box.
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Click the “Sort By” drop-down menu and then click an option such as “Name,” “Date Modified” or “Size” to arrange your icons accordingly.
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Select “None” to enable free-form arrangements and then click and drag icons to any position on the desktop.
I am having some problems with my Desktop on a relatively new Lion install. I can't move folders around [when I try, the icon gets the slashed-O "no" symbol and they bounce back where they came from], and the "New Folder" menu item on Finder is grayed out [and, likewise, shift-cmnd-N does nothing].
I've tried the following:
Making sure the "View" "Sort by" setting is set to "None".
Checking permissions. "Get Info" shows all access control entries with "read and write" permissions [including "everyone" listed twice], and ls -le shows:
drwxrwxrwx@ 31 username username 1054 Nov 23 23:25 Desktop
0: group:everyone allow list,add_file,search,add_subdirectory,readattr,writeattr, readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
I also ran "Repair File Permissions" on the main hard disk.
Deleting my ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist file, and having that regenerate after a restart.
Confirming that the Desktop is not locked, both through Finder "get info" [confirming that the "Locked" checkbox is not checked] and through ls -lO [no flags listed].
Further, I have noticed that although I cannot create a new folder on the Desktop using shift-cmnd-N or the Finder menu, I can "mkdir" a new Desktop folder in the terminal.
Any ideas?
Update: I may have found a clue -- the result of xattr -l Desktop shows that the com.apple.FinderInfo attribute is set, with bytes 9 and 10 set to 20 and 10 respectively. Is this normal? [By contrast, my older Mac has no attributes set on Desktop.]
Hold down the Command [⌘] key. Hover your mouse cursor over the icon you want to move. Holding down the left mouse button, drag the icon into your preferred position on the menu bar. Other icons will step aside to make space for it.
Quick Answer, how do I arrange icons on my MacBook Pro? Click the desktop, choose View > Sort By, then choose an option. If you want to control the placement of your files on the desktop, keep Sort By set to none. You can still arrange files neatly when desired—just click the desktop, choose View > Clean Up By, then choose how you’d like to arrange the files.
Correspondingly, why can’t I drag icons on my Mac?
You asked, how do I drag icons on my MacBook? Go to ‘System Preferences’, then ‘Accessibility’ and ‘Pointer Control’. Click ‘Trackpad Options,’ ‘Enable dragging,’ and then click ‘Three finger drag’ in the drop-down menu. If you’re dragging and dropping a lot of files, this is an invaluable gesture.
Subsequently, how do I move icons anywhere on Mac?
- Click any empty space on the MacBook Pro‘s desktop.
- Drag the “Icon Size” slider to the left to make icons smaller or drag it to the right to make them larger.
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To arrange icons by name, type, date, or size, right-click a blank area on the desktop, and then click Arrange Icons. Click the command that indicates how you want to arrange the icons [by Name, by Type, and so on]. If you want the icons to be automatically arranged, click Auto Arrange.
How do I organize my Mac Home screen?
- Click on the View menu in Finder and select Clean up to make all icons align properly. 2. If you want your desktop icons to be auto-arranged, you can do so by clicking on the View menu and then hold on the ALT key on the keyboard until you see the “Keep Arranged By” option show up on the View menu.
Why is drag and drop not working?
The solution: Left click a file, keep the left click pressed, and then hit Escape. When drag and drop does not work, left-click a file in File Explorer and keep the left click mouse button pressed. … Finally, try to drag and drop again. This feature should work now.
How do I enable drag and drop on my Macbook Pro?
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Accessibility.
- Select Pointer Control in the sidebar.
- Click the Trackpad Options button.
- Select ”Enable dragging,” then choose ”three finger drag” from the menu.
- Click OK.
Why can’t I click and drag on my Mac trackpad?
First, select the Apple Menu and choose System Preferences. Click the Accessibility category, then pick Mouse & Trackpad on the left sidebar. Choose Trackpad Options to finally reach the needed menu. Check the Enable dragging setting.
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Why won’t My Mac Let me highlight words?
To fix that, please try one of the following: Change your Fade In custom page/text colors to light-on-dark under Preferences > User Interface > Page Colors. Uncheck Preferences > User Interface > Use system selection color to use Fade In’s built-in color instead [which shouldn’t have the same problem]
What is drag lock in Mac?
with drag lock: Double-tap an item, then drag it without lifting your finger after the second tap; dragging continues when you lift your finger, and stops when you tap the trackpad once.
Why won’t My Mac Let me move files?
If you can’t move or copy a file or folder, you might need to change its permissions settings. … On your Mac, select the item, then choose File > Get Info, or press Command-I. Click the arrow next to Sharing & Permissions to expand the section. Click the pop-up menu next to your user name to see the permissions settings.
Why can’t I move the icons on my desktop?
If there are a lot of icons on the desktop and their size is set to large, then those desktop icons cover the entire desktop. In that case, you are not able to move desktop icons. So, simply change their size to medium or small.
How do I get my icons to show on my Mac desktop?
In Finder, from the menu toolbar, click Finder and then select Preferences. Select the General tab. It will say “show these items on the desktop”. And then please make sure that the items you want to keep on your Desktop are selected.
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How do I manage apps on Mac?
On your Mac, click the Finder icon in the Dock, then click Applications in the Finder sidebar. Do one of the following: If an app is in a folder, open the app’s folder to check for an Uninstaller. If you see Uninstall [App] or [App] Uninstaller, double-click it, then follow the onscreen instructions.