Can't move desktop icons around

Hello,
I have a MacBook Pro with OS X 10.10.2 Yosemite, and when I try to move my desktop icons around the desktop they snap back to where they were before I tried to move them. I have tried changing settings and restarting my computer.
Cheers,
Adam

Hi. This doesn't resolve the problem on my end. The icons still can't be re-arranged or moved around. Sure, they will adjust to "Set by Sort", but I still can't drag them around, say from one folder into another. They are fixed to their spot.

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Can't Move Desktop Icons

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sorry I answered my own question. Thanks guys!
I just went ctrl+click on desktop.. > show view options > arrange by > none
bye

I cant move my desktop icons around at all

So im trying to move the desktop icons around and for some reason the computer wont let me do it. Ive also tried doing it on a flash drive and it wont work either, the only thing I can think of is that maybe its a setting of some kind but ive checked several difrent settings and its not what I need ( displays, desktop, general). Im not sure of what to do know. How can I fix this?

Hello joeyman2
It sounds like you are having issues with permissions. Go over the troubleshooting in the first article to get a better understanding of permissions and how they work. You also may need to reinstall the operating system and the second article will walk you through that and it will still keep the data on your Mac. Make sure if you do that to back up your data to an external hard drive.
Troubleshooting permissions issues in Mac OS X
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2963
OS X Mountain Lion: Reinstall OS X
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH10763
Regards,
-Norm G.

How do i synch my pdf/books to my library. I was able to synch my ipod touch purchases by transferring them but can't figure out how to do my pdfs. Also why is my ipod picture greyed out-the one that lets my move the icons around.

How do i synch my pdf/books to my Itunes library. I was able to synch my ipod touch app purchases by transferring them but can't figure out how to do my pdfs. Also why is my ipod picture greyed out-the one that lets my move the icons around.
I am afraid if i don't get the pdfs into my book library, i will lose them when i update to IOS 5-is that true?

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[Solved] wy i can place xfce4 desktop icons in a "grid" only?

hello archers!
im in love with xfce4 DE, but the annoying thing is that i can place the desktop icons only in a invisible "grid" of tiles.
i changed the display manager to gdm, but it didn't help. i tryed changing the WM, but didn't not find out how to do that.
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Last edited by xfce-tux (2011-09-12 21:13:34)

Another way to adjust the desktop grid size settings and more.
Source: http://git.xfce.org/xfce/xfdesktop/tree/README
HIDDEN CUSTOMISATIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you're using the icon view, and would like to change how the text looks,
you have three things you can change: the opacity (transparency) of the
rounded text background, the color of the rounded text background, and the
color of the text itself.
You'd want to add something like this to your ~/.gtkrc-2.0 file:
style "xfdesktop-icon-view" {
XfdesktopIconView::label-alpha = 75
XfdesktopIconView::selected-label-alpha = 100
XfdesktopIconVIew::ellipsize-icon-labels = 1
XfdesktopIconView::shadow-x-offset = 1
XfdesktopIconView::shadow-y-offset = 1
XfdesktopIconView::shadow-color = "#ff0000"
XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-x-offset = 2
XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-y-offset = 2
XfdesktopIconView::selected-shadow-color = "#00ff00"
XfdesktopIconVIew::cell-spacing = 6
XfdesktopIconView::cell-padding = 6
XfdesktopIconView::cell-text-width-proportion = 2.5
base[NORMAL] = "#00ff00"
base[SELECTED] = "#5050ff"
base[ACTIVE] = "#0000ff"
fg[NORMAL] = "#ff0000"
fg[SELECTED] = "#ff0000"
fg[ACTIVE] = "#ff0000"
widget_class "*XfdesktopIconView*" style "xfdesktop-icon-view"
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(allowed values are from 0 (totally transparent) to 255 (totally opaque),
and whether or not unselected icons get their labels ellipsized
(truncated) to fit on one line. (The 'selected-' version controls the
opacity of icons that have been selected with the mouse.)
The second six entries can be used to enable a text shadow to be painted
with the icon labels. The offsets are in pixels. Setting them to 0 (the
defaults) will disable the shadows entirely. Again, the 'selected-'
versions apply to icons that have been selected with the mouse.
The third four entries set spacing and sizing for individual icons on
the grid. The 'cell-spacing' property specifies the spacing between each
'cell' in the grid of icons. The 'cell-padding' property sets extra
padding placed around each icon+text. The units for these two are in
pixels. The 'cell-text-width-proportion' property specifies the maximum
width of the text label underneat the icon, as a multiplier of the icon
width (so for 30px icons, '2.5' would leave a 75px wide area underneath
for the text).
The fourth three entries set the color of the rounded text background.
* NORMAL sets the color for the regular, unselected state.
* SELECTED sets the color for when the icon is selected, and the desktop has
keyboard/mouse focus.
* ACTIVE sets the color for when the icon is selected, but the desktop does
not have keyboard/mouse focus.
The final three entries set the color of the label text. See above for the
differences between NORMAL, SELECTED, and ACTIVE.

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Hello,
Performance tip: Keep the Desktop clutter-free (empty, if possible) by: Klaus1
Mac OS X's Desktop is the de facto location for downloaded files, and for many users, in-progress works that will either be organized later or deleted altogether. The desktop can also be gluttonous, however, becoming a catch-all for files that linger indefinitely.
Unfortunately - aside from the effect of disarray it creates - keeping dozens or hundreds of files on the Desktop can significantly degrade performance. Not necessarily because the system is sluggish with regard to rendering the icons on the desktop and storing them in memory persistently (which may be true in some cases), but more likely because keeping an excessive number of items on the Desktop can cause the windowserver process to generate reams of logfiles, which obviously draws resources away from other system tasks. Each of your icons on your desktop is stored as a window in the window server, not as an alias. The more you have stored, the more strain it puts on the window server. Check your desktop for unnecessary icons and clear them out.
Keeping as few items as possible on the Desktop can prove a surprisingly effective performance boon. Even creating a single folder on your Desktop and placing all current and future clutter inside, then logging out and back in can provide an immediately noticeable speed boost, particularly for the Finder.
And it is why Apple invented 'Stacks' for Leopard.
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Hi.. I cannot drag my desktop icons nor items from a folder to DT. When this happened, I lost printing from my Lexmark E120N, my memory chips were listed as 68k and 28 k when they are 1 gig & 2 gig. That seems to have cleared up. I also cannot copy anything nor paste anything. When attempting to use Tech Tool 5, it opens, but is frozen. I ran it from the install disk & it said everything was fine! Any help will be greatly appreciated.... TIA, Jack PS: I repaired permissions also.

HI Jack,
You booted from your Apple install disk and the hard disk "*appears to be ok*? Did you check the S.M.A.R.T status? Here's how.
Insert Installer disk and Restart, holding down the "C" key until grey Apple appears.
Go to Installer menu (Panther and earlier) or Utilities menu (Tiger and later) and launch Disk Utility.
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in the left panel.
Select First Aid in the Main panel.
(Check S.M.A.R.T Status of HDD at the bottom of right panel. It should say: Verified)
Click Repair Disk on the bottom right.
If DU reports disk does not need repairs quit DU and restart.
If DU reports errors Repair again and again until DU reports disk is repaired.
Also, run the Apple Hardware Test
If you can, make sure your important files are backed up.
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Hello,
I'm having an intermittent problem with the desktop icons on my MacBook Pro. Occasionally, the desktop icons become inaccessible. I'll hover over them with the mouse and can't click on them. I'll also sometimes add a document to the desktop and it doesn't show up. Both of these problems can be solved by clicking on the "desktop icon view" and changing the size of the icons briefly. I hate having to do this so often. Can anyone help with this?
Thank you!
Erin

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
One thing to try would be to repair your disk. You will have to boot from your install disc and navigate to Disk Utility on the install disc. The select your hard drive by brand name and go to the First Aid Tab and click on the "Repair Disk" button. Repeat until there is nothing left to repair.
If you get errors you cannot repair, then you will need a more powerful utility such as Disk Warrior to repair your drive.
You could also try creating a new user account and see if the problem is there in it.
You could also try reinstalling the OS, but don't do this until any errors reported by Disk Utility are repaired.
Good luck!

Can i hide desktop icons?

is it possible to have no icons on the desktop showing.
for example, in windows i just right click on the desktop, arrange icons by, and then click show desktop icons. which either hides/shows the desktop icons.
is it possible to do something similar with mac?

hiya,
when i put a '.' in front of the file name, it comes up with a message saying "...these names are reserved for the system".
if i can help it, i don't want to install a programme, just so i can use one of its features i.e. hiding desktop icons.
the reason i want to hide my desktop icons is so i can just see my wallpaper.
is there no simple, say for example, turn on/off desktop icons? or something along those lines?
thanks.

Mavericks 10.9.5 Unable to move desktop icon. Sort By = None.

ON version 10.9.5 Mavericks.
This was working but the past few days is no longer.
I am unable to move a desktop icon (i.e. drag it and move it into another folder, etc).
View/Sort BY = None.

Take these steps if the cursor changes from an arrow to a white "prohibited" symbol when you try to move an icon on the Desktop.
Sometimes the problem may be solved just by logging out or restarting the computer. Try that first, if you haven't already done it. Otherwise, continue.
Select the icon of your home folder (a house) in the sidebar of a Finder window and open it. The Desktop folder is one of the subfolders. Select it and open the Info window. In the General section of the window, the Kind will be either Folder or something else, such as Anything.
If the Kind is Folder, uncheck the box marked Locked. Close the Info window and test.
If the Kind is not Folder, make sure the Locked box is not checked and that you have Read & Write privileges in the Sharing & Permissions section. Then close the Info window and do as follows.
Back up all data before continuing.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
xattr -d com.apple.FinderInfo Desktop
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. You should get a new line ending in a dollar sign ($). Quit Terminal.
Relaunch the Finder.
If the problem is now resolved, and if you use iPhoto, continue.
Quit iPhoto if it's running. Launch it while holding down the option key. It will prompt you to select a library. Choose the one you want to use (not the Desktop folder.)

Can't move desktop icons around

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