Drag windows and files with three fingers — via Apple Support
Hidden settinglow riskmacOS 14 Sonoma and later
Three-finger drag lets you move windows, select text and drag files just by sliding three fingers on the trackpad, with no clicking and holding. Long-time Mac users swear by it, but Apple hid it in Accessibility settings.
Takes effect right away
How to do it
- Open System Settings > Accessibility > Pointer Control and click Trackpad Options.
- Turn on Use trackpad for dragging and choose Three Finger Drag as the dragging style, then click OK.
Needs a compatible Apple Multi-Touch trackpad (built-in or Magic Trackpad); whether the option appears depends on the trackpad.
Sources
- Turn on three finger drag for your Mac trackpad — by Apple Support
- Download Magic Trackpad and Multi-Touch Trackpad Update 1.0 — by Apple Support
- Source reviewed
- 2026-11-02
- Link checked
- 2026-11-02
- Tested hands-on
- Not by Oddbyte.Me
Oddbyte.Me hasn't tried this on every macOS version, so keep the undo handy.