Drag and drop not working in Unity (Ubuntu 12.04)

[hdpq]

Just tried to drag and drop a file between two maximized Nautilus windows in Ubuntu 12.04, Unity 5.12.0 - did not work. When I hovered the mouse over the launcher nothing happened.

Seems like a regression, as I tried it in Unity 3.8.16, Ubuntu 11.04 also, and it worked fine - the launcher exposed both the windows and let me drag and drop the file to the desired window.

[Vincent (realmkeepersbox)]

One of the main reasons I had to install Cinnamon. The Unity launcher does not refocus an open application when the mouse is hovered over the icon if you try to drag and drop files.

Drag and Drop functions when dragging in windowed applications, but nothing when maximised. Occurs with Nautilus, Evolution, Mplayer, Gimp and Firefox just to name a few. My whole work flow has been interrupted.

[hdpq (defectoscopny)]

Yes indeed, I tried to send a file via Skype recently... Impossible.

[manes (neschmuel)]

Dragging any file or marked text to the left border should bring up the launcher and the application under the curser should get the focus (probably after some small delay).

[hdpq (defectoscopny)]

Should. Doesn't.

[mononoke_ (mononoke)]

I think it's a shame and that this issue hasn't been addressed since 11.04. I love Ubuntu and Unity but this is single most frustrating thing I'm experiencing right now.. Even in a humble Win XP on my work PC this feature works like a charm..

BTW, as a workaround, I suggest to using a scale plugin. After grabbing a file/item to be dnd'd, I initiate window picker by moving a mouse to a screen corner (or other preferred location), then hover the pointer over the desired window until it gets a focus, then drop. Note that key bindings do not work for some reason. You need to assign a region on the screen to be activated by the mouse pointer (scale plugin, bindings tab, initiate window picker --> BottomLeft, TopLeft).

This works actually quite well, but I anticipate a proper solution/fix from Ubuntu team.

[hdpq (defectoscopny)]

Hi, thanks for your comment on the possible workaround.
Unfortunately, I won't be able to test this for quite a while... For some reason Unity disappeared from my session selection list - poof, gone, and I can't get it back. Had to switch to a different DE.

[Jose Manuel Perdomo (joz3)]

Same issue here...

My system is Ubuntu 12.04 x64 updgrade from 11.10.

This is one reason why I don't use the unity launcher, it is very frustrating issue. I'm using for now the AWN as a launcher while solving this bug...

Do you not understand is how they pay no attention to a basic detail?

[James Cuzella (trinitronx)]

Confirmed as regression in: unity 5.12.0

I distinctly remember being able to drag & drop pictures & text between windows in a previous version of unity. Quite annoying due to 2 specific use cases:

1. Only way to insert image *inline* in gmail is drag & drop
2. Only way to paste a password into realvnc authentication dialog is via drag & drop

1000 papercuts indeed...

[Valdisvi (valdis-vitolins)]

I have similar problem
lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
Release: 12.04
Codename: precise
uname -a
Linux vostro 3.2.0-27-generic #43-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jul 6 14:25:57 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[Valdisvi (valdis-vitolins)]

It is not mouse or hardware driver but Unity/Nautilus problem.
Checked it with
xinput list
then with id for mouse, e.g.
xinput test 14
and
xinput test 14|grep press
It does not show unnecesary mouse clicking events.

And this is _not_ duplicate of bug #607796 as it has much narrower description.

[mononoke_ (mononoke)]

Hi Folks,
Thanks to this bug i have discovered KDE for myself. After a few weeks of use I realize that KDE is SO much better (at least to my needs) than unity - well polished, customizable to bits, pleasing looks. Very pleased with Dolphin file manager (I agree with someone who said: 'comparing Dolphin with Nautilus is like comparing something with nothing).
Oh yeah, drag and drop is given to you there and works in every way you can imagine!
I regret I didn't switch to KDE many months ago.. I would have a few gray hairs less on my head now.

Unsubscribing,
Bye

[Dmitry Pashkevich (dipish)]

I think this is a major UI overlook (power users have always loved DnD and are used to its power), the design team should come up with a good solution to this.

P.S. Agree with Valdisvi that this is not exactly a duplicate of #607796, the latter is a concrete suggestion that doesn't seem to deal well enough with the case when an app has multiple windows (how do you comfortably drop an item into a specific area inside the window if the OS "speads out" all app's windows that are zoomed out, I suppose?)

[larrybradley (larry-w-bradley)]

The simple way to do this is to Minimize the window to which you want to drag the file, then make the window "Always on top." Open or go to the window from which you wish to drag the file or Folder. DND the file or folder. Works like a charm for adding files to Google Drive and for attaching files to Gmail, assume it will work with other windows/programs. Not as elegant as dnd to the launcher, but hey, it works, it is simple and it takes just a few seconds more than dnd to the launcher.

P.S. - Resizing the screens manually makes for a better dnd experience. Hint: Whan dnd'ing to Google Drive, move the file or folder around on the Drive window until you see the " + " handle on the file / folder icon; drop the file and the Google Drive upload dialog window should launch.

[mmalmeida (mmalmeida)]

I'd say larrybradley's suggestion is a "hack" to dnd, not an actual elegant solution, as it requires more steps than the previous drag-and-drop workflow.

[Valdisvi (valdis-vitolins)]

According to similar bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg-server/+bug/41301 it seems affect (usually?) 64-bit systems with (maybe?) only some mouse models/drivers (i.e. logitech).
As a workaround you can try:
1. remove Mousetweaks
sudo apt-get purge mousetweaks
2. restart driver modules (one or another line):
sudo modprobe -r psmouse && sudo modprobe psmouse
sudo modprobe -r hid_logitech && sudo modprobe hid_logitech

[Peme (peeme2014)]

This bug is three years old already, and it's unassigned. It's not a duplicate of bug #607796 as Valdisvi and Dmitry Pashkevich mentioned. The problem affects me as well, and it persists in Ubuntu 14.04, 32-bit and 64-bit editions. It's not a feature if it's a bug. Unity gets on the way of the drag and drop operations. As a somewhat power user, I want to be able to drag, let's say, a CSV file or an HTML file to the Atom Editor or GHex, but Unity incorrectly "suggests" I can only open it wiith LibreOffice Calc, or Gnome Text Editor, and so with many other examples. Thats without mentioning I may want to drag ANYTHING to a web browser, and Unity just blocks me. This is close to a disaster.

[Stephen M. Webb (bregma)]

Thanks for trying to make Ubuntu better, but necroing a 3-year-old bug to register a complaint about unrelated functionality is not the best way to go about doing that.

The bug described in the 'Bug Description" was definitely fixed years ago. I just verified I can drag and drop files between (maximized or not) Nautilus windows, and drag and drop a file from a Nautilus window to the Unity Dash and have it open any application that has registered the appropriate MIME-type support.

If you want applications to register their support for particular MIME-types, you will need to take that issue up with the upstream developers of that application. Using MIME-type to determine legitimate targets for drag-and-drop is the documented, standard way of performing that action. There is no other way for a desktop shell to determine if a drag and drop action is valid.

I am marking this bug as fixed because tests show it is fixed in at least 14.04 and later.