Drag/drop with multiple monitors

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Hi, I have an issue that has to be a setting but for the life of me, I can't find.

On my wife's 21.5" monitor we have added two additional screens with the iMac in the center.

When she drags something from the download folder to her desktop, it always ends up on the right monitor, where she keeps her email open all the time. So she has to reduce the mac mail and move the file to the iMac screen (center screen) then re-expand mac mail.

I found out tonight by accident when I drag a file from the download folder (center screen dock) directly to the right monitor it ends up on the iMac center screen ..
Where is the setting I can not find?

Thanks in advance!
Joe
 

Slydude

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Not sure I'm understanding the problem but here goes. It seems like the problem you are having is that when you drag something from one place to another it ends up on the wrong screen. If so here's something to check.

Go into the Displays preference pane and click on the Arrangement tab. There should be one square for each screen. Arrange the squares so they are in the same order as the screens. I think when you click on a square the monitor associated with it will have a red border around the border of the screen. Rearrange the screen icons till they match the order of the monitors.
 
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Slydude,

Thanks for replying. I did double check to make sure the monitors were identified right by going to display preferences pane. When I click on each it responds by placing a red boarder around the clicked on monitor.

Ok let me try to clarify:

You know when you click on a file to download it, it goes to the download folder right? Ok, she has her download folder on the dock (i don't know if that matters or not) she clicks on the file, say a .doc file or a .dmg whatever.. She wants it on her desktop, so she drags it from the download folder and drops it on her center screen, which is her iMac. However it always goes to the right screen.. So she has to reduce her email (that is always open on that screen) to see the file sitting on that desktop I guess.. She then drags the file to the left and drops it on her center iMac screen again.

Now I found out by accident that if I drag the file from the download folder to the RIGHT screen, it gets placed on the CENTER screen.. So basically the right and center screens when you drop something to it, it ends up on the opposite monitor.

Again the monitors ID correctly.. Center is the IMac left and right are monitors ..

Thanks in advance
 

sjf


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Was this problem ever resolved?

In my case, i'm running in a dual-monitor configuration. If I drag a safari link to the right (primary) screen, the link goes into the first available 'slot' in the first available column at the left of the screen.

However, If I drag the safari link to the left (secondary) screen, it drops onto the primary screen in the same approximate position that it should have landed on the secondary screen.

Therefore it appears the icon lands one screen to the right, if that screen exists, or the first available slot if it doesn't.

Oh, by the way, if I mirror the screens, the link will drop where it is released by the mouse -- where it is supposed to land
 
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What version of OSX are you running.. I remember I used to have this issue, though it didn't bother me. But now it does not happen anymore..
 
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Can you upgrade to Mavericks? 10.9.

They fixed most of the multi monitor issues with OSX, plus it runs better. If you can I believe that should fix this for you. Plus its soooo much more multi monitor friendly..
 

sjf


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Can you upgrade to Mavericks? 10.9.

They fixed most of the multi monitor issues with OSX, plus it runs better. If you can I believe that should fix this for you. Plus its soooo much more multi monitor friendly..

Well, I tried upgrading my Macbook Pro to Mavericks. It made it sluggish and unreliable. In trying to get the drive to work with reasonable response times, I eventually got it to "lock" the drive, which made it read-only. I could boot, but not much else. Eventually I had to load Mavericks from scratch and reinstall everything. So I'm a bit gun-shy trying that on my iMac. Perhaps when things slow down I'll give it a shot.

But I'm betting your right that it would probably eliminate this issue.

By the way, once I installed Mavericks from scratch the laptop works great again.
 

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