Draglet is a temporary tray on the macOS menu bar. When dragging a file in Finder and the destination window isn't ready, shake sideways (or Control-Option-Space) to call the tray, drop the file in, and then drag it to the destination later.

Issue: macOS doesn’t hold onto a drag when you switch windows, Spaces, or apps. Drag-and-drop between two Finder windows requires dropping midway and dragging again. Draglet stands right at that midpoint.

Features: • Maintains references to local files and directories. Does not copy, rename, or delete the original file. The destination app does the copying or linking. • Cmd-click, Shift-click, then drag the selected group. Drag all drags the entire tray. • Quick Look using Space or double-click. Reveal in Finder from the right-click menu. • Hide the tray with × or Escape; items are still there. Clear All is found in the menu. Undo removes the last item manually. • Multiple trays can be named. Drag text, URL, PNG/TIFF. Favorite folders open Finder. Saving the session after quitting is optional and is off by default.

Target audience: people who frequently transfer files between Finder and app windows, without needing a cloud clipboard.

Practical example: you need to deliver a PDF quote, a DOCX contract, and six JPG images scattered across Downloads, Desktop, and a project folder. Create a tray named “Delivery”, sequentially drag the files from each location into the tray; while dragging, shake sideways to call the tray if needed. Then open the target folder in Finder, select eight items in the tray, and drag the whole group over. You can switch windows between file collection rounds without having to hold the mouse button continuously.

Limits and performance: Draglet currently holds a maximum of 1,000 items across all trays. For files available on the machine such as PDF, DOCX, JPG, or ZIP, the tray holds references to the original files, not saving an additional copy of the entire file. The ability to preview depends on macOS's Quick Look; the time to create thumbnails and copy to the destination also depends on the file type, drive, and receiving application. The interface has been tested with 1, 20, and 100 files in light/dark mode; there are no speed or RAM benchmarks at the 1,000 item level.

Text and PNG/TIFF images dropped directly from applications are limited to 20 MiB per item and a total of 64 MiB of text/image content across all trays. Direct images are also limited to 16 million pixels, with a maximum of 16,384 pixels per dimension; converted PNGs must also stay within the 20 MiB limit. This is not a limit on the size of files pulled from Finder. Image links on the web are kept as URLs, not automatically downloading images. If the original file is renamed, moved, or deleted, you need to add the file back to the tray.

Getting started: macOS 14 or higher. Open https://anhxuanpham.github.io/Draglet/, download the universal DMG (Intel and Apple Silicon), and drag it to Applications. Version 0.2.0 is ad-hoc signed and not notarized. The first time: right-click the app, select Open. The tray icon appears on the menu bar. Source code GPL-3.0: https://github.com/anhxuanpham/Draglet

Unlike Yoink or Dropover: no accounts, no uploads, no clipboard tracking. Call the tray by shaking while dragging, keeping focus on the source app. Native AppKit tray.

https://anhxuanpham.github.io/Draglet/