This doesn't just apply to right-clicking. Really I could have titled this:
Where is the "blank space" when in list view in Finder?
Open a Windows Explorer window in Windows and change to "Details" view. Notice that at the far right of the window, there is basically an "empty column" or "blank space" where you can right-click to activate a context menu for actions within that folder.
Similarly, if I want to drag and drop a file(s) or folder(s) into that active folder, I can drag it to that "blank space" and avoid accidentally placing the files into a subfolder or activating an exe/batch file.
Now, the same behavior is available in macOS… to a point. In "icons" view, I can always find a "blank space" to click between the icons.
However, in the other three views – list, columns, and Cover Flow – I find it incredibly annoying that there seems to be no place I can safely right-click (and similarly no place to safely drop a file or folder that I am moving).
Note this only applies when there are enough files or folders within the folder to require scrolling. If there are only a few files in the list, then you can easily right-click in the empty space below the files.
So, my question is this:
Given a folder full of files which requires a scrollbar to view all the contents, where can you safely right-click to display a context menu, or safely drag and drop a file or folder?
I did find this almost identical question: How to copy-paste in Finder when there's no right-click space?
However, no one seems to answer whether or not there is any such space. Based on this previous question, is the answer simply that there is no reliable blank space in macOS that allows you to open a context menu or to drag a file or folder?
Best Answer
The place that you can right click on "blank space" in list view is below the list items. This is only available if the window is larger than the list it contains. If the list of items is longer than the window and it needs to scroll, there is no place in the window that you can right click on blank space.
Dropping files into a window is easier. If you drag an item on any of the text in a list view, it will highlight the row and you will drag onto it. However, if you drag an item onto the space that doesn't have text, it will put a blue outline around the window, indicating that you are dropping into the window, not into one of the items listed.