Drag and Drop confirmation prompt? Accidentally moving files.

Anonymous
2011-03-25T15:44:05+00:00

Ever since upgrading to Windows 7, we have had a problem with people inadvertently moving folders by dragging and dropping when meaning to double click.  Is there a way to turn on a confirmation prompt ("are you sure you want to...") when dragging and dropping files/folders?  It seems that previous versions of Windows had this prompt, but it has since been removed.  This is happening in our office on at least a weekly basis, sometimes daily, and we have to spend time searching for the moved folder.  If MS is unable to help, is there software that we can purchase to accomplish this?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

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@CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2011-03-25T16:29:55+00:00

Windows 7 made no changes: there has never been a confirmation prompt like you describe.

One workaround is to increase the distance you must move the pointer before it triggers a drag.  Under the following registry key, you'll see DragHeight and DragWidth, which define the number of pixels the mouse must move before the drag is initiated:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT\USER\Control Panel\Desktop

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-11-08T05:21:26+00:00

    Are you sure it's not a click drag issue ?

    Most if not all mice and touch pads have a feature in the activities section to enable or disable single click drag.

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-11-20T15:55:10+00:00

    In Windows 7 under Mouse settings I checked the box "Turn on ClickLock." This causes a box to pop up "Move to folder name" and the user will have to click a folder to move it or not. I will change this on several computers to see if this helps or hinders users.

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-11-21T12:11:29+00:00

    I tried "Turn on ClickLock." , but the same problem still there .. Folder moving to another folder without any confirmation!! Just smoothly like nothing happened!.  I spent a long time in searching. No solution in win7.

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-12-31T17:45:44+00:00

    Adding my vote that this needs fixing.  This is a big issue for less experienced users, but even very experienced users such as myself occasionally will accidentally drop a file/folder being dragged into an unintended folder.  It's so easy to happen, just takes a momentary loss of contact with a trackpad, or let up on pressure on the mouse while moving it. Also a big accessibility issue for some people who can't reliably do the rather intricate physical motions involved:  click, drag, drop, while monitoring small icons on the screen.

    I would prefer to have an option that doesn't allow moving an icon (file/folder) into a folder icon at all.  Instead, to move a file you would need to open a second window and navigate into that folder, then drag between the windows.

    Failing that, a confirmation dialog should appear whenever moving an icon into a folder icon.  I prefer to NOT get this dialog if just dragging between windows.

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