Drag and Drop Not Working in Windows 7

Anonymous
2011-03-18T18:18:13+00:00

I have a new problem that has cropped up just in the last week or two. I can no longer drag and drop my files and folders in Windows Explorer. I have Windows 7 on a HP Notebook. It came installed on the computer last December when I bought it (09). I've never had an issue with it since then, and I'm not sure how to find the settings to enable drag and drop or re-enable it. I know I've done it before on this machine, many times- and just noticed it first in  Thunderbird, (my email desktop application) then in explorer. I did recently install the SP1 (spelling??) a few weeks ago, and have installed a few other odds and ends programs, but I'm pretty sure drag and drop was working okay until a few days ago.

Any help would be appreciated. As a genealogy writer, that's a must have feature.

Thanks.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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Anonymous
2011-07-20T06:47:39+00:00

This happened to me yesterday.

In Windows Explorer, click a file with the left mouse button and keep the button held down. Then press the Escape key. Drag and drop is miraculously re-enabled.

I think just pressing the escape will work too but I'm no longer in a position to test that. I got this from http://it.thelibrarie.com/weblog/2010/06/drag-and-drop-stops-working/

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Anonymous
2014-05-15T11:56:09+00:00

This happened to me yesterday.

In Windows Explorer, click a file with the left mouse button and keep the button held down. Then press the Escape key. Drag and drop is miraculously re-enabled.

I think just pressing the escape will work too but I'm no longer in a position to test that. I got this from http://it.thelibrarie.com/weblog/2010/06/drag-and-drop-stops-working/

I don't feel like reading through everything to see if this has been mentioned.  The escape fix worked for me with Win 7.  The only thing I have that is unique from coworkers is a wireless keyboard and mouse.  I expect that has something to do with my issue.

Thanks Nige!

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-05-07T22:17:47+00:00

    It works fine , i tried it. thanks.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-04-23T03:42:36+00:00

    I had a serious problem with this where it became progressively more difficult to even click and drag an icon or window. Nothing I read online worked including hitting escape before dragging or using the SFC /scannow feature. You need to a do a full comprehensive disc check by going to Computer, right-click C drive, go to Properties, Tools, then schedule a check for your next restart. Select "automatically fix file system errors" and "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors." For me it took about two hours to complete the scan but once it finished and rebooted I haven't had a problem since. This is also just a great maintenance tool to do every few weeks or so to keep things running smoothly. Good luck!

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-04-19T02:23:42+00:00

    I do not think this is a windows related issue and here is why.

    I was able to recreate the issue by making a macro in AutoHotkey that sets any key to a key down with the function of it was pressing down only without releasing. After that I killed the process, and it was still broke.

    With that said I'm guessing some people may be using a macro software that errors out. However it was easy to fix I only had to press the key that was locked down.

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