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
    2016-01-27T18:50:36+00:00

    Thank you, Nige!  I don't know what the executing command is, that is designated by the 'ESC' button, but it worked!

    This afternoon, I was eliminating unnecessary registry programs. I had disabled some programs from the startup options too. My cursor worked randomly even before I started cleaning out my computer. I found this solution online though and it worked. I am amazed that it worked because the user replied to a Windows 7 issue.

    I am running Windows Vista32 ServicePack3. 2.5Ghz duel core Athalon; 2 Gb SRAM; 250Gb HDD.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-12-17T16:30:53+00:00

    @_Nige Thanks for your awesome note. That fixed it.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-12-01T18:39:47+00:00

    Remarkable that this does the trick. I noticed my Drag-n-Drop was also not working in Outlook. Now that's functioning again.

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