Click and Drag not working

Isabella Monk 0 Reputation points
2026-05-26T19:34:07.3366667+00:00

My cursor wont let me click and drag anything on word. this isnt a problem in any other app on my mac, only microsoft word. I can't highlight a single letter without double tapping which causes the whole word to highlight. I also can't make tables or pictures smaller or larger. please help :)

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For education | MacOS

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Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 437.7K Reputation points
2026-05-27T00:46:08.0833333+00:00

Restarting the Mac is the correct first step but most everything else suggested is premature or irrelevant. In addition to the need for a restart the most common reason for this is the need to update macOS, Office, or both,

Please see this existing Answer Select Text as well as this link for additional Select Techniques. The additional techniques which you may find to be considerably more accurate & efficient rhan dragging... selecting a complete sentence with a single click, for example.

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  1. AI answer

    2026-05-26T19:34:19.2833333+00:00

    The behavior is a known Word for Mac issue where mouse/trackpad drag-selection and object resizing stop working, while other apps remain fine. The most effective resolutions in similar cases are:

    1. Update macOS
    • In a reported case on a MacBook Pro with Word for Mac, updating macOS (to the next available version) immediately restored the ability to select text with mouse click or three‑finger drag and everything “ran smoothly” afterward.
    • On the Mac, go to Apple menu > System Settings > General > Software Update and install all available macOS updates.
    • Restart the Mac and test Word again.
    1. Make sure Office/Word is fully updated
    • Open Word.
    • Create a new blank document.
    • Go to File > Account.
    • Under Product Information, choose Update Options > Update Now (enable updates first if needed).
    • Let updates complete, restart Word, and test click‑and‑drag selection and resizing of tables/pictures.
    1. Use alternative selection techniques while troubleshooting If drag selection still fails, use keyboard-based selection as a workaround:
    • Click to place the insertion point, then hold Shift and use the Arrow keys to extend the selection.
    • For more efficient and precise methods than dragging, see the guidance in the “Select Text” threads referenced in the moderator answers; they describe multiple professional selection techniques that work even when dragging fails.

    If the issue persists after macOS and Office updates plus a restart, it matches the pattern described in the existing “Select Text”/“Block Text” threads, where the root cause is outside Word and resolved by OS-level updates or fixes.

    References:

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  2. Hendrix-C 19,985 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-05-26T21:03:02.9333333+00:00

    Hi @Isabella Monk,

    Based on your sharing, since the issue only happens in Word and dragging works properly in other apps, this is likely that Word for Mac is not registering normal drag gestures, not a trackpad/mouse hardware issue.

    In this case, I suggest you try these workarounds to narrow down the issue step by step:

    1/ Do a full restart of your Mac first

    • Save your Word documents and quit Word completely (Word > Quit Word or press Command + Q)
    • Restart your Mac from Apple menu > Restart

    2/ Reset Word preferences

    • Quit Word completely
    • In Finder, select Go from the menu bar > hold Option, and select Library.
    • Inside Library folder, look for the "Preferences" folder > locate the file com.microsoft.Word.plist and move it to the trash
    • Open Word again to test if the issue persists

    3/ Check Word settings

    • In Word, go to Word > Preferences > Edit
    • Ensure the option "Drag-and-drop text editing" is enabled

    4/ Reset the Normal templates

    • Repeat the same steps in option 2 to go to Library folder
    • In Library, go to Group Containers > UBF8T346G9.Office > User Content > Templates
    • Find Normal.dotm file and rename it to something like Normal_old.dotm
    • Then reopen Word again to see if it works now.

    Please understand that my initial response may not always resolve the issue immediately. However, you can try these steps and let me know if it works. If not, please notify me and we can work together to find a solution.

    If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post so I can continue to support you.    

    Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. I'm looking forward to your reply.

    If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it.

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