How to Change the Default Drag and Drop Action in Windows

One of the main benefits of using a GUI (Graphical User Interface) on your computer is that you can use your mouse to click on things as well as drag and drop files from one folder to another. If we were stuck using commands, then it would be a lot of typing to accomplish the same tasks.

When it comes to dragging and dropping files and folders within Windows, there are a couple of things you need to be aware of. If you drag a file to another location on the same drive, it will move that file. But if you were to drag a file from one drive to another, it would copy that file. It’s very important to know basic Windows file management to be a proficient computer user.

So now that you know the default drag and drop actions in Windows, you may have the need to change them because you may find yourself moving a file when you meant to copy it or maybe you would rather have the file copied when dragged to another location on the same drive rather than moved. In this article, we will be showing you how to change the default drag and drop action in Windows.

But one trick you may not know about is that you can drag files and folders with your right mouse button and when you let go, you will have the option to copy or move the file or folder so that way you can choose the one you need.

To change the default drag and drop action in Windows, we will be performing a simple registry edit. To open the Windows Registry Editor, you can type regedit in the taskbar search box to open the tool.

Once you have the Registry Editor open, you will need to create a new 32-Bit DWORD value in two different places.

For the first one you will need to navigate to the following key. You can also copy the text below and paste it into the address bar of the Registry Editor.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*

Then you will need to right click in a blank area and create a new 32-bit DWORD value named DefaultDropEffect

Then you will need to double click on DefaultDropEffect and change its value to one of the following depending on your goal.

0 – Take no action

1 – Copy the file or folder

2 – Move the file or folder

4 – Create a shortcut to the file or folder

Next, you will need to navigate to:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects

From here you will need to create a new 32-bit DWORD value named DefaultDropEffect

Next, double click on DefaultDropEffect and change its value to one of the following. Just be sure the one you use matches the one you used for the previous step.

0 – Take no action

1 – Copy the file or folder

2 – Move the file or folder

4 – Create a shortcut to the file or folder

After you make these registry changes, your default drag and drop option will be changed. If you would like to change it to a different one, simply go back to the two same keys and choose a different number. You can also delete the DefaultDropEffect DWORD values from both registry keys to change things back to their defaults.

Just be aware that editing the registry can cause your computer to not run correctly or not at all so be careful when making these kinds of changes so you don’t end up having to do something drastic like reinstalling Windows!

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