Win Drag and drop
Win Drag and drop
Files and folders can be copied or moved to another location by literally "dragging" them across the screen. "Drag" means placing the cursor over the icon of an item, pressing the left (or sometimes right) mouse button to highlight it, and while keeping the button depressed, moving the selected item across the screen. "Drop" means releasing the mouse button when the destination is reached. As the icons are dragged, all valid destinations are highlighted. To copy and move files using only the menus, see Win Copy/move files/folders.Although many Windows applications implement their own drag and drop capabilities, users can copy and move files and folders any time via drag and drop in Explorer (see Win Explorer), as follows:
Drag and Drop - Right Button - Copy or Move
Dragging the icons with the right mouse button
is the more cautious method because you are
prompted to either Copy or Move when you drop
the files/folders.
Drag and Drop - Left Button - Automatic
Dragging with the left mouse button is faster
because you are not prompted when you drop.
Depending on whether the source files are local
(on this same machine) or coming from a remote
machine determines whether they are copied or
moved. Note the following actions:
Action File at Coming Taken when Original From Dropped Location Local Move Not there Remote Copy Still there
Drag and Drop - Left Button - Copy Only
Dragging with the left mouse button and holding
the Ctrl key down while dragging copies the
files and folders without a prompt.
The Destination Folder Responds |
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This shows three files dragged to the Work folder with the left mouse button. In Win7, 8.1 and 10 (top), the destination folder name is spelled out, whereas with XP (bottom), one has to be attentive to which folder "lights up. To highlight multiple files, see Win Highlighting items. |
The Destination Folder Responds |
---|
This shows three files dragged to the Work folder with the left mouse button. In Win7, 8.1 and 10 (top), the destination folder name is spelled out, whereas with XP (bottom), one has to be attentive to which folder "lights up. To highlight multiple files, see Win Highlighting items. |