The text drag and drop feature allows you to select text in a document and drag it to another location within the document or to another open document. This can be a handy feature for quickly moving text around. However, it can also lead to accidental text moves if you accidentally drag text while working. If you find this is happening and causing problems in your Word or PowerPoint documents, you may want to disable text drag and drop. Here is how to do it.
Why Disable Text Drag and Drop
Before jumping into the how, let’s look at some of the reasons you may want to disable text drag and drop:
- Accidentally dragging text can mess up your formatting or document structure
- It’s easy to accidentally select and drag text if using a touchpad
- You may never use the drag and drop feature intentionally anyway
If you find text drag and drop causing more problems than it solves, disabling it is easy to do.
How to Disable in Word
Disabling text drag and drop in Word only takes a few clicks:
- Open a Word document and click “File”
- Click “Options” at the bottom left
- Click the “Advanced” tab on the left side
- In the “Editing options” section, uncheck the box next to “Allow text to be dragged and dropped”
- Click “OK” at the bottom
That’s it! Now when you select text in Word it will no longer be draggable.
Pro Tip: You can use the same steps to re-enable text drag and drop later if you change your mind. Just re-check the box in step 4.
Word text drag and drop settings
How to Disable in PowerPoint
The steps to disable text drag and drop in PowerPoint are the same:
- Open a PowerPoint presentation and click “File”
- Select “Options”
- Go to the “Advanced” tab
- Uncheck “Allow text to be dragged and dropped”
- Click “OK”
You are now done. Text will no longer be draggable in PowerPoint.
Pro Tip: As in Word, you can reverse this change later to turn text drag and drop back on.
PowerPoint text drag and drop settings
Using Group Policy Editor (Advanced)
If you want to disable text drag and drop across your whole Windows system, you can use Group Policy Editor. Just know this affects all applications, not just Office. Here is how:
- Type “gpedit.msc” in the Windows search box and open the app
- Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Office 2016 > Options
- Double click on “Prevent drag and drop text editing”
- Set to “Enabled” and click OK
- Restart your computer for changes to take effect
Now text drag and drop will be universally disabled across Windows. Reverse these steps and set to “Not Configured” to re-enable systemwide.
Conclusion
Accidentally dragging text can be frustrating. Luckily the text drag and drop feature is easy to toggle on or off in both Word and PowerPoint. Now that you know where these settings live, you can decide which works best for your workflow.
Disabling text drag and drop prevents accidental text moves. But enabling it can also help speed up intentional text moves. Evaluate whether you use that intentional dragging, or if accidental dragging causes more harm. Let your workflow preferences guide which setting works best.
