Tip #5 - Drag and Drop in Word and Excel

100 Amazing Computer Tips

Tip #5 - Drag and Drop in Word and Excel

Many years ago, Microsoft added a drag and drop feature to many of their products. Instead of cutting and pasting, you select, drag and drop. By dragging and dropping I mean holding the mouse button down to drag the information you have selected and releasing the mouse button to drop in another location.

This is how your mouse is
represented when you are
correctly positioned to drag
and drop.

Notice the vertical line to the left of the "O" in the picture above.
This is showing where the text will be placed when you release
the mouse button.

Dragging and dropping in Excel.

The secret to doing this successfully is that you need to know where to position your mouse. In Word, after you have selected the text, position your mouse on the selected text. In most programs you’ll notice that your mouse is now represented as an arrow with a four headed pointer at the tip. For some inexplicable reason Microsoft uses an arrow just in Word. This is Microsoft’s representation for “moving”. Hold down the mouse button and drag the text. As you do so you’ll see a vertical line moving along with you. This vertical line represents the movement of the selected text to the insertion location. When you have the vertical line in place, release the mouse button. The text has moved to its new location.

In Excel you can drag and drop a single cell or a group of cells. After the cell or group of cells is selected, move your mouse to the border around the outside of the selected area. You will see Microsoft’s “move” arrow. Hold down the mouse button and drag. Release the mouse button when you have reached your destination. If there currently is information in the cells being replaced, you will see a warning when you release the mouse button asking if you want to replace the contents. If the replaced cells are blank, no warning is displayed.

You’ll want to try this in other programs. I've used it successfully in many programs, including email messages.

Happy dragging and dropping.

Diane

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