How To Change Default File Or Folder Drag Drop Behavior In Windows 10

Change default File or Folder Drag and Drop behavior

By default, Windows copies anything you Drag and Drop to a directory on a different drive and moves it if you drag and drop it to another folder on the current drive. To force Windows 10 into changing the behavior to either copy or move, regardless of whether you’re dragging items onto the same or different drives, you will need to edit two registry entries. Follow the guideline outlined below. Since this is a Registry operation, it is recommended that you back up the registry or create a system restore point as necessary precautionary measures. Once done, you can proceed as follows:

Press Windows key + R to invoke the Run dialog.In the Run dialog box, type regedit and hit Enter to open Registry Editor.Navigate or jump to the registry hive location below:

At the location, right-click the * folder on the left pane.Then choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.Name the value DefaultDropEffect.

Now, you’re going to modify that value to either always copy or always move files and folders as the default drop behavior. There are four values you can use that have different effects. While we’re only interested in two of the actions, they are as follows:

Default action (0): Let Windows decide whether to copy or move files and folders when you drag and drop it into place.Always copy (1): A copy of the file or folder will always be placed in the destination.Always move (2): The file or folder will move to the destination.Always create a shortcut (4): A link to the original file or folder will always be placed in the destination.

Now, double-click the newly created DefaultDropEffect value to edit its properties. In the properties window, enter either a 1 or 2 in the Value data field, depending on whether you always want to copy or move files or folders. For this example, we will use 1 to always copy files or folders. Click OK to apply changes.

Next, navigate or jump to the registry path below:

At the location, on the left pane, right-click the AllFilesystemObjects folder.Then choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.Name the new DWORD DefaultDropEffect.Now, double-click the newly created DefaultDropEffect value to edit its properties.In the properties window, input 1 in the Value data field.Click OK to save changes.

You can now exit the Registry Editor and the changes will take effect immediately, no need to restart your computer. That’s it! Tip: You can also in just one-click change default File or Folder Drag and Drop behavior in Windows 10 using our Ultimate Windows Tweaker.

This post will show you how to enable or disable Drag and Drop. If you do not want to disable drag and drop, then you can also add a confirmation box or change Drag and Drop sensitivity using a freeware. We hope you find this post useful.