How to Change the Default Drag-and-Drop Action in Windows 11 Use the drag-and-drop feature your way. Here's how you can change the default drag and drop action in Windows 11. Before we begin, be sure to subscribe to NinjaOne's IT video hub and our YouTube channel for more tech content like this. What is Drag and Drop and How Does it Work? As the name implies, drag-and-drop lets you copy, move, or create a new shortcut to a file. However, because drag-and-drop has different capabilities, some users may prefer one function over the others. If you have a preference in mind, consider the following three options to configure its behavior. Methods to Change Default Drag-and-Drop Action The first and easiest method is to use keyboard shortcuts. Press and hold the Ctrl key while you drag and drop to copy files. Press and hold the Shift key while you drag and drop to always move. And finally, press and hold Ctrl + Shift while you drag and drop to create a shortcut. The keyboard method is most suitable for individual users. To make permanent changes to drag and drop in a managed environment, you can use one of two methods. One is through configurations in the Registry Editor. Open the Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\* Find or create the DefaultDropEffect value, and set it to: 1 to always copy, 2 to always move, or 4 to always create a shortcut. After that, close the Registry Editor and restart File Explorer to apply changes. Another method is to create and run a .reg file. Open Notepad and type the script shown on the screen. This one enables drag and drop to always copy. To make drag and drop always move, change the DWORD value to 00000002. To make it create a shortcut, change it to 00000004. Save the file as Default_DragandDrop.reg, and then double-click it to run. Restart File Explorer to apply the changes. Changing the default action of Drag and Drop can help make your workflow more efficient. For more information, check out our official blog post on How to Change the Default Drag-and-Drop Action in Windows 11, linked in the description below.