How to Change Drag and Drop Sensitivity in Windows
By default in Windows, if you move an item by a distance of 4 pixels and leave it, it will result in a drag and drop operation.
When you drag and drop files and folders in Windows, they will get moved or copied by default based on the source and destination locations.
Many people find that it is way too easy for them to inadvertently drag and drop files from one folder to another with a default distance of 4 pixels.
If you increase the distance to say 50 pixels, then you will have to drag items (ex: text, files, folders, windows, etc...) by at least 50 pixels before it can drop.
This tutorial will show you how to change the drag and drop sensitivity to what you want for your account in Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10.
If you have a high screen resolution (ex: 4K UHD), then you may want to increase the drag and drop sensitivity to an even higher pixel.
Here's How:
1 Press the Win + R keys to open Run, type regedit into Run, and click/tap on OK to open Registry Editor.
2 Navigate to the registry key below in the left pane of Registry Editor. (see screenshot below)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
3 In the right pane of the Desktop key, double click/tap on the DragHeight string (REG_SZ) value to modify it. (see screenshot below step 2)
4 Enter a number for how many pixels you want, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
The default value is 4 pixels.
If you set the value too high (ex: 1000), you won't be able to drag anything (ex: files, folders, windows).
5 In the right pane of the Desktop key, double click/tap on the DragWidth string (REG_SZ) value to modify it. (see screenshot below step 2)
6 Enter the same value you used for DragHeight from step 4, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
7 When finished, close Registry Editor.
8 Sign out and sign in, or restart the computer to apply.
That's it,
Shawn Brink
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- How to Change Default Drag and Drop Action in Windows
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- How to Enable or Disable Drag to Snap Windows in Windows 10