Solved Win 11 file explorer drag and drop files to folder question

john1955 · Jan 26, 2025

When I drag a file or files to a folder in Win-11 (set to details view) it drags a stupid icon that blocks my view of the folder I want to drop them into. Is there a way to have it NOT have that icon and act like Windows 7 that only highlights the file(s) being moved and where it's being moved to like this . . . I'm writing this from windows 7 so no screen capture from the windows 11 machine

winver 23H2

antspants · Jan 26, 2025

john1955 said:
it drags a stupid icon that blocks my view of the folder

What is a “stupid icon”? Are you referring to the icons of the objects you are dragging?
I highly doubt there is a way to disable that.

antspants · Jan 26, 2025

I would guess that a possible alternative would be to add “Copy to / Move to” to your right click context menu.

Or drag the objects further to the left, or only to the very edge of the right of the destination, may enable you to see the folder you are dragging to. However the longer you hover over a folder that contains sub-folders, the more likelihood that the folder you are dragging to will expand to show the sub-folders. When this happens it is possible to drop the objects into the wrong folder if not careful.

glasskuter · Jan 26, 2025

I'm confused. I have no idea what you mean by "it blocks the view of the folder" If you are talking about that pdf, that's a file, not a folder. It's not blocking any folder icon. Its icon is dependent on whatever app you have set to open pdf files. Once it's dropped inside a folder its icon is not seen until you open the folder to view the files inside it.
In Win11 the default drag & drop action is different depending on where you are dragging a file/folder from. You can set it so the drag/drop action is the same across windows no matter the location.. This explains what I mean.

Change Drag and Drop Default Action in Windows

How to Change Default Drag and Drop Action in Windows

www.tenforums.com

LesFerch · Jan 26, 2025

john1955 said:
When I drag a file or files to a folder in Win-11 (set to details view) it drags a stupid icon that blocks my view of the folder I want to drop them into. Is there a way to have it NOT have that icon

I know what you mean. The icon is big and opaque. In Windows 10, it's still big, but it's translucent, so it's much easier to see your target. You can't eliminate the icon, but you can make it translucent with this patch:

GitHub - krlvm/DragDropNormalizer: Normalize Drag&Drop overlay on Windows 11 22H2+

Normalize Drag&Drop overlay on Windows 11 22H2+. Contribute to krlvm/DragDropNormalizer development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Win711 · Jan 26, 2025

LesFerch said:
I know what you mean. The icon is big and opaque. In Windows 10, it's still big, but it's translucent, so it's much easier to see your target. You can't eliminate the icon, but you can make it translucent with this patch:

GitHub - krlvm/DragDropNormalizer: Normalize Drag&Drop overlay on Windows 11 22H2+

Normalize Drag&Drop overlay on Windows 11 22H2+. Contribute to krlvm/DragDropNormalizer development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Is there any perspective to understand that change to a big icon as being a good idea?

john1955 · Jan 27, 2025

antspants said:
I would guess that a possible alternative would be to add “Copy to / Move to” to your right click context menu.

Or drag the objects further to the left, or only to the very edge of the right of the destination, may enable you to see the folder you are dragging to. However the longer you hover over a folder that contains sub-folders, the more likelihood that the folder you are dragging to will expand to show the sub-folders. When this happens it is possible to drop the objects into the wrong folder if not careful.

I actually use “Copy to / Move to” in Windows 7 but don't use it when I simply add a sub-folder and then drag and drop multiple files into the new folder so this is a good suggestion. Maybe I can make a habit of using it more often. I use it often moving things from my desktop to their final location so I dont have to have more than one File Explorer window open.

I thought of that other solution later last night which seems dumb that I did not think of earlier that if I select the files and then grip them with the mouse somewhere other than on the filename (someplace to the the right of it) the icon goes with the mouse pointer grip so it does not cover the folder name I'm moving them to. I just dont see the point of there even being an icon. Who thinks of these things? Windows 7 has a tiny icon under the mouse pointer that is just an outline of a rectangle but it did not show up in the screen capture using the print screen key because it does not capture the mouse pointer at all. Cut and paste also works so I guess I was just VENTING about an unwelcome feature

Marking this as solved

john1955 · Jan 27, 2025

Win711 said:
Is there any perspective to understand that change to a big icon as being a good idea?

NO! Unless it was an option without having to install a patch. If someone wanted this It should be a checkable option in the explorer Tools/Folder Options

LesFerch · Jan 27, 2025

Win711 said:
Is there any perspective to understand that change to a big icon as being a good idea?

Are you asking why Microsoft made the drag icon so big?

Are you asking if applying the patch to make the icon translucent is safe?

Something else? Sorry I'm confused.

Win711 · Jan 27, 2025

john1955 said:
NO! Unless it was an option without having to install a patch. If someone wanted this It should be a checkable option in the explorer Tools/Folder Options

If Microsoft made cars they would have square wheels.

Win711 · Jan 27, 2025

LesFerch said:
Are you asking why Microsoft made the drag icon so big?

Yes. I wondering how that could possibly be a good idea.

LesFerch · Jan 27, 2025

Win711 said:
Yes. I wondering how that could possibly be a good idea.

Ahh, so it was a rhetorical question.

It's perplexing. It's obvious one needs to see their target when doing a drag. At least in Windows 10, you could see through the icon.

Win711 · Jan 27, 2025

LesFerch said:
Ahh, so it was a rhetorical question.

It's perplexing. It's obvious one needs to see their target when doing a drag. At least in Windows 10, you could see through the icon.

I wonder if maybe it's for touchscreen. It might make more sense on a tablet.

antspants · Jan 27, 2025

john1955 said:
I thought of that other solution later last night which seems dumb that I did not think of earlier that if I select the files and then grip them with the mouse somewhere other than on the filename

That sounds like a good plan

Edwin · Jan 27, 2025

I believe it's a long gone setting, Use visual styles on windows and buttons, that used to be available in Appearance Settings, I think it went out with W7 Aero themes.

Solved Win 11 file explorer drag and drop files to folder question

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