Some people hate drag and drop text, some love it; I’m in the love camp. I love that I can select some text in a frame, then drag it elsewhere in the same frame or a different one (even in a different InDesign doc) and see exactly where it’s going to “drop” (paste). I suppose I could do the same with cutting/pasting but it’s just not as much fun.
By default, the drag and drop text feature only works in the Story Editor (Edit > Edit in Story Editor). To enable it in Layout as well, go to Preferences > Type > Drag and Drop Text Editing and turn on Enable in Layout View.
You’ll know it’s working when your Type tool cursor changes to an arrow and a tiny “T” icon whenever you hover over a text selection. Start dragging when you see that cursor. As you drag, you’ll see a tall insertion bar follow the tip of the arrow. The insertion bar tells you where the type will be dropped when you release the mouse button. It’s a smart drag/drop, too (InDesign takes care of leading/trailing spaces), just like regular cutting and pasting is in CS2.
To drag/drop a *copy* of a text selection (instead of the cutting the original), hold down the Option/Alt key after you start dragging.
This article was last modified on December 18, 2021
This article was first published on May 12, 2006
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