When you hold down Ctrl as you drag and drop text the selected text will be copied instead of moved?

When you add pictures, shapes, or other objects to your Office documents, they automatically stack in individual layers as you add them. You can move individual shapes or other objects or groups of objects in a stack. For example, you can move objects up or down within a stack one layer at a time, or you can move them to the top or bottom of a stack in one move. You can overlap objects when you draw to create different effects.

1. Click the border of the WordArt, text box, or shape that you want to move.

   To move multiple text boxes or shapes, press and hold Ctrl while you click the borders.

2. When the cursor changes to the four headed arrow, drag it to the new location.

   

   To move in small increments, press and hold Ctrl while pressing an arrow key. And to move the object horizontally or vertically only, press and hold Shift while you drag it.

Note: The incremental, or nudge, distance is a 1 pixel increment. What 1 screen pixel represents relative to the document area depends on the zoom percentage. When your document is zoomed in to 400%, 1 screen pixel is a relatively small nudge distance on the document. When your document is zoomed out to 25%, 1 screen pixel is a relatively large nudge distance on the document.

Depending on how far you’re moving the WordArt, shape, or text box, it might be easier to cut and paste it. Right-click the object, and then click Cut (or, press Ctrl+X). Press Ctrl+V to paste it. You can also cut and paste it into a different document, or between programs, such as from a PowerPoint slide to an Excel worksheet.

1. Click the WordArt, shape, or text box that you want to move up or down in the stack.

2. On the Drawing Tools Format tab, click either Bring Forward or Send Backward.

   

   You’ll have the choice of moving the object up one layer (Bring Forward) or to the top of the stack (Bring to Front). Send Backward has similar options: down one layer (Send Backward) or to the bottom of the pile (Send to Back).

   

   Tips: 

   • In Office 2016 and Office 2013, if you have a lot of WordArt, shapes, text boxes, or other objects, it may be easier to use up and down arrows in the Selection Pane to move objects. The Selection Pane is not available in Project or in Office 2010.

   • 

Use Cut, Copy, and Paste to move or copy cell contents. Or copy specific contents or attributes from the cells. For example, copy the resulting value of a formula without copying the formula, or copy only the formula.

When you move or copy a cell, Excel moves or copies the cell, including formulas and their resulting values, cell formats, and comments.

You can move cells in Excel by drag and dropping or using the Cut and Paste commands.

Move cells by drag and dropping

1. Select the cells or range of cells that you want to move or copy.

2. Point to the border of the selection.

3. When the pointer becomes a move pointer

   
   , drag the cell or range of cells to another location.

Move cells by using Cut and Paste

1. Select a cell or a cell range.

2. Select Home > Cut

   
   or press Ctrl + X.

3. Select a cell where you want to move the data.

4. Select Home > Paste

   
   or press Ctrl + V.

Copy cells by using Copy and Paste

1. Select the cell or range of cells.

2. Select Copy or press Ctrl + C.

3. Select Paste or press Ctrl + V.

You can always ask an expert in the Excel Tech Community or get support in the Answers community.

Move or copy cells, rows, and columns

Word enables you to cut and paste blocks of text from one part of a document to another. When you cut a selected portion of text, the text is removed from the document and placed on the Clipboard, a temporary storage area. When you paste text, a copy of the text on the Clipboard is placed into the document. The cut piece of text remains on the Clipboard until another block of text is placed on the Clipboard or until you shut down your computer. As long as the text remains on the clipboard, you can continue to paste the same text in different locations throughout your document.

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Word also enables you to copy and paste text from one part of the document to another. When you copy a selected portion of text, a duplicate of the text is placed on the Clipboard, but the text is not removed from the document. As when cutting and pasting text, you can continue to paste the same portion of text throughout the document as long as the text remains on the Clipboard.

To move text quickly over a short distance, you can select the text and then drag it to the desired location. As you drag, the selection appears to stay in its original position, and the mouse pointer becomes an arrow with a shaded box and insertion point drops down line by line on the page as you drag down (or the reverse if you drag up). The shaded box represents the selected text. You position the insertion point at the desired location in the document. When you release the mouse button, the text moves to its new position. This method is called drag-and-drop editing.

You can also drag to copy text. To do this, you hold down the Ctrl key as you drag the selection to an additional location.

Method to Copy and Paste Text

To move text:

Cut and paste method

1. Select the text.
2. On the Clipboard group on the Home tab, click the Cut button. or
3. Right click and choose Cut.
4. Place the insertion point where you want the text to be inserted.
5. On the Clipboard group on the Home tab, click the Paste button.or
6. Right click and choose Paste.

Drag-and-drop editing method

1. Select the text.
2. Drag the selected text, placing the mouse pointer’s insertion point at the desired location.

To copy text:

Copy and paste method

1. Select the text.
2. On the Clipboard group on the Home tab, click the Copy button. or
3. Right click and choose Copy.
4. Place the insertion point where you want the text to be inserted.
5. On the Clipboard group on the Home tab, click the Paste button. or
6. Right click and choose Paste.

Drag-and-drop editing method

1. Select the text.
2. Press and hold the Ctrl key as you drag the selected text, placing the mouse pointer’s gray line at the desired location.

Also see Modifying Page Breaks in Word.