What is the action of holding down the left mouse button while moving your mouse called?

Q: What is the left button of the mouse called?

When the user presses the left mouse button, it is called a left-click. When the user presses the right-side mouse button, then it is a right-click. The left mouse button is the main button, which is used for general tasks like object selecting and double-clicking.

Q: What is press and hold the left mouse button while moving the mouse cursor across the screen?

Clicking and dragging is a way to move certain objects on the screen. To move an object, place the mouse cursor over it, press and hold down the left mouse button, then move the mouse while still holding down the left mouse button.

Updated: 12/05/2021 by

Inhaltsverzeichnis Show

How to drag-and-drop on a desktop or laptop
How to drag-and-drop on a tablet or smartphone
How to cancel a drag-and-drop
What is drag-and-drop editing?
How to scroll while drag-and-drop editing?
Mouse and mouse interaction terms
In this article
Mouse actions
On-screen pointers
What is the action of pressing the mouse button once called?
What means to hold down the mouse button and move the mouse?
What is the left button of the mouse called?
What is press and hold the left mouse button while moving the mouse cursor across the screen?

The phrase drag-and-drop describes the action of selecting an object or section of text, moving it (dragging), and then placing it (dropping) in an alternate area. For example, to drag-and-drop an object, such as an icon, you first move your mouse cursor over it. Then, press and hold down the left mouse button, move the object to the location you desire, and release the mouse button to set it down.

Note

Dragging and dropping an object or file moves it to the new location; it does not make a copy.

How to drag-and-drop on a desktop or laptop

In the image below, you can see the three-step process used to highlight, drag, and then drop files to another location.

Tip

Holding down the Ctrl key while dragging and dropping text or another object copies the object or text.

Tip

In Microsoft Windows, if you drag-and-drop with the right mouse button rather than the left mouse button, you're prompted with a menu. This menu gives you options to "copy here," "move here," or "create a shortcut here."

How to drag-and-drop on a tablet or smartphone

Locate the app, file, or folder you want to move. Press and hold your finger on the object. Slide your finger across the screen until you have the object where you want to place it, then lift your finger.

How to cancel a drag-and-drop

If you clicked the wrong object when dragging-and-dropping anything, press Esc to cancel the drag-and-drop.

If you've already let go of your mouse button and moved something, overwrote something, or caused another problem the undo feature can fix a bad drag-and-drop action.

What is drag-and-drop editing?

Drag-and-drop editing describes any editing performed by dragging an image, text, or object from one place to another. For example, to move text from one place to another in a document, you could select the text and then click-and-drag that text to another location.

Tip

If you hold down Ctrl while dragging and dropping the text, it's copied (duplicated) instead of moved.

How to scroll while drag-and-drop editing?

If where you want to drag the text is not visible, while dragging the text, move to the window edge in the direction you want to scroll. For example, to drag text from the top to the bottom of a document, follow the steps below.

Highlight the text you want to move.
Click-and-drag the highlighted text to the bottom of the window or document area.
When near the bottom edge, the program begins to scroll down. Continue to hold the button until you get to where you want to move the text, and then let go of the mouse button.

Tip

The above steps would work for any direction that you can scroll. For example, if you could scroll up, you could click-and-drag text near the top of the window or document area.

Tip

If lots of scrolling is needed to get to where you want to move text, it's easier to cut and paste instead of dragging-and-dropping.

Click, Mouse pointer, Mouse terms

"Clicking and dragging" is a way to move certain objects on the screen. To move an object, place the mouse cursor over it, press and hold down the mouse button, then move the mouse while still holding down the mouse button. When you have "dragged" the object to the location you want, let go of the mouse button.

Try clicking and dragging the red square on this page.

This browser is no longer supported.

Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.

Mouse and mouse interaction terms

Article
06/24/2022
2 minutes to read

Mouse actions

Term	Usage
click	Use to describe selecting an item with the mouse by clicking the mouse once. Don't use click on.
click in	Use only to refer to clicking in a general area within a page, window, or other UI location.
double-click	Use to describe selecting an item by clicking the mouse twice in rapid succession. Hyphenate. Don't use double-click on.
drag	Use to describe holding down a button while moving the mouse, and then releasing the button. Don't use click and drag or drag and drop. It's OK to use drop by itself if drag isn't precise enough.
hover over, point to	To describe moving the mouse pointer over an area of the UI without selecting it, use hover over or point to, as appropriate for your audience. Use hover or hovering as the adjective and noun form. Examples In Microsoft Edge, when you hover over a link, the URL appears in the lower-left corner. The hover image is displayed when the user points to the button. To program the pop-up action that's triggered by hovering …. Pop-up windows that appear on hover Don't use mouse over or move the mouse pointer to. It's OK to use move the mouse pointer to in content that teaches beginning skills.
press and hold	Use only in content that teaches beginning skills.
right-click	Use to describe clicking an item by using the secondary mouse button (the right button by default, but the user can customize this).
scroll	Use only in content that teaches beginning skills. In other content, use a phrase such as move through.

Devices

Term	Usage
mouse	Use mouse to refer to one mouse. If you need to refer to more than one mouse, use mice.
mouse button	Use to refer to the left mouse button. Use left mouse button only to teach beginning skills or when not doing so would cause confusion. When more than one mouse button is used in a procedure, name the least frequently used button only.
right mouse button	Use to refer to the secondary mouse button. By default, this is the right mouse button. Customers who change the default understand that right mouse button indicates the secondary button.
wheel button	Use to refer to the third or middle button on the mouse. Customers rotate the wheel and click the wheel button.

On-screen pointers

When you must talk about the appearance of the pointer on the screen, include a picture of the pointer if possible. Don't use a picture instead of the word pointer—use both.

Term	Usage
busy pointer	Use to describe the pointer when it consists only of an activity indicator.
double-headed arrow	Use to describe how the pointer looks over a split line ( ). Don't use double-headed arrow as a name for the pointer. Example When the pointer becomes a , drag the pointer to move the split line.
pointer	Use to refer to the pointer on the screen. Use cursor only for a technical audience or when it's necessary to describe the point where text or graphics will be inserted. Don't use insertion point.
working in background pointer	Use to describe the pointer when it consists of both the pointer and an activity indicator.

Feedback

Submit and view feedback for

What is the action of pressing the mouse button once called?

Click – The act of pressing and releasing a mouse-button. Unless otherwise specified, such as in a double-click or a right-click, this term refers strictly to pressing the left mouse button once.

What means to hold down the mouse button and move the mouse?

To drag-and-drop Then, while still holding onto the left mouse button, move your mouse to the area you would like the object to be and release the left button on the mouse.

What is the left button of the mouse called?

When the "user presses the left mouse button", it is called a "left-click". When the "user presses the right-side mouse button", then it is a "right-click". The "left mouse button" is the main button, which is used for general tasks like object selecting and double-clicking.

What is press and hold the left mouse button while moving the mouse cursor across the screen?

"Clicking and dragging" is a way to move certain objects on the screen. To move an object, place the mouse cursor over it, press and hold down the left mouse button, then move the mouse while still holding down the left mouse button.