drag and drop - technical definition

A graphical user interface (GUI) capability that lets you perform operations by moving the icon of an object with the mouse into another window or onto another icon. For example, files can be copied or moved by dragging them from one folder to another. Programs can be executed by dragging and dropping. To print a document, an icon of the document is dragged on top of the icon for the printer.

Drag and drop is essential for graphics applications where you need to position text and images on the page or on top of each other. However, there are drag and drop options for copying and moving files, which can be just as easily accomplished with the standard Copy, Cut and Paste functions in the Edit menu. See Win Drag and drop.