3 Reasons Why You Can’t Move Program Windows Between Your Screens

Are you unable to move applications from one monitor to the next freely? Not being able to drag windows across multiple monitors can be frustrating (at the pebble-in-shoe level).

However, it’s not like you’re bound to live within these borders for all eternity, as there are several ways of approaching this. Whatever it is that’s blocking you from dragging your windows from one screen to the next is most likely something minor – and it will be fixed.

In order to move application windows from one monitor to the next, you must first make sure that you’re in Extended mode, with the Snap-to-grid feature disabled, and not mirroring the two monitors. You must also make sure that you’ve identified which monitor is placed where, and that the application you’re trying to drag isn’t in a maximized window.

The Snap-to-grid feature within Windows stops slow-moving windows from moving across screens, instead, they snap to the grid. Dragging the window across your screens rapidly or disabling the feature can prevent this from happening.

These things are reported frequently and have become the common reason for this problem. Thankfully, they’re all quite easy to identify and overcome.

Now that we’ve talked a little bit about what’s causing these problems, let’s focus on fixing them. Down below is a guide that will cover each possible cause. Now, the first fix may not always be the solution to the problem but keep going until you’ve tried them all.

Why Can’t I Drag Anything to My Second Monitor in Windows 10?

You can still find this guide helpful if you’ve got other versions of Windows installed even though we’re talking about Windows 10 mainly. These features and functions aren’t unique to Windows 10 and the way you move application windows across screens has pretty much looked the same in older versions of Windows too.

1. Your monitors aren’t in Extended mode

When you connect two monitors to one computer, the computer doesn’t always know how to behave, and it certainly doesn’t know how you want it to behave.

When you’re in Extended mode, you will be able to see different things on both monitors and move items across them, compared to Duplicate mode, which just creates a mirror of the first monitor onto the second. Duplicate mode doesn’t provide additional screen space, it just mimics the first screen.

There are two ways of changing/activating Extended mode.

Method 1:

1. Press Windows + P to bring forth the panel on the right side of the screen
2. Pick Extend
3. Your screen is now extended

Method 2:

1. Right-click on the desktop background
2. Go to Display Settings
3. Look for Multiple Monitors/Displays
4. Select Extend these displays

Your screen is now extended to both monitors. Continue to the next step to make sure they’re positioned correctly.

2. Your monitors aren’t positioned correctly

When connecting multiple monitors to your computer, they’re not always positioned correctly within Windows. Physically, your primary screen may be to the left and the secondary screen to the right in your office, but Windows doesn’t know that.

Thankfully, you have the option to position the monitors just as you want them to be – preferably to match how they’re set up on your desk.

This doesn’t prevent you from moving Windows across your screens, it will, however, make it impossible to move the window from the right direction.

Moving a Window from the left screen to the right screen would normally mean you move the window to the right. But if the screens are positioned incorrectly, you would have to move the window in the opposite direction in order to make it move to the other screen.

This is how you position your screens:

1. Right-click on the desktop background
2. Go to Display Settings
3. At the top, you should be able to find an image of two or more monitors that are numbered
4. Click Identify to display said numbers on the monitors.
5. If the monitors aren’t positioned as they’re displayed in Windows, click one of the monitors and drag it to the right position (left or right of the other monitor) then drop it
6. You have now positioned your monitors correctly

If this was the issue, you should be able to drag applications back and forth without hindrance.

3. The Snap-To-Grid feature is preventing you from moving the window

In Windows, moving a window close to a corner or an edge will automatically snap the application to the grid and expand it to fit the screen.

However, there is one caveat to this – whether or not the function is triggered depends on the speed of the cursor as it drags the application.

When a window is dragged across the screen slowly, Windows thinks you want to snap it to the top or side border, rather than moving it to the next screen.

That’s why the Snapping function can make it impossible for you to drag windows across screens.

There are three different ways of approaching this:

Method 1: Disable Snapping

1. Right-click the desktop background and go to Display Settings
2. Go to Multitasking in the left menu
3. Disable Snap windows

You have now disabled all snapping. To me, disabling snapping wasn’t appealing at all, as I use the function quite frequently, and I think it’s a quite convenient feature. That’s why I’ve included two other methods of fixing this problem.

Method 2: Move the mouse faster

Seeing as the window isn’t able to make the leap over to the other screen because the cursor isn’t moving rapidly enough, moving it faster will solve the problem. You can either move the mouse faster physically as you try to drag the window across the two monitors or increase the cursor speed in mouse settings.

Want to increase your cursor speed? Here’s how.

1. Search for Mouse Settings in Window’s search bar in the lower-left corner
2. Adjust the cursor speed
3. Done

Method 3: Use keyboard commands to move windows around

You can use keyboard commands to move windows from one place to the other. This includes one side of the screen to the other side, but also from one monitor to the next monitor.

To move a window from one monitor to the next: Press the Windows button + Shift + Left or Right directional key depending on where you want to move the application.

This should send the application to the other screen. You can also send the window to the left or right side of the same screen by using the key combination Windows button + Left or Right.

Why Can’t I Move Other Elements to My Second Monitor In Windows 10?

This question can definitely be defined and broken down in a manner that makes it easier to answer. But my take on this question is that the user wishes to move other elements than just application windows, such as the taskbar, for instance.

If you can’t move the Windows taskbar (the bar that’s normally positioned on the bottom of the screen) then it’s most likely because the taskbar is locked.

You can unlock it easily by right-clicking on the taskbar and unchecking the “Lock the taskbar” option. Now, the taskbar can be dragged from one monitor to the next, and even placed on the sides of the screen.

If the drag-and-drop function in Windows stops working, then you’ll have a hard time dragging and dropping files between your monitors. You could try resetting the File Explorer to fix the problem. But first:

If you can’t drag and drop folders or files on your computer, left-click and hold the file or folder you want to move, then press Escape once while the left mouse button is still pressed down. Release the left mouse button. If this didn’t fix your issue, proceed to reset the File Explorer.