How to enable Taskbar drag and drop on Windows 11

Use this tool to bring back the drag and drop feature to the Taskbar to open files dragging the files to a running application on Windows 11.

Windows 11 Taskbar drag and drop
Windows 11 Taskbar drag and drop

On Windows 11, to simplify the Taskbar experience, Microsoft ended up removing some useful features, including the ability to drag and drop files to open with a running application.

Although the company may still bring back the support, in the meantime, a small tool has emerged in GitHub that allows you to drag and drop files to mimic the same missing functionality to open the file with the running application.

In this guide, you will learn the steps to bring back the drag and drop support for the Taskbar on Windows 11.

Enable drag and drop in Taskbar

To enable the drag and drop feature in the Taskbar, use these steps:

  1. Open GitHub repo page.

  2. Click the Windows11DragAndDropToTaskbarFix.exe download link and save the file on your computer.

    Windows11DragAndDropToTaskbarFix

  3. Right-click the file and select the Run as administrator option.

  4. Click the Yes button.

Once you complete the steps, you can drag a file to the app button and drop it over the running application (window) to open it.

When using this tool, it’s worth noting that the “not allowed” icon will still show up when dragging the file to the running application.

Optional configuration

To allow the tool to run automatically at startup and hide the console window, use these steps:

  1. Open File Explorer.

  2. Navigate the path to the application folder location.

  3. Click the New menu and select the Text Document folder option.

    Create text file

  4. Name the folder Windows11DragAndDropToTaskbarFixConfig.txt and press Enter.

  5. Double-click the text file to open it with Notepad.

  6. Copy and paste the following command to allow the tool to run at startup: 

    AutomaticallyRunThisProgramOnStartup=1

    Windows 11 drag and drop config

  7. Copy and paste the following command to hide the console window:

    ShowConsoleWindowOnStartup=1
  8. Click the File menu and select the Save option.

After you complete the steps, the tool will run automatically without additional steps.

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].