WD: Drag-and-Drop Edit Won't Swap Positions of 2 Table Rows

ID: Q146654

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, version 6.0, 6.0.1
Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
Microsoft Word for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

When you drag a row to the row beneath it, the contents of the rows remain unchanged.

NOTE: If you select all the cells in a row, but do not select the final cell mark (visible if you click the Show All button on the toolbar), dragging these cells to another row deletes the text of the second row.

For example, if you select row 1 and drag it to row 2, the table stays the same.

   Before dragging row 1 to row 2       After dragging row 1 to row 2
                                        (no difference)

     -------                              -------
    | row 1 |  --                        | row 1 |
     -------     |                        -------
    | row 2 | <--                        | row 2 |
     -------                              -------
    | row 3 |                            | row 3 |
     -------                              -------

However, if you select row 1 and drag it to row 3, the table now looks like this:

   Before dragging row 1 to row 2       After dragging row 1 to row 3
                                        (first two rows swap places)

     -------                              -------
    | row 1 |  --                        | row 2 | <--
     -------     |                        -------     |
    | row 2 |    |                       | row 1 | <--
     -------     |                        -------
    | row 3 | <--                        | row 3 |
     -------                              -------

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use either of the following methods.

Method 1

Place the insertion point in the first row, and press ALT+SHIFT+DOWN ARROW (Windows) or OPTION+SHIFT+DOWN ARROW (Macintosh). It is not necessary to select the row before doing this.

Method 2

Select the lower row and drag it up to the first row.

Example:

   Before dragging row 2 to row 1       After dragging row 2 to row 1
                                        (rows 2 and 1 trade places)

     -------                              -------
    | row 1 | <--                        | row 2 | <--
     -------     |                        -------     |
    | row 2 |  --                        | row 1 | <--
     -------                              -------
    | row 3 |                            | row 3 |
     -------                              -------

MORE INFORMATION

To select the entire row of a table, move the mouse pointer to the left of the table and click once. Or, click a cell in the table and then click Select Row on the Table menu.

This same problem occurs within unmarked, bulleted, or numbered lists.

Additional query words: swap trade remain transpose howto 8.0 8.00

Keywords          : kbualink97 winword macword kbtable 
Version           : WINDOWS:6.0,6.0a,6.0c,7.0,7.0a;MACINTOSH:6.0,6.0.1,6.0.1a,98
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto kbprb

Last Reviewed: January 22, 1999