The drag and drop (cross-hair dragging) feature in Drupal allows users to rearrange elements on a page by dragging them to a new location. This can be useful for organizing content, menu, blocks, creating custom layouts, or simply making it easier for users to interact with the site. By default, this is provided in Drupal core, both Drupal version 9, and previous Drupal 7 and 8. If for some reason, there are instances when the drag and drop functionality will appear broken, missing or not working. There are various possible issues that may cause this.

To test and try to fix this, a few potential solutions may work for this issue:

  1. Click on Show row weights / Hide row weights widget link (refer to screenshot image). This is shown in the upper right corner on the administrative listings where expected, e.g. Blocks listings, Menus, Fields, etc. When enabled, the drag-and-drop crosshair icons are visible by default, and when disabled these are hidden and replaced by a “Weight” column where you can manually indicate the sorting and ordering of items by selecting numerical values. Sometimes, some modules or configurations disable the default setting and you may need to re-enable the feature. If this is not the case, you may try the following solutions.
  2. Check for updates: Make sure you have the latest version of Drupal installed. Sometimes issues with the drag and drop feature can be fixed with core or module updates.
  3. Check your browser: Ensure that you are using a supported browser for Drupal. Some older or less popular browsers may not be fully compatible with Drupal’s drag and drop feature. Try switching to other browsers.
  4. Check for compatibility issues: If you are using any third-party modules or themes, they may be causing conflicts with the drag-and-drop drag and drop feature. Try deactivating recently installed and enabled modules to see if the issue is resolved.
  5. Clear your cache: Sometimes, Drupal’s cache can cause issues with certain features. Try clearing your cache to see if it resolves the problem. There are reports that Aggregated cache settings often cause the issue. Test by disabling all server, core, and module-related cache.
  6. Check for JavaScript errors: If the drag and drop feature is not working, there may be a JavaScript error causing the issue. Use the browser’s console to check for any errors and try to fix them.
  7. Test if this is related to the admin template. Try to switch to another administrative theme, instead of the default Seven admin theme to isolate or rule out this issue.

If none of these works, contact us for further assistance. There may be some other underlying reasons that may need extra technical help.