How to Move Text in Word (Cut and Paste, Drag, F2, and More)

To move text in Word, select it, press Ctrl+X (Command+X on a Mac) to cut it, click where it should go, and press Ctrl+V (Command+V) to paste it. For short moves you can simply drag the selected text to its new spot. These methods work in Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows and Mac and in Word for the web.

Move text with cut and paste

Cut and paste is the most reliable method because it works for any amount of text and across pages or documents.

1. Select the text you want to move. Drag across it with the mouse, or hold Shift and use the arrow keys.
2. Press Ctrl+X (Mac: Command+X), or select Cut on the Home tab. The text disappears from its old location and is held on the clipboard.
3. Click the exact spot where the text should go. A blinking cursor marks the insertion point.
4. Press Ctrl+V (Mac: Command+V), or select Paste on the Home tab. The text appears at the cursor.

You can also right-click the selection and choose Cut, then right-click the destination and choose a paste option.

If you need to relocate everything on one page rather than a few lines, follow these steps to cut and move a whole page in Word.

Drag and drop text with the mouse

Dragging is fastest when the new location is visible on the same screen.

1. Select the text.
2. Point at the highlighted text, then press and hold the left mouse button.
3. Drag to the new location. A small dotted insertion bar shows where the text will land.
4. Release the mouse button to drop the text.

To copy instead of move, hold Ctrl while you drag on Windows (Option on a Mac). If dragging selects more text instead of moving it, drag-and-drop editing may be off. In Word for Windows, go to File > Options > Advanced and turn on Allow text to be dragged and dropped under Editing options.

Move text a long distance with F2

Dragging across many pages is awkward. Word for Windows has a built-in move command that avoids both the mouse and the clipboard:

1. Select the text.
2. Press F2. The status bar asks where to move the text.
3. Scroll or use the arrow keys to put the cursor at the destination. The cursor appears as a dotted line.
4. Press Enter. The text moves to the new location.

Press Esc before step 4 to cancel. On some laptops you need to hold the Fn key to use F2.

Move whole paragraphs up or down with the keyboard

To reorder paragraphs, list items, or table rows, click inside the paragraph (or select several) and press Alt+Shift+Up arrow or Alt+Shift+Down arrow on Windows. On a Mac, use Control+Shift+Up arrow or Control+Shift+Down arrow. Each press moves the paragraph past its neighbor, so there is nothing to cut or paste. This is also a quick way to rearrange bullet points in a list.

Collect several pieces of text and move them together

When you need to pull text from several places into one spot, the Office Clipboard saves you from going back and forth.

1. On the Home tab, select the small arrow (dialog box launcher) in the Clipboard group. The Clipboard pane opens.
2. Cut each piece of text you want to move. Each one is added to the pane, up to 24 items.
3. Click where the text should go.
4. Select an item in the pane to paste it, or select Paste All to paste every item in order.

Word for Windows also has the Spike: press Ctrl+F3 to cut each selection to it, then press Ctrl+Shift+F3 to paste everything you collected at once.

Keep formatting under control after you paste

Text moved within the same document usually keeps its look. Text moved between documents can pick up fonts, spacing, or shading that don’t match. Right after you paste, select the Paste Options button that appears next to the text and choose:

• Keep Source Formatting to keep the text exactly as it looked before.
• Merge Formatting to match the surrounding text while keeping bold and italic.
• Keep Text Only to drop all formatting, pictures, and tables.

To change the default, go to File > Options > Advanced and adjust the choices under Cut, copy, and paste. If pasted web text arrives with a gray background, see how to remove grey shading from copied text. Microsoft explains each option in Control the formatting when you paste text.

Move text between two documents

1. Open both documents.
2. In the first document, select the text and press Ctrl+X (Mac: Command+X).
3. Switch to the second document and click where the text should go.
4. Press Ctrl+V (Mac: Command+V) and pick a paste option if the formatting looks off.
5. Save both documents, since the first one has changed too.

If you want the whole file rather than a section, it’s easier to copy an entire Word document.

Fix a move that went wrong

• Text landed in the wrong place: press Ctrl+Z (Mac: Command+Z) to undo the move, then try again.
• Cut text seems gone: it is still on the clipboard until you cut or copy something else, so click a location and paste it.
• Extra or missing spaces: Word’s smart cut and paste normally adjusts spaces around moved words. If it doesn’t, delete or add the space by hand.
• Moved a text box instead of text: text inside a text box moves like normal text, but the box itself is repositioned differently. See how to move a text box in Word.

Matt Wilmont

Matt has been writing about Microsoft Windows and other Microsoft products since the days of Windows XP. He spends much of his time writing for sites like WindowBrain.com