Query Designer Doesn't Allow Drag-and-Drop Tables or Joins (Fixed)
- George Hepworth
- Feb 14, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 28, 2025
Description
There have been reports in online forums that dragging and dropping tables into the query designer is disabled, apparently following a Windows or Office update in February, 2025.
See User reports here:
The forbidden icon 🚫 appears when a table is dragged from the Add Table Pane or the Navigation Pane into the query designer. This prevents the table from being added via this method. Normally, the forbidden icon appears only when the cursor is on the field list in a table, or when it is over an area of the query designer where dropping is not appropriate, e.g. the designer grid.
It has also been reported that the same bug prevents dragging join lines between fields in tables in the designer.
The problem has been confirmed on
an external monitor attached to a laptop
a second monitor in a dual monitor environment.
Status
Microsoft released a fix for this bug in KB5052093 (OS Build 26100.3323) Preview, February 25, 2025.
Workarounds
One of the posters who reported the problem provided a video showing that randomly dragging the cursor around in the query designer eventually finds a droppable area. Releasing the mouse button over that droppable area adds the table or completes the join.
You could also try using a primary or laptop monitor if the problem appears on a secondary or external monitor.
Use the SQL View to add tables or build joins.
You could also try double-clicking on the tables in the Add Tables Pane.
Use the Query Wizard to add tables to a new query.
Change the external monitor from "Extended" to "Duplicate"