Hello rd,
Thank you for your question on the menu boxes. It sounds as if you are saying you have the orange drag handle for the element, but are not showing any blue drag handle(for column) or yellow drag handle (for row).
I did test on a blank page and added text, but it creates all three drag handles.
Is this from a gridblock template? or did you start with a blank page? Can you provide any steps on exactly what you did to get to the point you are at? We would need to be able to duplicate in order to advise.
Kindest Regards,
Scott M