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AndyG196
AndyG196
Participant
June 2, 2026
Question

Problems moving/dragging items in Illustrator on Windows

  • June 2, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 26 views

Hi

I’m having issues moving and/or dragging items. Once I open a new file, or any existing file. And try to create an element, text block or draw something, it lets me for a few clicks but eventually it stops letting me move or scale items completely. 
 

I’ve tried multiple things: resetting my illustrator preferences, updating computer drivers, installing an older version of illustrator, restarting my computer, checking my app permissions, it’s also not my mouse or mousepad, it’s just happening on Illustrator.
 

Nothing seems to be working.

      1 reply

      Mike_Gondek10189183
      Community Expert
      Mike_Gondek10189183Community Expert
      Community Expert
      June 2, 2026

      Please when posting in future include your OS & software version. We can not really help you much without that we do not even know if you are on Mac or windows. If you take the time to post a question and include better information including screen shots, you will get a better response.

      Updating the wacom driver has helped in the past on this issue, if you have one. As your issue happens in older AI also things that affect the system like the wacom are a good guess or maybe below.

       

      OOBE RESET MAC  

      1. Quit the Creative Cloud desktop app  (100% you must do this)
      2. The \Users\<user folder>\Library\ is hidden by default for macOS 10.7 and above. Option click on the GO in the mac finder to reveal the Library folder.
      3. /Users/<user folder>/Library/Application Support/Adobe/OOBE
      4. Delete all the files within the OOBE folder, but do not delete the folder itself.

       

       

      OOBE RESET WIN

      Quit the Creative Cloud desktop app  (100% you must do this)

      C:\Users\<user folder>\AppData\Local\Adobe\OOBE 

      The AppData folder is hidden in Windows by default. See Show hidden files, folders, filename extensions | Windows for instructions to access it.

      Delete all the files within the OOBE folder, but do not delete the folder itself.

      Restart the computer and launch the Creative Cloud desktop app again.

       

       

       

      AndyG196
      AndyG196Author
      Participant
      June 2, 2026

      Apologies, this is my first time posting a question in the forum, but I’ll take it into consideration for the next posts.


      As to my issue, I tried what you suggested and the issue is still persistent. I have Windows 11 Home Version 25H2 according to the about section of my laptop.

       

      I’m attaching my computer specs in case it’s helpful. I’m also attaching a screenshot of my illustrator window, I don’t know how helpful it is but attaching it just in case. The screenshot shows a rectangle window which pops up when I try to click and drag to create a shape, and same with the lorem ipsum texts above, I’m trying to click and drag to give the elements the size and space I want, there are a few dots where I tried to draw but, again, it’s the click and drag function that isn’t working because I can’t move elements unless is with the arrow keys.

      Illustrator screen
      Computer specs

       

      Anubhav M
      Community Manager
      Anubhav MCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      June 3, 2026

      Hi @AndyG196,


      Sorry to hear you're running into this. Hopefully, Mike's suggestions helped. If they did, please mark the helpful reply as the correct answer so others facing the same issue can find it.

      If the problem is still occurring, please try these two diagnostic steps:

      1. Run Illustrator under a different administrator account: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-a-local-user-or-administrator-account-in-windows-20de74e0-ac7f-3502-a866-32915af2a34d
      2. Reboot your PC into Safe Mode and launch Illustrator from there: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-your-pc-in-safe-mode-in-windows-92c27cff-db89-8644-1ce4-b3e5e56fe234


      Share what you observe in each setup, and we'll take the next step from there.

      Anubhav

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