Cannot click/resize/move boxes with mouse in InDesign

Forum|Forum|28 days ago
June 26, 2026
4 replies
82 views

I’ve been having issues in InDesign for the past couple of days. When I open a file (I’ve tried with a couple of different ones), I can work normally for a couple of minutes but then I won’t be able to move, click inside, resize, etc. any text or object boxes with my mouse. The arrow keys on the keyboard still work, but that’s slow and annoying.

Nothing is locked. I’ve restarted the computer, deleted the InDesign cache and preferences. I even used the cleaner to uninstall and reinstall the whole program and it’s still happening. Any other ideas? It’s almost impossible to work like this!

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

Henry_Collins

Participating Frequently

This is a GPU/driver or a background plugin/font issue rather than a core install problem. Try turning off GPU Performance in InDesign preferences and relaunching, that often fixes “can’t click/select” freezes. Also worth testing InDesign with all plugins disabled and temporarily turning off any font manager (like Extensis/Adobe Fonts sync issues can cause weird input lockups). If it still happens, try a new OS user profile just to rule out system-level input conflicts.

uniquelyinvitingAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks for replying. No, it’s not quite the issues in that post. I’m not sure the video is super helpful. I can select text if I double/triple click the line or if I use the arrow keys + shift. I can’t drag to move or resize any of the boxes. That also only works with arrow keys.

I do have the latest version 21.4.1. As I mentioned, I tried restarting, resetting the preferences, emptying the cache, and doing a full uninstall/reinstall. Nothing has helped. InDesign is the main software that I use for my business projects, so it’s really slowing me down.

Any assistance would be appreciated!

Screen Recording 2026-06-29 015250.mp4

uniquelyinvitingAuthor

Participating Frequently

Oh, and I’m running Windows 11

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @uniquelyinviting,

Thanks for sharing the screen recording. Could you check whether the issue occurs when using another mouse (or the trackpad if you're on a laptop), and whether it still happens after disconnecting all other USB input devices except a single mouse? It would also be helpful to test in a new Windows administrator account:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/manage-user-accounts-in-windows-104dc19f-6430-4b49-6a2b-e4dbd1dcdf32

Please also test InDesign in Windows Safe Mode to rule out interference from third-party utilities or drivers:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-your-pc-in-safe-mode-in-windows-92c27cff-db89-8644-1ce4-b3e5e56fe234

If the issue persists, could you also try creating a brand-new document and copying only the page items into it (rather than the entire document), or save the document as IDML, reopen it, and save it as a new INDD and check whether the behavior changes.

Please let us know what you observe after trying these steps, and we'll continue investigating from there.

Abhishek

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @uniquelyinviting,

Thanks for reaching out, and I'm sorry to hear you're experiencing this issue.

Could you please confirm whether the behavior you're seeing is similar to the issue discussed here?
https://community.adobe.com/questions-671/indesign-21-4-can-t-move-more-than-1-object-with-placed-content-inside-1625319?postid=1625319#post1625319

If it matches that behavior, please note that the issue has been fixed in InDesign 21.4.1, so I'd recommend updating to the latest version if you haven't already.

If this is a different issue, could you please share a short screen recording demonstrating the problem in action? It would also be helpful if you could confirm your exact InDesign version (Help > About InDesign) and your operating system and version, as requested by the expert.

In the meantime, please also try manually resetting your InDesign preferences by following the video at the bottom of this article and let us know if it makes any difference:
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/setting-preferences.html

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

M