Cursor Placement Offset in InDesign on MacBook Trackpad (macOS Tahoe)

Forum|Forum|27 days ago
March 10, 2026
3 replies
86 views

Hi everyone - I have just bought a new MacBook and everything seems to work except for the mouse in InDesign. I have just tried working with text on a document created on the previous computer. I need to place the curse quite a bit higher than the text that I wish to select. I am using the trackpad on the MacBook. Any suggestions would be gratefully received!

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @DavidBanney,

Thanks for sharing the details and the screen recording. Adding to the suggestions shared by the experts, could you please try manually resetting the InDesign preferences? You can follow the steps shown in the video at the bottom of this article to reset the preferences: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/setting-preferences.html

If the issue persists, please try renaming a couple of Adobe support folders and then relaunch InDesign. Go to /Library/Application Support/Adobe and rename the CEP folder to CEP.old. If that does not help, please rename the UXP folder to UXP.old from the following locations: /Library/Application Support/Adobe and ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe, then restart the machine and test again.

If the behavior continues, it will also help to start the Mac in Safe Mode to rule out any third-party application interference that might be affecting cursor positioning. You can follow the steps here: https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-help/mh21245/mac

Also, I noticed that you are currently using InDesign 2020. Would you mind updating to the latest version, 21.2, and checking if the issue still occurs? Please let me know if there is a specific reason you are staying on the older version.

Please try these steps and let me know how it goes. Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

Barb Binder

Community Expert

This is odd.

I’m curious if this behavior persists in a new file, or is it only in the one specific file.

If it’s this one file and not any others, I’d be happy to take a quick look. You can attach it in a reply here (public) or send me a direct message (private).

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

Barb Binder

Community Expert

I’m on macOS Tahoe 26.3.1 and InDesign 21.2 and not experiencing that using my trackpad or mouse so I don’t think it’s a Tahoe/InDesign-specific issue. You still might check your  > System Settings just to make sure you don’t have an unexpected setting.

I’m curious if the file you opened has a baseline shift enabled. That would replicate the behavior you are describing and is used occasionally for special effects.

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

DavidBanneyAuthor

Participant

Thanks very much Barb - I tried changing the Baseline Shift but that made no difference, and I looked up the System Settings and couldn’t see anything unusual there - I have added a couple of pictures. The first is of the file that I was working on (same with other files) - to highlight the line that is highlighted I had to place the cursor two lines above it. The second pic is the trackpad settings.

Many thanks again

David