Indesign cursor and tools are not working

Hi ​@SimonLaughton,

Sorry that you're experiencing this. I hope the suggestions shared by the experts above have helped.

If the issue is still occurring, since you've already restarted InDesign, reset preferences, and disabled the Generative AI options, please try manually clearing the InDesign cache using the steps here: InDesign preferences and support file locations. Then restart InDesign and test again.

If the issue persists, please also try:

• Create a new blank document and check if the cursor/tool issue occurs there.

• Switch tools using keyboard shortcuts and check whether the tool changes but the cursor icon remains stuck.

• Right-click a tool with additional options and check if the flyout menu opens.

• If you're using a third-party mouse, tablet, or input utility, temporarily test with another mouse/trackpad.

Please also share your exact InDesign version/build, OS version, and input device. If possible, a short screen recording showing the behavior would be helpful for further investigation.

Thanks!
Abhishek

If the suggestions above don’t work, you could try uninstalling and reinstalling in case it was an installation issue.

Which system is it?

Which input are you using? A mouse or something else?

Is this the first time this is happening? Out of the blue or did you change something (installed something new on your computer)?

Try to also reset caches (as ​@Manan Joshi already mentioned in the reply I didn’t see):

https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-indesign-rebuilding-preferences-cache/

Will it make a difference?

​​​​​​

P.S. I think it’s much faster to right-click the tools, in which case the additional options appear instantly (rather than click-and-hold and then waiting for eternity until the options appear).
 

Clear out the cache as well. UI issues are generally fixed by doing so