Participant

Answered

Lag when clicking and dragging objects in Illustrator (and InDesign) - Here's what I've tried:

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
November 21, 2023
18 replies
22697 views

Hi there —

A week ago, a few of my Adobe products began lagging when attempting a click-and-drag with the direct selection cursor. I noticed it first in Illustrator, but then noticed it in InDesign as well. I primarily use Illustrator in my day-to-day, so I'm posting here. After a fair amount of Googling, I discovered many people with the same problem over the past few years, all who had different solutions presented to them (to varying amounts of success). I've tried all sorts of things to resolve this issue, but nothing has worked. So I'm hoping to get some additional insight here. I'll outline the steps I've taken below:

The problem:

Clicking on an object and trying to move it has a relatively huge delay on it. Trying to select multiple objects in quick succession also makes the cursor to "stick" causing some items to suddenly jump around. It happened suddenly and seemingly randomly one day after lunch. It's very frustrating when designing complex boards.

Version:

Mac OS: Sonoma 14.1.1
Adobe Illustrator 28.0

The steps I've taken so far:
First of all, Safe Mode works wonderfully, so I'm convinced it's something loading behind the scenes in normal mode.

Reinstalled/updated Illustrator
Removed cache and other files out of the \~Library folder
Tried earlier versions of Illustrator
Disabled GPU preview
Disabled GPU performance
Updated my OS to Sonoma (it wasn't before)
Verified I have no 3rd party screensharing or mouse pointer software installed
Activity monitor is clean
Disconnected my bluetooth mouse (it still happens using the trackpad solo)

I think that's it so far. I'll update with anything else that I try. Does anyone have any other suggestions here? I've been limping along in Safe Mode during my work day, but that's not ideal since I don't have access to my fonts, etc. there.

Thanks so much in advance!

Correct answer MacDubJ

Following up on this. We finally discovered the cause of the issue. An update to the DLP software Proofpoint was causing the "sticky click" or "click delay" on our machines. Removing Proofpoint takes care of the issue.

Show previous replies

MacDubJAuthorCorrect answer

Participant

Following up on this. We finally discovered the cause of the issue. An update to the DLP software Proofpoint was causing the "sticky click" or "click delay" on our machines. Removing Proofpoint takes care of the issue.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

Thank you for the follow up. THis will certainly help others. I have marked the post about Magnet as correct as well, because it causes the same issues.

D

defaultzlpj4rcfom9v

Participant

Boosting this. I have the same problem. Making Illustrator unusable.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

@defaultzlpj4rcfom9v schrieb:

Boosting this. I have the same problem. Making Illustrator unusable.

Do you have the Magnet app installed? Did you read the thread until the end?

M

markdc33

Participating Frequently

The Short Answer

Quit the Magnet App.

The Long Answer

The Magnet app causes Adobe apps to lag when selecting objects. Especially in InDesign and Illustrator. (Here is a related discussion.)

How to still use Magnet

You can keep Magnet running by "ignoring" Adobe. While Illustrator is in focus, click on the Magnet menu and select Ignore "Illustrator". The same goes for InDesign.

Update: As of Magnet 3.0.5, this doesn't seem to work anymore. You have to quit the app.

If you do not have Magnet

It may be another app that is conflicting with Adobe. Magnet requires special permission to control your system, and perhaps you gave this permission to another app on your system, which is causing the issue. To find out, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility. Check the apps one at a time by toggling the switch off and testing the peformance in Adobe.

If you can narrow it down to a particular app, then either exclude Adobe from that app (if such an option exists) or quit that app while running Adobe. If you rely on the conflicting app, you can use macOS Shortcuts to automate closing the app when opening Adobe, and vice versa.

MacDubJAuthor

Participant

Glad someone is seeing results with their troubleshooting! I got all excited reading your post, right before realizing we don't use the magnet app on these machines. Argh. It seems all sorts of things are causing this laggy cursor issue. I wonder if we'll see any kind of Adobe software update that will solve this. Some kind of umbrella patch maybe.

M

markdc33

Participating Frequently

I am using Magnet, my machine is still on Ventura and weirdly enough, I have found that it is not causing the problem. In my case it is instead the BenQ monitor utility app Display Pilot 2. Switching off accessibility access or quitting the app solves the issue. I followed @markdc33's suggestion to identify the cause. Hope this information could help.

Thanks for confirming. This is starting to look more like an Adobe issue. Hope they are listening.

K

KDickerson1

Participant

Having the same issue recently, which is really weird. This wasn't happening last week, which made me think it's software related or OS related, but it was happening on both 14.1 and now 14.1.2. Could be something our IT department installed in the background(?) too but didn't see anything in the system report that stood out.

Random lagging when selecting and moving objects. Usually results in moving said object by a couple pixels, which is extremely annoying. Simply moving the mouse around the file within INDD rockets the CPU usage to around 65%, and when the lag/hitch occurs, it goes up to 75%. Not sure if the two things are related but thought it worth mentioning.

Did all of OP's troubleshooting methods to no avail either.

slide_lewy

Participating Frequently

Same issue as well, making working with my files a nightmare, finding things have moved and having to double check all my work now. Hopefully can be fixed soon.

slide_lewy

Participating Frequently

Just for reference here, i've installed the latest MacOs update for Sonoma 14.2.1 and the problem is still there

M

markdc33

Participating Frequently

I'm having a similar issue with InDesign and Illustrator. Sinmply clicking on an element to select it has a delay. And when it get's selected, it almost always nudges the element as if I performed a click and drag.

I'm curious, are any of you using Microsoft OneDrive. And if so, are your work files in that directory?

M

McLean34141739njz5

Participant

Hi @markdc33 - Yes! My design team uses OneDrive for our design files. We will typically work directly from our sync'd OneDrive folders.

M

markdc33

Participating Frequently

Same here. But I've eliminated it as a suspect. Turned out to be the Magnet app. See this post.

Y

Yichen@TD

Participant

Having the exact same issue. Have also done most of the touble shooting except updating to Sonoma.

Anshul_Saini

Community Manager

Hello @MacDubJ!

It seems like you've already performed thorough troubleshooting steps. Since you mentioned that Safe Mode works well, it indicates that the issue might be related to some background process or third-party software interfering with Adobe Illustrator & InDesign.

Here are a few additional steps you can try:

Close Background Applications: While working in normal mode, try closing other applications running in the background. Sometimes, conflicts with other software can cause performance issues.
New User Account: Create a new user account on your Mac and install Adobe Illustrator & InDesign there. This can help determine if the issue is specific to your user account or a system-wide problem.
Activity Monitor: Keep an eye on the Activity Monitor while using Illustrator in normal mode. Look for any specific processes or applications that consume a significant amount of resources.

I hope one of these steps helps resolve the lag issue you're experiencing! Let me know how it goes.

Best,

Anshul Saini

MacDubJAuthor

Participant

Thanks so much for the reply @Anshul_Saini, I'll give some of these things a try. So far:

Created a new test admin account — no joy
Activity monitor doesn't show any spikes or oddities while replicating the issue within Illustrator

I'm continuing to sift through processes using the new account. There will be hopefully be less processes than in my primary account.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded