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brianw69575587
brianw69575587
Participant
February 19, 2021
Answered

Cannot move or edit text boxes in InDesign 2021

  • February 19, 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 63972 views

I'm working with an InDesign document created by someone else. There is a text box sitting atop a backgraound illustration. I couldn't select the text box to move it, so I moved the background illustration out of the way to get to it. I still was unable to move or edit the text box. I'm not sure why this text box is not movable or editable but it's very frustrating. I've relaunched the application to no avail. Is this a bug? Anyone have any ideas? I'm under deadline, so any responses to this issue would be great. BTW - I can see text edit markings - end of line characters, etc. - so, I know the text is editable and hasn't been converted to a graphic...if I could only get to it!!

    Correct answer Mon34496859ozv9

    I've just solved the problem, turned out I only need to hold Ctrl+Shift while selecting the elements/textbox I want to edit. Hope that's help someone in the future as well ❤️

    3 replies

    H
    HaRamaTheo
    Participant
    November 18, 2024

    I simply held down option key (on a MAC) and it swicthed between locked and unlocked and was able to edit immediately.

    S
    SaffireP
    Participant
    May 4, 2023

    Hi all, had the problem recently and thought I'd post on here for anyone with the same issue in the future. For me the text box was locked in one of the masters, I didn't realise we had more than one as the pane displaying them was very small so I had to scroll down to find the master it was hidden on!

      M
      Mon34496859ozv9Correct answer
      Participant
      December 28, 2023

      I've just solved the problem, turned out I only need to hold Ctrl+Shift while selecting the elements/textbox I want to edit. Hope that's help someone in the future as well ❤️

        Rishabh_Tiwari
        Community Manager
        Rishabh_TiwariCommunity Manager
        Community Manager
        January 3, 2024

        Hi,

         

        Thank you for reaching out and sharing the solution. I am sure it will help other community members. In addition to this you can also select using the Direct Selection Tool. 

        Thanks

        Rishabh

          M
          Migintosh
          Legend
          February 19, 2021

          A text frame on a document page that can't be edited may be the result of a few things:

          1. The frame could be locked (Object menu)
          2. The frame could be on a locked layer
          3. The frame could be on the master page (master-page objects appear on all document pages that they are applied to, and those objects aren't editible on the document page unless released)
            brianw69575587
            brianw69575587Author
            Participant
            February 19, 2021

            Thanks for the reply. Resolved earlier this evening via chat support. Someone else had created the document and locked down some text box layers. It wasn't immediately evident in the Layers window.

            All the best.

             

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