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candaceCRG
Participant
November 21, 2011
Answered

Suddenly can't drag objects... tried several potential solutions with no luck so far.

  • November 21, 2011
  • 14 replies
  • 90239 views

All of a sudden I am not able to drag objects in any InDesign document (Well, I assume it's ANY document. I've only tested a few.) I can drag handles/corners to resize an object; I can nudge an object with arrow keys; I can move objects using Object > Transform > Move; but I can't drag anything with the mouse/trackpad.

This is happening with all objects in all of the documents I've tested (both text objects and image objects). I've tried using a trackpad and a mouse. I checked to be sure that objects were not locked or anchored. I've trashed the preferences. Still no luck.

I'm using InDesign CS4 on Mac Snow Leopard (10.6.8). I have Better Touch Tool installed -- with the trackpad I do not have any actions that are specific to InDesign but with the mouse I do, to disable two-finger scrolling in the app. The trackpad is the only new thing on the computer...

Any ideas?

    Correct answer Peter Spier

    First thing I would try is uninstalling the Better Touch Tool.

    And you say you trashed the prefs, but I like to be sure that you've really done a complete job. For ID there are two files that need to be replaced, and they live in different folders, so sometimes users do only half the job. Please see Replace Your Preferences

    14 replies

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    triciab71637663
    triciab71637663
    Participant
    March 23, 2015

    My turn to have this problem and of course I am on deadline with a newspaper!

    How do I delete this plugin?

    A
    andymroz
    Participating Frequently
    March 23, 2015

    In your Chrome browser, go to Window > Extensions. Look for Pushbullet. Uncheck 'Enabled'.

    You'll probably have to restart your computer. Worst case, after turning Pushbullet off and restarting, you may have to clear InDesign preferences. Here's instructions for that...

    Troubleshooting 101: Replace, or "trash" your InDesign preferences

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    papei-wla
    Participating Frequently
    January 5, 2015

    I am having this same problem now with InDesign CC. I am using a mac OSX 10.9.5. I have trashed all preferences or reset them with control - alt - shift - command while starting InDesign. Nothing seems to help. If I do a restart I am able to move objects for a short time. After a time though it no longer functions. I called the Adobe help hotline only to find out that they don't offer telephone support for InDesign and was bumped back to the Adobe website to try and sort it out myself. Big help Adobe!!!

      A
      andymroz
      Participating Frequently
      January 5, 2015

      I am in the same boat as you, papei. I'm using InDesign CC on an iMac running OS X Yosemite (10.10.1). I've tried trashing prefs and restarting the computer. It clear's up the problem for a short period of time but then it returns. I can click on an object, move it with the arrow keys and delete it. But it will not move with the mouse; i.e., click and drag.

      I am trying an experiment though. I created an additional OS X account on my iMac and have InDesign running there with a test document. So far, I can move objects in that secondary account. I'm going to leave the test document open and will keep flipping back to check it. If InDesign continues to work in this other OS X account, then it would seem there is a conflict between InDesign and some other software.

      This is tremendously frustrating. I will post again if and when I discover anything new.

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        papei-wla
        Participating Frequently
        January 6, 2015

        Thanks for the info andymroz! I am glad to see that the problem is not mine alone. What really aggravates me is the lack of help from Adobe! I have been running Adobe CC for about a year now. This problem just recently popped up. What is strange it that I have older copies of Adobe CS on my mac CS 3 - CS 5.5. As soon as the problem starts, every version of CS is affected. Today I will de-install InDesign CC and re-install it and see if that help. Please keep me posted on your progress. Perhaps we can resolve the problem together. Cheers.

          Jongware
          Community Expert
          JongwareCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          November 21, 2011

          Can it be the same as in this "More Like This" link?

          Cannot drag objects in indesgn cs3

          I only saw this happen once, and it was very disconcerting to the poor user. Cleaning out the Preferences worked right away.

          Peter Spier
          Community Expert
          Peter SpierCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
          Community Expert
          November 21, 2011

          First thing I would try is uninstalling the Better Touch Tool.

          And you say you trashed the prefs, but I like to be sure that you've really done a complete job. For ID there are two files that need to be replaced, and they live in different folders, so sometimes users do only half the job. Please see Replace Your Preferences

            C
            candaceCRGAuthor
            Participant
            November 21, 2011

            Thank you Peter and Jongware!

            You were correct - I had not completely replaced the prefs. I actually had deleted both files, but separately. (Deleted one of the files; opened ID and that hadn't helped; thought to myself that I may have picked the wrong pref file so deleted the other; opened ID and still hadn't helped...) Both times Recent Files was still populated with a list of files, which should have been a clue.

            This time, to be certain I used the keyboard shortcut (I had already saved copies of my original prefs when I'd trashed them earlier so I did have backups just in case). And sure enough it worked. In the meantime I also restarted my computer (it had only been 34 days since my last restart).

            And Jongware, it does seem to be very similar to the linked issue. Strangely enough when I did a forum search and Google search on the topic before posting this, I didn't see that topic come up, though one would think it should have. Perhaps I just overlooked it. Thank you for helping!

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