Thread text between columns not working

[Lynn36207940u073]

Hi!  During a class I was teaching today on InDesign, I went to show how to thread text from one column to another.  However when I clicked on the out port, I received the below box instead of the text in the cursor!

I then tried to find via a right click another option to do a thread, but was unsuccessful.  I really hope this is a bug!  I have not changed my settings, so I have no idea how this happened.

Is there a way to change it back to doing a thread or is there another way to thread text.  Any help is greatly appreciated!

Lynn

[Mike Witherell · Accepted solution]

Preferences > Advanced Type > Type Contextual Controls > turn off those two unhelpful features!

Maybe you can find the outport after that.

[Lynn36207940u073]

YAY!!!  Thank you so much.  It worked.  Is this something I need to check after an InDesign update?  I know I didn't check those items before.

Again, thank you so, so much!

Lynn

[Mike Witherell]

These features have been in many versions of InDesign (introduced in late 2016, IIRC). 

They are nifty features added as frame adornment icons, but the reality is that I don't need them that often. When I do, I have them bottled up in a paragraph style, or else I reach for the Glyphs panel.