Unable to Drag Objects with Selection Tool in InDesign

[YZEP]

Hoping someone can help me - have searched the forums to no avail.

I was using inDesign with no issues when suddenly I could no longer select and drag objects with the mouse when using the selection tool. However I can select and drag objects with the freeform tool. When I mouse over the object with the selection tool a circle appears in the middle.

I have tried moving a newly created object in a new blank document and still have the same issue. I have reset preferences and even uninstalled and reinstalled inDesign. I am currently running the latest build 19.5 I also deleted all plug ins from Chrome as some people have suggested.

Any ideas would be welcome as it really has messed with my workflow. Thanks!

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[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @YZEP,

It sounds like a frustrating issue! To help troubleshoot further, could you let me know if you’re using any desktop or window management apps that might be interfering with InDesign? Additionally, you could try running InDesign under Safe Mode (Windows / macOS) to see if the problem persists. This can help identify if other software or settings are causing the issue. Let me know how it goes!

Best,

Anshul Saini

[YZEP]

Oddly today it just started working normally again. Saw someone else had posted the exact same problem with 19.5 and they too have no idea why it just started working normally again.

[Derek Cross]

Check in the Layers panel that you haven't locked an element.

[Mike Witherell]

The circle icon in the center of a graphics frame is the Content Grabber icon. I would investigate locked layers, too. Make sure which page you are on. Outside of that, here is some exhaustive troubleshooting guidance. You *might* need to reset prefs in a thorough sort of way.

[Peter Spier]

I could swear I read that you can turn off the content grabber, but darned if I can find where...

[Peter Spier]

OK

I found it. It's under View > Extras...

[YZEP · Accepted solution]

Thanks. I had done a clean install with reset preferences and also a blank document to ensure that there wasn't any corrupt data in the document. Oddly today it just started working again... no idea what the issue was. I noticed someone had posted about the same problem and it just started working again for them too for no apparent reason.

[owen27293592ijbs]

I know this is an old post, but I have had this trouble for several years. The only solution I've found is to restart the computer. Simply shutting down and restarting InDesign is not enough. I think that explains why others are saying it started working again. I notice it usually happens if I leave InDesign open overnight. But it also happens apparently randomly othertimes, sometimes even right after starting InDesign up. I can't duplicate the problem because I don't know what is causing it. It is extremely annoying!