Skip to main content
J
Jim Nee
Participant
June 21, 2013
Question

InDesign-CC: Selection Tools Not Working

  • June 21, 2013
  • 17 replies
  • 34059 views

I've just downloaded InDesign CC and am having a problem with the various selection tools.

With the Text Selection Tool active, I double-click a text frame and hold, and the cursor is placed on the text inside the frame. But I can no longer drag from where the cursor is to highlight the text.

When I click again to start highlighting the text, the text itself becomes inactive, the text frame becomes active and my attempt to highlight drags the frame. The tool panel shows that the Text Selection Tool is still active.

Once I double click into the text frame, the only way I can edit text is to use Shift + arrows.

In Preferences > Type I have enabled and disabled the "Triple Click to Select a Line", but there is no change in the behavior described above.

Similarly, if I switch to the Hand Tool and grab a portion of the page, the frame I happen to be over moves instead of the page. Grabbing on a part of the page where there is no frame does nothing at all.

In fact, this behavior is the same no matter which tool in the toobar I have active: the Rectangle Tool does not draw a rectangle, but moves the text frame; same with the Pencil Tool, etc.

The document itself was upgrade from CS6, but creating a new document does not change the behavior.

I've followed the instructions in the Troubleshooting 101: Replace, or "trash" your InDesign preferences article <http://forums.adobe.com/thread/526990>, dleted the InDesign Defaults file and restarted, but that has made no difference.

At this point, ID-CC is thoroughly unusable.

Running Mac OS 10.8.4, 16gigs RAM.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    17 replies

    RattlesnakeLady
    RattlesnakeLady
    Participating Frequently
    November 9, 2017

    It has nothing to do with Adobe or InDesign. You need to turn down the click speed in Settings>Mouse from Fastest to maybe two steps down. The fastest click setting is TOO fast. I thought it was my mouse not working properly since I wasn't able to open files on my desktop, in addition to the double-click issue in InDesign. Adjusting the click speed in the Mouse settings fixed the problem.

    U
    uran1c
    Participating Frequently
    October 30, 2017

    It's happened! Indesign 13 (CC 2018) have properly working selection tools without delay. You made this fix just after 5 releases (last without bug was CS6 )

    G
    goanna2
    Known Participant
    July 11, 2016

    I had the same problem when I updated to the latest InDesign CC 2015.4. Indesign was almost unusable so I attempted to reinstall from my Time Machine backup. This failed so I uninstalled InDesign from the Creative Cloud app and reinstalled the latest version and it is now working smoothly - text tool performing as expected. It also seems to be as quick as before.

    U
    uran1c
    Participating Frequently
    December 4, 2015

    Indesign dev team, what's wrong with you? Why you releasing this? 11.2.0.100 - no changes. Is it so hard to fix this delaying selection?

    P
    patm1111
    Participant
    October 15, 2015

    I am also chiming in, out of sheer frustration!... It seems like I'm suddenly working with Micro-fricking Word instead of (what should be) a high-end design program. I have been a faithful user of all of the Adobe products since the first version of Pagemaker and it seems those early version were much better than this CC2015... it just keeps getting worse!!! Click on a text box to reduce the size and it instantly expands... try to nudge the size of a graphics box and it blows up to the full size of the enclosed graphic...attempt to select a small amount of text and the whole paragraph highlights... THIS IS NOT WHAT WE ARE PAYING THE BIG BUCKS FOR. If there's another similar program developed I'd like to know about it - and take a giant leap OUT OF ADOBE... aarrggh.

    F
    fiddles5
    Participating Frequently
    December 28, 2015

    Did you try going to the View > Extras > Hide Content Grabber, or Hide Live Corners?

    I was having trouble with working normally, trying to get the selection tool to work, but it kept changing to the grabber hand for no reason, and also trying to double-click with the type tool to activate the text, but also kept getting the grabber hand. When I hid the content grabber, the tools went back to working the way I'm used to.  I've been using this software since pre Adobe PageMaker too.

    Adobe should make clear to users, when they are making changes to the interface that will affect a long-time user's ability to work efficiently.

    J
    jb85800151
    Participant
    February 27, 2016

    Well it's been two years since the beginning of this thread and I'm shifting into CC from CS6 and I have to agree with much of the above frustration with the changes in the selections tools when moving over multiple objects on top of each other. I'm a print designer and spend most of my day in InDesign. I just can't make selections the way I could before. Why when I have my open (A) selection tool does the software force my cursor into a solid (V) selection tool? And vice versa. If I want select the content I will push (A) and do it. At least I can fix that by turning off the Content Grabber, but the other selection tool decisions don't seem to be able to go back to what they should be. This has made moving through different objects and selecting content inside frame clunky slow and repetitive where I have to keep fishing for the right thing. This is even more frustration when attempting to select single anchor points and fine manipulation of points and lines in objects. I just don't understand why the program would or should ever override my ability to control my selection tool. It just seems like it's a step to undoing the professional perfection of this software. Please reconsider this little hinting tool shifts that are suppose to make it more user friendly or whatever the reason.

    And yes I have turned of every useless extra that has been added. I have to do this every time my InDesign crashes and resets to the default settings. It would be great if turning these off could be part of a custom workspace. Oh the hours I have spent View>Extra>Turn off Content Grabber etc.

    And I uninstalled the new CC and went back to CC 2015 because of that CC library popping up. Please Please don't have popups happen in our workspaces. Please.

    DanAboutTown
    DanAboutTown
    Participant
    October 2, 2015

    Just want to chime in and say I'm experiencing this same issue since moving to InDesign CC. The "double click, wait, then double click again" thing makes no difference: whether I single click, double trick, triple click or just swear at the trackpad, I can't select a block of text without using the arrow and shift keys. Super frustrating and a huge step backward in usability.

    C
    colbtron
    Participant
    September 28, 2015

    I can't seem to select small objects that are close together with the shift key... it ends up deselecting the first object, even though the two aren't overlapping! Very frustrating.

    L
    loganb77218763
    Participant
    July 9, 2015

    I'm having a similar issue after installing the new CC 2015 InDesign. When using my tool box tool (T) it shows its active in the tool bar on the left but freezes for a second, spinning wheel, then goes back to the selection tool. This allows me not to be able to use the shortcut (T) to quickly edit text boxes and copy. I literally have to go over and select the box then go edit the text (too slow for the fast paced environment in working in and unacceptable). Also over the last couple of days it has been getting worse. Now when i try to zoom in by clicking (Z), it goes to the selection tool or when i try to escape from editing within a text box it freezes for a second, spinning wheel, then goes to some other tool

    Any one got any ideas on how to fix this?

    Thanks

    U
    uran1c
    Participating Frequently
    June 27, 2015

    Eleven version СС 2015 inherits double-triple click trouble. Turning off or on "Triple Click to Select a Line" makes nothing.

    Temporary solution: press "T" to select Type Tool, then select text

    or double click, wait one second and double-click again.

    I hope that next update or 2016 release will solve this issue once and forever. Good luck!

    HNaomi
    HNaomi
    Participant
    February 14, 2015

    I am new to Creative Cloud, about 6 months now, and I am having the exact problem with the selection tools within InDesign. Nothing I do works!! It is always selecting whatever is the largest object in that area despite which layers are highlighted. I should not have to even fiddle with the layers let alone turn off layers in order to make fast efficient selections. I work out of home on CS5 and this issue never occurs when I am working in InDesign in that format. It is 2015 now and this selection issue is still a huge problem for CC users. Tasks that should take minutes are taking hours. Are there any more recent solutions to this?

    HNaomi
    HNaomi
    Participant
    March 12, 2015

    I got it backwards. My school is CS5 I work from Creative Cloud at home!

    Peter Spier
    Community Expert
    Peter SpierCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 12, 2015

    Highlighting layers will not affect what is selected, but whether a frame has content or is empty might. Without a screen shot of your page showing frame edges it's going to be next to impossible to tell you why you are not selecting what you expect.

    Show more replies
    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices