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Can't drag objects

I am unable to drag objects/textbox/etc in InDesign. I can resize using corner handles but I'm unable to click and drag object to desired location I've uninstalled, reinstalled, shutdown, restarted, cleared all settings, etc and nothing seems to work. I have never encountered this issue in all my years of using InDesign. Please help!

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FIXED  ·  Abhinav Kaushik responded  · 

Hello All,

We thank you for your patience all this while.

Addressing this problem has been tricky for us given the random nature of the issue.
Determined to resolve the issue, we had launched our investigation into the matter to identify the root cause and fix it.

Many of you must have received email from us seeking more details about the issue.

We have concluded our investigation and came up with the below mentioned finding:

It was found that, most of the times, users were trying to drag an empty polygon which was leading the confusion because the legacy behaviour of InDesign allows dragging of polygon only from its edges or the centre most point.
If the user tries to drag it from any other position, the object cannot be moved.

We have tried to improve the user experience in this regard. You can try the same in InDesign’s latest version id 14.0.3.

Please download and install id 14.0.3 and let us know your feedback on the new experience.

Note:
If you are unable to drag other types of objects (other than empty polygons), please check the memory usage of your system. It has been observed that when the memory usage reaches the critical level, dragging of the objects become difficult.
As a workaround, you may either try to close some applications or restart the system.

Regards,
InDesign team

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  • C commented  ·   ·  Report

    SAME! There is no reason that this would be a beneficial lock

  • Karen commented  ·   ·  Report

    I am working in Windows 10 on a PC. I can't drag anything and it just started today. Please fix it so I can get back to work.

  • Mallory commented  ·   ·  Report

    Seriously, Adobe. This issue is actually still a problem for you to fix? It is preventing me from doing my ACTUAL CAREER WORK.

    This has been going on in every operating system and update I have had for my iMac since Creative Cloud 2018. It is now 2019 and as you roll out more versions and more ways for us to use your software you are still ignoring known bugs.

    Yes, I can resize objects and move by nudging with an arrow key.
    No, I cannot drag or move them by use of mouse.
    Application frame is on.
    This happens only with text boxes that are grouped or ungrouped with other text boxes.

    You have been repeatedly told of this issue. It would be nice to see some ACTUAL solutions and help from Adobe. The "solutions" in this thread have not worked and this is becoming extremely frustrating.

  • James commented  ·   ·  Report

    Having the same problem, issues just started today, super annoying!

  • Sue commented  ·   ·  Report

    Ok InDesign, why has this not been resolved. This used to work fine on my PC (Windows 10) using Adobe Indesign CC 2018. I can resize any kind of text box or graphic frame, but try to move . . . it is like it has to try really hard to think about it!! I wait and wait and then it moves. The curer will also float across the screen on its own or as more of the delayed reaction. But, I CAN GRAB A NORMAL MOUSE and everything works just fine! I've tried all the suggestions here on this forum. I even updated the firmware for the tablet. What have you changed Adobe?

  • Masoumeh commented  ·   ·  Report

    hi,
    i had the same problem, just shut down and strat your system again...
    it really works:)

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    I followed someon's suggestion:
    Quit InDesign, then hold down SHIFT, CTRL, ALT + CMD together when launching InDesign. It will ask you to delete preferences, click yes.
    Restart computer.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    same issue in mine. Adobe InDesign CC, can not drag the objects, but still can click & also the right click. Anybody succeed resolve the problem?

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Same isu in Windows 10. On a tablet pc hp Zbook x2 G4
    Cannot drag&drop anything anymore to photoshop, illustrator or indesign...

  • Dave Reed commented  ·   ·  Report

    Mac OS 10.11.6. I can resize objects. The problem is I use the Space Bar to drag the whole content around and it just stops working. I restart ID and it works for a few drags and then stops working again. I have to restart the computer to restore the function. This has nothing to do with dragging objects, just repositioning the whole content. I use it all the time. I'm tired of cursing at my computer. This occurs regardless of any other programs I have open. ID CC.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    This is happening to me as well (InDesign 14.0.1). I can resize object but not drag them... images, text boxes, pretty much nothing is draggable only resizable.

  • Mohd Khafiz Md Yunus commented  ·   ·  Report

    Hi there, I'm also faced some issue that I can't drag images to InDesign CS6. What i can do is I open the image with Paint > save as > JPEG File > rename the image.

    And after then, I can drag the image without any error. But the problem is, it's keep continuing again and again. Can you guys give some advise, whether the camera setting is not compatible or there are another problem?

    It's say; "Error encountered while reading JPEG image. Image may be damaged or incompatible. Resave the image with different setting and try again."

    You can view the screen shot that I capture.

    https://files.fm/u/zwdj7b2b#/view/Gambar+problem.jpg

  • Katie commented  ·   ·  Report

    I resent preferences, closed program, etc., but it didn't work until I closed Photoshop and then reopened InDesign. Thanks to whoever mentioned that.

  • Patricia commented  ·   ·  Report

    Moving and sizing grouped objects crashes InDesign. This has been a consistent problem since InDesign was introduced. Adobe has never fully addressed and/or fixed this ongoing problem.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Solved. I had the same problem. The problem was, that I had opened dialog window in Premiere Pro and this disabled drag and drop (moving layers/objects) in all Adobe programs (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, ...)

  • Ashleigh commented  ·   ·  Report

    Having this problem also - tried clearing preferences - no luck. Tried making a new file - no luck.

  • anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    closing Photoshop and Indesign fixed it for me

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    I FIXED IT.

    This just happened to me today. I closed (then reopened) Photoshop and drag in inDesign worked again.

    It stopped working when I tried to drag a PSD into my inDesign window. The PSD was open in Photoshop at the time. Either way, I have no way to prove that this was the culprit.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Restarting InDesign acouple of times did not work. Someone in a thread suggested closing down PhotoShop and InDesign fixed it. This rather easy fix worked for me. Whew!

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