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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71 votes

Alvina shared this idea · Aug 31, 2017 · Report… · Admin →

FIXED ·

Abhinav Kaushik responded · Aug 30, 2019

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

Show previous admin responses (5)

Available in Prerelease Builds ·

AdminRavi Kiran (Senior Lead Quality Engineer, Adobe InDesign) responded · Aug 19, 2019

The fix for this issue is now available in the Beta builds of InDesign. A new type of cursor is now shown on hovering mouse over the Stroke(outline) or Center point of a object, indicating that it can be dragged to some other location.

You can download the latest Beta build from the Downloads section of InDesign Prerelease portal.

1. Go to adobeprerelease.com
2. Log in with your Adobe Id.
3. Once logged in, search for “InDesign CC Prerelease” program in the list.
4. Click on the program to join the same.
5. You can now download the build (14.0.3.422) from “Builds and Plugins” section on the page.
6. The steps for installing the build can be found in the release notes

—
Adobe InDesign team

Under Review ·

Abhinav Kaushik responded · Jun 13, 2019

Hello All,
We need some information to expedite our investigation into the issue.
1. Which operating system are you using?
2. When the issue occurs, are you able to click on any file or icon outside InDesign.
3. On Windows, does locking windows and unlocking it again, help?
4. If this issue is happening right now, send your cache and preference to abkaushi@adobe.com

-InDesign Team

InDesign team

Under Review ·

Abhinav Kaushik responded · Jun 10, 2019

Thank you for reporting the issue,
We are currently investigating into it.

-InDesign Team

Need More Info ·

Abhinav Kaushik responded · Apr 10, 2019

Hello All,

We understand that issue must be slowing you down and we need your help in reproducing the issue at our end. It will enable us to investigate the problem much faster.
1. Have your observed that closing any open browser fixes the problem?
2. When the movement of the object is disabled using mouse, but do you continue to move around the object using keyboard arrow keys?
3. Have you observed that restarting InDesign fixes the problem momentarily?
4. Are you able to create a new document when the movement of objects is disabled?
5. On which device are you using InDesign?

Need More Info ·

Abhinav Kaushik responded · Mar 6, 2018

Hello All,

We would need more details from you all to help with our investigation into the issue. Please provide the information as mentioned below.

1. OS Version?
2. Are you able to resize the object which you are not able to drag?
3. Is your Application Frame On or Off?
4. Does is issue happen with a specific kind of Object, let’s say Text, Rectangle, graphic frame.

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Alex commented · March 20, 2019 3:20 PM · Report

Seems to be a bug - happened to me before. Restarting the computer helped. https://www.reddit.com/r/indesign/comments/818wzj/cant_move_objects_in_indesign/

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CYNTHIA L RYAN commented · March 19, 2019 10:48 PM · Report

Also having the same problem. Windows 10 Pro OS Build 17134.648

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Ryan commented · March 19, 2019 10:10 PM · Report

Same problem. Cant drag using mouse.
Windows 10
Cant resize
all boxex I can't drag

also had the issue with Windows Explorer, which makes me think it could be a Microsoft issue...

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Anonymous commented · March 19, 2019 6:09 PM · Report

Me too cannot drag using mouse but can with directional keys which is soooooo slow!

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Samantha commented · March 19, 2019 3:34 AM · Report

I am having this same issue today with text boxes. Adobe InDesign CC 13.1x64. Does anyone know of a fix yet?

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Dave commented · March 17, 2019 1:15 AM · Report

Yes, this is an ISSUE!

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Anita commented · March 16, 2019 6:47 AM · Report

I've been finding issues and problems but no solutions from 2013, 2014, and here. The problem has popped up 3 times this week for me.

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[Deleted User] commented · March 15, 2019 8:13 PM · Report

I've got the same problem, I can resize but not drag texts, pictures, rectangles... Nothing.

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Jessica commented · March 12, 2019 7:32 PM · Report

the same problem with me! any resolution yet??

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Anonymous commented · March 11, 2019 10:24 PM · Report

SAME PROBLEM!!

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Anonymous commented · March 7, 2019 4:40 AM · Report

Just faced the same problem, objects wouldn't drag. Restarted the computer and still did NOT work.

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Anonymous commented · March 5, 2019 9:52 PM · Report

Just faced the same problem, objects wouldn't drag. Restarted the computer and now it works

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Paige Jackson commented · March 4, 2019 8:55 PM · Report

same problem. I was working on a project and suddenly it stopped working. I never had this happen. It would be nice if someone solved this problem, I don't want my job to effected by this! 3/4/2019

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danielle commented · March 4, 2019 6:12 AM · Report

seems no one has had this problem again for the last couple weeks? starting for me now, too. can resize but not move once placed. for any type of object.

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S commented · February 28, 2019 10:05 PM · Report

same problem. dumping the preferences worked for about 15mins.

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Kevin Torres commented · February 27, 2019 10:00 PM · Report

Got the dragging issue as well!!! Started on 02/25/2019
13.0.1 x64

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Anonymous commented · February 27, 2019 6:50 PM · Report

Hi, same peoblem suddenly started today.
ADOBE ADVISE HOW TO FIX

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Anonymous commented · February 27, 2019 6:35 PM · Report

This has suddenly started happening to me too. First it was just a copied and pasted box of text, then as I tried various restarts etc I canb't drag any boxes.
Nothing had changed.
So I have quitting / restarting indesign / restrating finder / updating indesign / deleting preferences / quitting all other apps.
None of these has worked.
Need to get this fixed so that I can get on with my work!

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Stina commented · February 27, 2019 1:18 AM · Report

Same problem here! Hello! I have a deadline. :-/

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Meredith commented · February 26, 2019 4:05 AM · Report

I have the same problem today, and cannot drag and drop images from Bridge to my InDesign Document. I'm on Windows 10, PC.

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