Can't click and drag to select anything in Apple Pages

I came to this thread because after upgrading to macOS Sierra from el Capitan, I could no longer highlight text in Pages. I could drag the cursor, got a blue highlight but it disappeared as soon as I released the mouse. Double-clicking on individual words worked fine - but not multiple words. I tried some of the suggestions in this thread without success, but found that simply by holding the Shift key while dragging, the text remained highlighted.

This works. Thank you!

Hi Billy,

You wrote: "The only work around I've had in Pages, is the put the cursor before the first word of the group of words I want to select, and shift-command-right arrow to select all the words I want to select, as long as they're all in that same line. That method will not continue to select words below the current line I'm selecting."

Try this:

• Place the insertion point before the first word you want.
• Press shift-command-right arrow to select to the end of the line.
• Then press shift-down arrow (Note the omission of command) to select the next line.
• Repeat shift-down arrow to continue selecting one line at a time.

Not a solution to the issue, I know, but an extension to your workaround.

Regards,

Barry

I'm having the same problem, only in Apple applications.

To substitute for drag-select, I have to:

• insert cursor at start of select target,
• hold shift, and then
• insert cursor at end of selection target.

Much slower than drag select, and contrary to my reflex for all other apps.

Restarts etc. and all the standard "clear your Mac's brain" stuff fail to rectify the problem.

Has been going on since the last update of Pages etc. and Mac OS

Getting so I'm afraid to update software these days.

I'm glad I'm not the only who is having this completely annoying problem. I thought I was going crazy.

I can tell you that it seems to be only happening on one of my macs. My iMac has the can't-highlight-anything issue. The same document on my Macbook Pro has no issue. I can highlight as usual.

Rebooting my iMac makes no difference. I'm stumped.

Works on my iMac 27" Mid 2011, running Pages 5.6.2 on OSX 10.11.5.

Do you have the same problem in e.g. TextEdit or some other application?

Is it all text in all documents?

Is the text pasted from a webpage?

What formatting does the text have?

Peter

Hi Peter. Thanks for the reply.

Yes, the problem appears related to only Pages documents opened in Pages on my iMac. Not having any other issues with selecting text with the mouse in any other apps, system wide. Only Pages. In fact, I can Select All, and copy the entire document and paste it into Text Edit, and I can mouse select groups of words without issue.

The only work around I've had in Pages, is the put the cursor before the first word of the group of words I want to select, and shift-command-right arrow to select all the words I want to select, as long as they're all in that same line. That method will not continue to select words below the current line I'm selecting. Because of this, selecting more than one line is very tedious, as you have to select one line with the shirt-command-right arrow method, copy and paste it where I want it, and then the next line and the line after that and so on.

Even if I start with Pages blank document template and type a few lines, I can repeat the issue. The original document I was having trouble with was the same. Started with a blank document from Apple's templates and simply began typing. Nothing cut and pasted from the web or anything like that.

Formatting is the default Apple Pages body text. Nothing custom. Open the document and simply start typing.

I'm using an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014, 4 GHz Intel Core i7, 32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3) with Apple Pages v 5.6.2.

As I said before, the same document in Pages on my Macbook Pro has none of these issues.

Thank you for your assistance.

Billy

Hey there Peter. Thank you very kindly for your time on this. I'm way past a shutdown/restart on this issue, as this has been going on for weeks.

Uninstalled Pages and all previous '09 versions. Deleted all plist files and reinstalled. Same issue.

Right now I'm going to switch over to Open Office and finish my writing there until I have more time to troubleshoot Pages.

Thank you again for your time.

Billy

Hi thanks for this. I tried your shift-command select using the mouse/trackpad/wacom tablet and it works. I was going crazy trying to select to no joy until using 'shift-command select'

cheers and thanks

Paul

I found a solution that works for me. I was having the same issue, after upgrading to Pages 6.0, when using my Wacom tablet pen. However, if I double click on a word (to highlight it), then drag to right/left, it'll hold my selection. It still does not hold my selection if I simply drag multiple words without highlighting one first.

I have the latest iMac 22", latest Mac OS (Sierra), latest Wacom software and the problem persists. Seems it is an issue across all iWorks apps - Numbers, Pages, etc and no other software. Bizarrely there is no problem with Apple Notes, Mail !

My workaround, which is tiresome, is to place the curser at the beginning of the section of text I want to highlight/copy press shift and then place my curser at the end of the section of text - thus highlighting, and then copy in the normal way

Apple - why is this not resolved by now ?

HI Nick,

"Apple - why is this not resolved by now ?"

Not a question that can be answered here on this user-to-user forum.

Have you opened the Numbers/Pages/Keynote menu in those applications and chosen to Provide Numbers/Pages/Keynote Feedback yet?

Regards,

Barry

Only one person in this entire thread indicated that they had this text selection problem and were using a Wacom product — which has been widely reported to have compatibility issues with Pages v5 and v6. Choosing an Apple input device solves the problem, unless there is something else impacting the Mac.

Good to know it was helpful. Picking up the point made by Viking OSX, I do in fact use a Wacom input device, but limiting myself to Apple devices isn't an option in my field of work - and that of many others. It's interesting that it all worked fine with Pages before I upgraded to Sierra. Just checked and you can't highlight on Numbers either without using the Shift key. Other software, like TextEdit, Notes all works fine. Just checked and I note that Apple do sell pen tablets on their web site - all made by Wacom! So there is a small glitch there with Pages and Numbers running OS Sierra - and I'm not sure it's down to Wacom to fix. I've reported to Apple.

Updated to Sierra today and having the same issue with pages on a mac pro. Can only select using shift.

I'm using a wacom tablet and wondered if it was a driver issue. I have not updated the driver yet. But as I'm not seeing the same issue in other apps I'm not sure that thesis the problem?

How do you raise this with apple I don't want to go through phone support which seems to be the only way to contact apple??