Autocad has ignored my mouse clicks for years and I'm sick of it. Please fix!!!!

[dsummersPEG]

Autocad frequently ignores my mouse clicks. I cannot be the only one. This has been going on for years, regardless of Autocad version, Windows version, changed computers, changed mouse... it does not occur with any other software; ONLY AUTOCAD. Why, when I click on a button in the ribbon, or click to either minimize or close Autocad, does it take multiple clicks almost every time to get Autocad to respond?!?!?! It especially seems prone to this behavior if Autocad was not the Window in focus, and it treats my initial click to bring Autocad into focus first, and then maybe let me click the "X" or a ribbon button only 1-2 more times to get it to respond.

To recreate the issue, open Autocad, then open any other program and have it focused. Then click back on an Autocad ribbon button or the "X" to close Autocad. You should notice only the Window focus change to Autocad, but the ribbon button does not activate the command clicked, or Autocad does not close.

[Valentin_CAD]

@dsummersPEG ,

Use Product feedback to tell Autodesk what you think about their products and any improvements you'd like to see, or submit your wish on the AUGI Wish-List.

[pendean]

Topic discussed over the years https://www.google.com/search?q=autocad+ribbon+loses+focus

Popular if painful tips that may work for you if this is that important to you start here https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-forum/loss-of-focus-of-acad-wizards/m-p/8807482#M980664

Tell Autodesk about it all where they look for user feedback, here: https://www.autodesk.com/company/contact-us/product-feedback

[dsummersPEG]

Where do I report bugs, not suggestions? There is no other software I have used on Windows since '95 which exhibits this misbehavior. Only Autocad requires you to click twice on it to get it to respond. It's extremely aggravating that Autodesk products are so lacking in intuitiveness all-around. I swear Autodesk must own stock in mouse companies, hoping we'll wear out our mice sooner rather than later with all the constant unnecessary clicks required.

[jamesEJFDM]

I completely agree. I'm forever clicking on icons twice and maybe three times to get a command. Very aggravating to say the least. You pay enough to just subscribe to the software for a year, you expect to be able to click on something just the once and it be activated.   

[pendean]

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@jamesEJFDM wrote:

I completely agree. I'm forever clicking on icons twice and maybe three times to get a command...

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This happens to some users: but since no one here mentioned it yet, can you confirm your mouse clicking is consistent with the limitation "...your click down and release occur while your cursor remains on the button..."?

If you find out that works 100% of the time for you, but you find it slowing you down too much, you might be a candidate for this 3rd party not-free solution (I'm not affiliated)

https://www.manusoft.com/software/quikpik.html#:~:text=faster%20mouse%20input%20(no%20more%20missed%... 

or try this highlighted tip:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-can-you-fix-a-left-mouse-button-not-workin.... 

Here are ways to open a support case with Autodesk if you are on subscription to seek out Autodesk Support's help:
https://www.autodesk.com/support/account/manage/use/support#:~:text=com/plans.-,Contact%20support,-S...

[dsummersPEG]

Cute. Now there is such a delay AND because it takes at LEAST two mouse clicks to do ANYTHING in autocad, when I click on the MEP logo in the top left, it thinks I've double-clicked and that I want to close autocad completely and starts asking about saving open drawings. Nice job autocad. Stop sending this guy to placate the masses with "workarounds" and actually FIX something. PLEASE! JUST ONCE! FIX SOMETHING! ANYTHING! HELLO WORLD!!!!!

@dsummersPEG - this post has been edited due to Community Rules & Etiquette violation.

[pendean]

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@dsummersPEG wrote:

...when I click on the MEP logo in the top left, it thinks I've double-clicked and that I want to close autocad completely and starts asking about saving open drawings...

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One or more of the following is the solution for the rest of us millions of users:

1) You may need a new mouse. Doesn't matter how old it is.

2) Or you need to slowdown the double-click speed in your mouse driver if you have one. Common with devices with dedicated drivers.

HTH

[dsummersPEG]

No, that really doesn't help. It's misinformation. This is precisely the type of answer I keep reading. Blame anything else but the Autodesk software! Especially blame the user:

"the solution for the rest of us millions of users"

AUTOCAD IS THE ONLY SOFTWARE EXHIBITING THESE PROBLEMS.  WHY IS THIS CONCEPT SO DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND?

@dsummersPEG - this post has been edited due to Community Rules & Etiquette violation.

[cadffm]

>>"Stop sending this guy to placate the masses"

Rofl. The bad thing is, you could be serious

PS: I don't have this Problem, why not? Find the answer to solve it yourself

and if you like to have a change of Acad, write to AutoDesk (or can you edit the program? No? We, other users, too (not).

The most common cause is that the user only releases the mouse button when the button has already been left, but since the click is only triggered by releasing and not by pressing - that's over.

Are you working with a 4k resolution, a widescreen? I like to know if

 is it the same if you working with with QHD or FHD and DPI scaling  100%

[Simon_Weel]

Hey, hold down - no one here is Autodesk - just users trying to help other users.

As for the problem at hand - I do recall the same problem but that was many years ago? It somehow 'solved' itself over time I guess.

The mouse could most definitely be the problem. We once invested in a box with 3DConnection's CAD Mouse. Great! For about a year. Then the left mouse button started acting up. It either didn't pick up a click or a single click was executed as double click. And they ALL started to have this issue. Sent back and got replacements for free, but they also went on the blink after about a year. We discarded them and we now use the cheapest mouse available for years without any problems....

[pendean]

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@dsummersPEG wrote:

No, that really doesn't help. It's misinformation...

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I bet if a truly seasoned AutoCAD/CAD manager/ user sat right next to you, they would fix it and you'd not be here: assuming you can find one willing to do it. Your next step, this is not rocket science, your just stuck.

Best wishes.

[RobRocks]

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@dsummersPEG wrote:

Where do I report bugs, not suggestions? There is no other software I have used on Windows since '95 which exhibits this misbehavior. Only Autocad requires you to click twice on it to get it to respond. 

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If it were a bug in the program, there would be a lot more complaints.

AutoCAD is not like those other programs and the behavior exists in other programs. The first click is to bring focus to AutoCAD, the second, to click a tool. Maybe I'm old school but this seems intuitive to me with just about any program. Is it not necessary anymore?

Suggestion (for those that may want to try):  You may be able to tweak your mouse settings to activate windows when you mouse over.

[davinatkins]

It's interesting, I have been using Windows for so long that I absolutely expect this behavior. But I did just notice that web browsers don't behave this way. For a browser, when the browser doesn't have focus, it DOENS'T require you to click first before the window becomes active. I tested this with a bunch of other programs just to be sure - and guess what?

All older native Windows programs - like Word, Excel & Photoshop, work the way that AutoCAD does - as the OP complained about.

A lot of the newer fangled apps like File Navigator, Calculator, Studio Code, and Teams, doesn't work this way. You don't have to give the program focus before you can interact with it.  I find this super interesting! 

It would appear that any Windows app developed with a certain age of the .NET library requires a click to get focus, while other newer apps don't require this. I don't know enough about programming to confirm if I'm right, but this is clearly the case that this is happening, even if I'm wrong about why.

I think this is a difference in expectation. Since older uses of AutoCAD are used to ALL windows programs acting this way, it doesn't seem odd, and we never noticed the shift in getting window focus. But to newer users, I bet it feels really antiquated.

I tested a BUNCH of programs to see where this was happening. Pretty much ALL of the big legacy programs - all Autodesk stuff, MOST of the Adobe stuff, Word, Excel, the regulars. If it was a big name in 2010, then it works like AutoCAD does. But I REALLY struggled to find a "newer" program that worked like that.

So to the OP - you're not nuts. A lot of us are old and fully expect programs to work like this. Like, we expect to use a clutch when we drive kind of old.

The fact that Word and Photoshop also do this, implies to me that this isn't an easy problem to solve for older software. Especially for software where backwards compatibility is important (you always want AutoCAD to open old files). It's an interesting culture difference and one that Autodesk may eventually put some effort - assuming they aren't all working on AI and web programs now.

[dsummersPEG]

I appreciate the confirmation that I'm not nuts. I have opened every program on my computer. ONLY Autocad does this. Not even Revit! No, not Acrobat, not Word, not even a standalone Java applet. Name anything not Autocad, and it responds without hesitation, and responds without requiring an initial click to bring it back to focus. The legacy / .NET theory was a great one, but that's not it either; I appreciate your testing and idea.

My '22 Tacoma has a clutch, like all my previous vehicles since the 1980s, so I am very much a stickler for wanting things to operate a certain way; I appreciate the comparison. I have worked on computers since well before Windows, and been a PC gamer just as long, in addition to using CAD since it had an "R" in it. I don't miss with my mouse. As such, I do track my mouse clicks better than Dirty Harry counts his shots ("Do you feel lucky?"). So, I guarantee it's not the mouse, and it's not operator error, as others would repeatedly attempt to have you believe.

I'm going to chalk this up to a lost cause. It seems we all are experiencing what's left of Autocad in a different way. I'm guessing all they have left are programmers too inexperienced or scared to dig into real problems, and want to show how they have changed the Explode icon once again instead. I'll have to accept this program's rogue behavior, rather than push for it to be brought in line, and end up angering the masses who've accepted the unnecessary effort. I know Autodesk would never have the intuition to make such a thing an option (i.e. "feature")!

[RobRocks]

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@dsummersPEG wrote:

I'm going to chalk this up to a lost cause. It seems we all are experiencing what's left of Autocad in a different way. I'm guessing all they have left are programmers too inexperienced or scared to dig into real problems, and want to show how they have changed the Explode icon once again instead. I'll have to accept this program's rogue behavior, rather than push for it to be brought in line, and end up angering the masses who've accepted the unnecessary effort. I know Autodesk would never have the intuition to make such a thing an option (i.e. "feature")!

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Wow. You sound like a very frustrated AutoCAD user. That's some angry opinions over a few minor annoyances. Suggesting and insulting Autodesk employees saying that they are deliberately not adding a function to anger the masses is misguided at best. The masses are not angered, just a few individuals. The masses are used to this and just click to grab focus before executing a command without thinking about it. Maybe you should be looking for a different drafting program since AutoCAD causes you so much irritation. Or maybe you can find a mouse that can grab focus on hover.

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@dsummersPEG wrote:

Name anything not Autocad, and it responds without hesitation, and responds without requiring an initial click to bring it back to focus. 

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Several were named.

[cadffm]

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@dsummersPEG wrote:

>>" It especially seems prone to this behavior if Autocad was not the Window in focus"
If we talk about this situation only (focus not on AutoCAD), the answer is: This is correct, 100%, as designed.

>>"I cannot be the only one."

No an right, it is the same for every one, every version (since 2015 I guess)

>>"it does not occur with any other software; ONLY AUTOCAD."

Not only. Check out the Microsoft office standard -  Excel, Word, PP ..

It's the same thing like the doubleclick on the app Icon (upper left of the program window).

The Microssoft standard is Doubleclick on it to close the app.

Autodesks Acad following this standard and a doubleclick will close the App.

," and it treats my initial click to bring Autocad into focus "

So you are talking about the off-focus situation ONLY?

If so,  then I have to apologize, but apparently I was not the only one who understood your explanation in a more general sense and not just in relation to off-focus situations.

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[Michiel.Valcke]

Without trying to antagonize: why are you so often losing the focus of the AutoCAD application?

When I'm using AutoCAD, it stays in focus for most of the time. Even when I have secondary programs running that contain information critical for my work in AutoCAD, I can just show them on another screen so the data is visible but I don't interact with them unless necessary. Some programs have a tendency to take over focus (especially when they use windows notifications) So I have turned off most notifications ages ago.

[peter.timneyTUT3F]

Hi

I had a similar problem where my first click was being ignored, primarily with "HIDE ATTRIBUTE SINGLE PICKS", and on pulldown menus, I was having to click twice, but solved the problem by changing PICKAUTO system variable to 1 (it had been on 5)

That solved the problem.

[jamesEJFDM]

Thank you. This situation has been driving me nuts for a very long time, and I'm hoping that your advice re PICKAUTO might have fixed it. Mine was set to 5 too. We'll see how it behaves now.