Cancel Command/Deselect Object Makes Drawing Window Not Active

[Anonymous]

This is a new issue I am having after upgrading from 2015 to 2017.  When I hit ESC or SHIFT to deselect a feature line or any Civil 3D object, it seems I must click or pan within the drawing window before trying to type a command or use the mouse wheel to zoom.  Until you click within the drawing window or pan, the standard Windows cursor is present instead of the normal AutoCAD crosshairs & pickbox.  It is like it takes you out of the drawing window.  For example, if you don’t click into the drawing window before starting to type the next command, you start evoking the quick access keys, same as if you hit the ALT button, as shown below. 

When hitting ESC after selecting normal objects like polylines, the normal AutoCAD crosshairs & pickbox are present and you can begin typing commands immediately as you always have.  Is anyone else having this issue or know of potential solutions? 

[Civil3DReminders_com]

I used to have this problem and then got a new computer and haven't had the problem since. I think something is up with Windows, or another program, where it's taking away focus from Civil 3D. In past versions of the program I think AutoCAD handled it better and was able to take back focus when something was typed. Autodesk did some changes with the UI which I think makes it harder for AutoCAD to get back on track. 

I haven't heard of any solutions, but then again I haven't been hanging around here lately and buying or reinstalling windows probably isn't a good solution. 

[Anonymous]

Thanks CivilReminders.  Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the issue here, as we have tried this with all other programs closed.

It appears to be a bug and I discovered another clue this morning.  I typically work with the Properties window docked.  When I close the Properties window this issue goes away entirely.  When the Properties window is floating or on auto-hide, there is a slight delay between the standard Windows cursor being shown (drawing window becomes inactive) and the time the AutoCAD crosshair & pickbox returns.

[Civil3DReminders_com]

I'm being a bit nit picking, but there are services in Windows that run behind the scenes. If you type Services.msc into the Start Menu Search bar it will bring up the services list. If you sort by Status you'll see there are a lot of services on your box that are running. There are also programs that run, but don't show up in the WIndows UI.

If you want to try running Windows in Safe Mode the directions are here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17419/windows-7-advanced-startup-options-safe-mode

This will disable most of the services.

[Anonymous]

I have the same issue any time I click on a civil 3d object and then deselect it while the properties box is on screen anywhere (docked, hidden, etc.)

It would be nice to be able to see the properties of the pipes I'm editing without having all the extra keypresses of deselecting, clicking in window, then reselecting objects... or bringing the properties window up every time I need it, then closing it only to open it again on the next object I edit. This has been happening to me starting in Civil 3d 2017 and continues in Civil 3d 2018.

The issue is not a different program making the program lose focus - AutoCAD is still the active program, but it acts as if you've pressed the alt key to access the menu which interrupts typed commands unless you click in the main window. This makes for a frustrating cycle of pressing esc and clicking in the window every time you select objects.

[Anonymous]

Hey, my company just switched to 2017, and I was having the same issue. It seems that the Properties palette is the culprit, not releasing focus back to the ACAD window. However, i set my Properties window to auto-hide, and that seems to fix the issue. Likewise, if you have a second monitor, placing the Properties palette on your other monitor (undocked, floating outside the CAD window) seems to fix the issue as well.

If you've found another solution, please let us know!

Thanks for bringing this issue up. It's stupid little things like this that steal OUR focus, away from getting things done.

[Civil3DReminders_com]

Not sure if this does fix the problem:

https://synergiscadblog.com/2015/09/15/cursor-loses-focus-after-installing-autodesk-2016-products

[ODO18]

So we looked at switching from 2015 to 2017 6 months ago but had this problem.  We are not getting new computers with Windows 10 and we checked this again to see if the issue was fixed.  It still is not.  I just tried the disable startup idea and the problem still persists.  This issue will interrupt our companies users workflow too much so we will not upgrade from 2015 until this is fixed.  This is disappointing and I am not sure why autodesk seems to be ignoring the problem.

[Anonymous]

The properties window is the culprit here. If you have properties docked
and visible, you have to hit esc and click in the window to get back to
the drawing. If it's docked and hidden, it has a slight delay instead of
locking up the cursor. If the properties window is closed, it runs
smoothly. I'm running Win 7 Pro and the issue occurs in both 2017 and
2018. The other big issue I find is that quickcommands for polyline
editing only work once before you have to deselect the object and
reselect it in 2018. Really frustrating when you want to do several
small changes to a PL.

[ODO18]

I appreciate your response. Unfortunately to me that is still not a solution. You should be able to dock and show your properties window. We use properties way to much to not be able to do that. Thanks for the 2018 information. We were thinking about maybe going to 2018 instead to see if the issue resolves, but sounds like it doesn’t and there are even more issues. They pline issue is a big one. Do they not test this stuff before they release it?

[ODO18]

I appreciate your response. Unfortunately to me that is still not a solution. You should be able to dock and show your properties window. We use properties way to much to not be able to do that. Thanks for the 2018 information. We were thinking about maybe going to 2018 instead to see if the issue resolves, but sounds like it doesn’t and there are even more issues. They pline issue is a big one. Do they not test this stuff before they release it?

[Anonymous]

I would hope they do, but this time they missed some pretty big stuff. I
deal with the locking of the screen because I personally use the
properties window open all the time. There's no reason to waste the time
opening it every time you need to see something - especially if you deal
with structures all the time. I would say it's easy to get used to, but
that's the worst software development ever. I wish I knew how to push
back to get them to fix these things. There has been no Service pack to
2018 yet either.

[Anonymous]

I would hope they do, but this time they missed some pretty big stuff. I
deal with the locking of the screen because I personally use the
properties window open all the time. There's no reason to waste the time
opening it every time you need to see something - especially if you deal
with structures all the time. I would say it's easy to get used to, but
that's the worst software development ever. I wish I knew how to push
back to get them to fix these things. There has been no Service pack to
2018 yet either.

[rkmcswain]

hokies88 wrote:

It appears to be a bug and I discovered another clue this morning.  I typically work with the Properties window docked.  When I close the Properties window this issue goes away entirely.  When the Properties window is floating or on auto-hide, there is a slight delay between the standard Windows cursor being shown (drawing window becomes inactive) and the time the AutoCAD crosshair & pickbox returns.

I can recreate your issue, in 2017, with the Properties window docked.

[Anonymous]

I have exactly same issue.

[Cadguru42]

I also have this issue with C3D 2016 on Windows 7. It is extremely annoying and yet another bug that Autodesk has introduced, but probably won't be fixing any time soon. In order to deselect a C3D object, I have to hit ESC,then click a single time in the viewport, then hit ESC a second time because the viewport loses focus. This is a huge time waster and another reason I've lost faith in in the C3D team to do anything with the software. 

[ehaberman]

Reviving this topic. Thank you for getting this into words. I've been trying to explain this to people here at work and they don't even know what I'm talking about. I can't believe that no one here works with properties docked. I'll be working with properties docked on my second screen and just deal with the slight delay during esc deselect.

[dsabey]

Has anyone found a solution to this?? Autodesk??

[ODO18]

Which year and version are you using?

Because I believe the latest service pack for 2017 fixed this issue because we no longer have the problem.

[dsabey]

We are using 2016 SP1-4

I suppose the only way to get rid of the issue is to move to 17 or later?