Hi - Brand new user of Inkscape, but I've been using computers for decades.

Downloaded Inkscape 48.2 from Sourceforge (an .exe file). Installed it on Windows 7 Ultimate. Install seemed to work fine. After the problems below, I uninstalled using Control Panel, and re-installed using the same .exe from Sourceforge.

When I start Inkscape, the window opens up OK (slowly, but it opens). Then, it seems as though I get ONE mouse click in the window. This sounds dumb but:
(a) I can click 'Help' and 'Tutorials' "Basic' and it will open up a new window with the basic tutorial. Once I do that, the original window will not recognize any mouse clicks - that's as in any, anywhere on the window, except that I can use the 'X' to close the window. I can't use any of the pulldowns, I can't open any of the drawing tools (e.g. rectangle) or any other items on the window USING THE MOUSE. The keyboard shortcuts still work - so, for example, I can select the rectangle tool (F4) but I can't draw the rectangle. Absolutely nothing happens when I left-click and drag.

(b) Starting with the above, in the new window with the tutorial in it, I can scroll down. But, once I do that, all other interaction with the window using the mouse is dead. When I get to the section that says to click on the rectangle tool, nothing happens. I can still select the rectangle tool using F4, but the mouse won't work to actually draw the rectangle.

I'm using a Microsoft wireless mouse, which seems to work OK on all other apps I use, including drawing apps like ARCGis.

Any ideas?

I haven't heard of anyone having this issue before... but I don't frequent this site as much as I used to

If you haven't already, try the suggestion in the second topic of the Frequently Asked Questions. Sometime these issues are due to a corrupted profile and the instructions on that page could fix it.

I erased the preferences.xml file - no change in behavior.

I did notice one interesting thing though - If I DOUBLE-click anywhere on the Inkscape screen, it opens the preferences window. Nothing works in that window either, but it seems odd that it recognizes the double-click somehow.

I'm stumped as well.
Do you use a graphics tablet?
Are you opening an existing image, or is this happening in a new blank document?

When you have the new black document open, and before you open the tutorial from the Help menu, can you use Inkscape otherwise? Is the problem happening only when the tutorial is open? Or are you saying that with a new blank document, the only thing you can do besides close the program window, is open the Basic Tutorial?

Try downloading 0.48.1 and see if that works with your system.

When I have a new blank document open, it's like I get one shot with the mouse. I can get to the help pulldown and open the tutorial. OR, I can select one of the tools - e.g., the rectangle tool. It will select OK, but then the mouse goes dead. I can't draw a rectangle, or select any other tools or menus. Except that I can select other tools using the keyboard.

Also, when it's in this 'state', nothing will highlight on mouseover. The cursor moves around OK, but there's no popups or highlighting happening.

So it's like the mouse isn't being recognized, for some reason.

This sounds similar to what I experience, when I'm using an extension. If I've used the Live Preview of any extension, then I get distracted, and forget that it's a live preview and that I haven't actually clicked OK yet, it seems like the mouse just isn't working. I can't click on anything or highlight with mouseover. I assume this is because having the live preview somehow tells Inkscape not to recognize the mouse. Once I click Ok, or uncheck the Live Preview option, the mouse works as expected.

I might speculate that Inkscape, for some reason, has temporarily disabled the mouse. But honestly, there's no reason it should. Clearly this is happening before you've had a chance to really draw anything at all. Also, there's no reason that double-clicking on the canvas should open Inks Prefs. If you double-click on a tool, it opens Inks Prefs for that tool. But a double-click on the canvas should do nothing.

The tutorials in the Help menu are actually Inkscape documents, on which you can draw and practice your skills right there, using elements on the tutorial, or you can use it otherwise just like any Inkscape document. So if you open a tutorial, can you do anything on there?

This is a very strange problem, and I have no idea what could be happening. I don't know what druban has in mind, but you could try the different version, and report back, to find out what he's thinking.

Can you still move the windows around? If so, it might be worth moving them to one side - I've seen similar issues with other software in the past where an alert box is being shown which is modal (i.e. it stops you using the application until it's dismissed), but which ends up hidden behind the window it relates to.

Yes, I can still move windows around - the top window bar works. There's no 'buried' dialog windows.

Downloaded 48.1, installed it, and it works! Not sure what the bug is, but it apparently has something to do with 48.2 .

Wow! So that's great then, at least for now. 0.48.2 does not contain any new features from 0.48.1. To my understanding, 0.48.2 is all bux fixes. I think 0.48.3 is expected some time this year. (And I think all bug fixes again. 0.49 is supposed to have the new faster renderer.)

But I'll be interested to find out if druban had any particular thoughts when he suggested the different version. And especially interested if we can learn what was causing the problem with 0.48.2.

brynn wrote:0.48.2 does not contain any new features from 0.48.1

Not on the surface, but I believe rendering and windowing have been moved from one system to another, to use my extremely unprogramming terms. ~suv and others have made many posts about these changes that explain, among other things, why pen tablets don't work from one v. to another, why redrawing is different, etc.

One major change between the Inkscape 0.48.1 and 0.48.2 packages for Windows is the version of the GTK+ toolkit [1] included. Since this is mainly technical information, I doubt it makes sense to go into details here.

Upcoming bug-fix release Inkscape 0.48.3.1 will use yet another (newer) version of the GTK+ toolkit which - so far - has shown to address many UI issues and regressions noticed in Inkscape 0.48.2.


[1] GTK+ is a cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces.

Hi,

I think I'm having the same problem the original poster had:
I'm using Windows 8 Pro (32 bits) and Inkscape 0.48.4 r9939, downloaded it today, it's a fresh install since I've never installed Inkscape in this machine before, so the preference file shouldn't be the problem.
Once I start the program, I'm only allowed one click on the toolbox and then the mouse stops working on the toolbox, i.e I can't select another tool or click on the toolbars' buttons, but I can still draw on the canvas with the mouse.
If the Inkscape window loses focus, for example I use Alt-Tab to switch to another program and then return to Inkscape the process resets,i.e, I'm once again allowed one click and after it the mouse stops working as before.

Since the same problem is happening with the Gimp, I'm thinking the problem might be with GTK+, which I understand both programs use, so I downloaded the latest version of this from the GTK+ for Windows Runtime Environment Sourceforge project page and installed it but the problem remains. Although I don't know if Inkscape is using this version or the one that came with Inkscape's installer. How can I check that? And if it isn't using the new one, how can I direct it to use it?
Or could the problem be something else?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Seems to be a GTK+ problem indeed, I have the same issues with Inkscape and Gimp.

I filed this bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1201430

which turned out to be a duplicate of: https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1131428

Hi, everyone

I am new to this forum, but I've been using Inkscape for a few years. Recently I have exactly the same problem what tmccann stated in his posts, the only difference is I've beening using this version (0.48.2) of Inkscape for long time and it was always working fine. Thus I was thinking it's a problem of my mouse, but it remains so after changing the mouse.

I just downloaded a 0.48.1 and it's working, but since yesterday I tried 0.48.4 and it was working at the beginning, but went back to the same problem of 0.48.2 today, so I am still cautious at the moment. However, even if 0.48.1 can solve my problem, I will be still interested on finding out the reason caused this. Thank you very much, everyone!

Update: Tried the latest version (0.91) and the problems remain. The only solution for now seems to be to stick with version 0.48.1.

Level 11 Necromancy at least to resurrect - yourself?? Did you try deleting your user folder with preferences keymaps etc. in it that might be interfering with your new installation.

druban wrote:Level 11 Necromancy at least to resurrect - yourself?? Did you try deleting your user folder with preferences keymaps etc. in it that might be interfering with your new installation.

Well, and I am going to "necro" this again, because I seem to have the same issue on Win10, inkscape 0.91 64bit (stable as well as latest devel)... And this is one of the google top results... AND it lacks a solution. Still.

I use a wacom instead of mouse, but the symptoms are similar: I open inkscape, change the tool once, can use that tool on canvas, but can't click on a different tool again. However clicking on a top menu item resets the process. Same goes for the secondary toolbars with all the icons. I can click an icon only one time. Also: Mouse cursor stays like the tool cursor when hovering over interface, could be related.

Apart from that (may or may not be connected issue):
- Canvas pops up quite slowly
- Under some circumstances the top menu lists + all dialogue windows appear empty (need to test this again, deleting preferences fixed it though)
- I had a couple of crashes, sometimes instantly after starting inkscape. no error, just gone.

What I tried so far:
- stable & devel version of 0.91
- enabling/disabling Windows Ink (I found this to be usually a troublemaker in a lot of other apps. seems to make no difference here)
- Turning my Tablet PC landscape or Portrait
- changing around preferences
- setting compatibility mode and/or scaling at high DPI in the .exe properties EDIT: ENABLING SCALING AT HIGH DPI FIXES THE ICON ISSUE. Removing the checkmark from the exe properties & it's possible to click on multiple icons again! Edit2: I now re-enabled the "Disable display scaling" and it still works for now. I tested different icon sizes for the toolbars and it still works (I suspected this option to be responsible for the disappearing menu lists & crashes, because it started after I set them to "large". could be coincidence)

I didn't spent too much time testing every combination of options, I guess I will now and edit this post later... Edit: For now fiddling with the inkscape.exe compatibility properties did fix my toolbar icon clicking issues. It's still odd that after I removed the check mark once it now works with BOTH on/off the same... Gonna do some long term testing/work now and report back when the issue arises again.

Thanks for the updates.

I'm often skeptical when I see a necro reply in the new posts, and relieved when it is real and not spam.

Win10 seems inevitable for some users, so your insight is appreciated.

AND it lacks a solution. Still.

I can't make heads or tails out of this topic. How can a solution be found for a problem which is not adequately described?

I think you'll have much better luck if you post your problem in a new topic. Don't rely on other people's description of a problem, because even though it sounds similar, might be an entirely different problem. There have been too many different people adding comments to this topic, which seem to me to be unrelated. I can't make any sense of the problem by reading this topic. And "nothing works", besides being entirely too vague, comes across as spammish.

If you make a new topic, please describe the problem clearly, without referring to this topic. Don't say "nothing works". Instead, give details about what does work and what doesn't work. Please include your Inkscape version and operating system.

Also, don't keep editing your original message. When you try some new troublshooting step, post it in a new reply. The reason for this is so that people who are trying to help you don't miss out on new info. Everyon expects new info to be found at the end of a topic, and not edited into the beginning.

Having said all that, a couple of your comments give me some ideas.

1st -- Some of your problems remind me of problems that can happen when you keep the computer mouse resting on top of the graphics tablet. Keep the mouse off the tablet.

2nd -- Other things you describe remind me of problems that can happen if you use an unusual screen resolution, or if you changed the orientation of the screen, or use any kind of screen magnifier or visual assitive device.