Unable to click buttons or select objects normally

[FiremanDave]

Hi all

I have been using Inkscape for a little while, just simple things and nothing too technical.
I use Inkscape on two machines: one Win 10 and the other Win 7 - both without issue.
I recently updated the Win 7 machine to Win 10, and now I am having all sorts of problems
I am unable to click most buttons (eg Save, or Ungroup etc etc), and cannot simply left-click an object to select it. Selecting requires draging a box around things, or shift-clicking. In place of clicking buttons I have to select tasks from menus.
Everything works fine on my other Win 10 machine.
When I say "update" from Win 7 to 10, I mean I formatted and did fresh install (including of course Inkscape).
All machines are / were using 64-bit OS's.
The machine having problems is a dual monitor set-up (the other is single).
Below a link to a screen cap video of my dilemma. Any ideas??
https://streamable.com/rrcse

Thank you!!

[brynn]

Welcome to the forum!

Unfortunately, we have seen this kind of problem on dual monitor setups.  I'm not sure what the status for fixing it is.  Let's see if I can find some info...

I'm having a hard time finding anything on this specific problem.  I have heard of people using dual montiors having 2 problems.  The one that seems to have gotten some attention (in terms of bug reports) is dialogs opening off screen.  But in forums, I've heard of reports where Inkscape doesn't seem to respond to the mouse, here and there, but not globally.  As far as I can tell, not responding to clicks does not seem to be reported.

I did find this report:  https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1131428  So before reporting a new bug, it would be good to rule out that one.

Hah!  I finally found a report about it:  https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1780268  But it's a very new report, where the first response is exactly what I just said - let's rule out the other bug first.  Whoever reported that has not yet responded to ruling out the other bug.  So if you can help to move it along some, that would be great!

[FiremanDave]

Thanks for the links. Ran through everything and couldn't find anything that worked.
I noticed a few people mentioning if they kept refocussing the program it would work for a click or two. I tired this and I had the same issue. I disabled everything that I could - only the bare minimum running in the background, to no avail.
On a whim I installed AtuoHotkey and created a script that allows me to place any program on top. When I run Inkscape I press CTRL+SPACE and Inkscape runs on top, stopping anything from stealing it's focus (even if there's nothing else running...).
Bit stupid that I need such a workaround, but it works! Hopefully it helps others.

[Moini]

There are a lot of tips given on that report, especially the last one (https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1131428/comments/52) by Patrick Storz (main Inkscape developer for Windows) will probably solve the issue. Can you rather give that a try and then report back on the bug report?

This would make it possible to fix the problem for ALL Windows users, not just for yourself.

[FiremanDave]

Feel like I've touched a nerve somehow?

Anywho, I tried each tip given and couldn't find anything that helped.
The link you've provided certainly looked very exiciting, and I hadn't tried that one as it is for the 32bit version where I''m using the 64bit. I have tried it anyway and unfortunately it didn't help But thank you!

I'm new to this forum, and not a member of the bug forum - should I join there instead?

[Moini]

It would certainly be helpful to post your findings there. Devs need feedback on their work, especially if they cannot reproduce the problem on their own machine. Also, they can then try other things, with the help of users willing to try them out.

[brynn]

Hah, I guess it's kind of a "bug forum".  But really it's the bug tracker.  If you want to share your experience, it might help to move things forward a little -- especially since none of the potential fixes or workarounds worked for you.  Who knows, maybe something about your experience will give developers a clue that they didn't have before?

If you want to follow the progress of that bug, find a text link in the column on the right, to subscribe and be notified about changes to the report.  Just click the text link (it will change from saying you are not subscribed to you are).

Personally, I would post in the 2nd report that I mentioned, the much smaller one, because it's about the dual monitor setup, while the other one seems to happen to be related to having other programs installed (although note that I did not read that long one very closely).  Plus, none of the workarounds for the other one worked for you.  But it's up to you which one you post in.  After all, the smaller one has not received much attention from developers yet.  If you do post in the smaller one, be sure to mention the other one, and that you tried everything there, without success.