In two of my files on Inkscape, while editing everything suddenly froze and nothing will select. I checked similar topics on the forum but they were for different issues such as all items being selected as one group. Nothing will select at all here, and I can't move anything nor edit their nodes . The second time that this happened it was while I kind of dragged the mouse down a blank part of the file so perhaps that has something to do with it.

The first time it happened I went ahead and saved it without undoing it. This was an .svg map that I had spent a lot of time on

The second time it happened, I clicked undo, and it worked.

Does anyone know what happened and how to undo it from the settings? Thank you very much.

When it happens again, can you share such a file?

It doesn't sound as if Inkscape were 'frozen' (i.e. the program does not react anymore, because it's busy doing useless calculations), because in that case, saving or clicking the undo button won't work either.

It would also help to know your Inkscape version (Help > About) and your operating system (incl. version number).

you may have locked the layer inadvertently

If you have a very large file....or even not so large, and you do something which challenges your available resources, it might take Inkscape several seconds, or sometimes even several minutes, to complete what you've asked. While Inkscape is working, nothing works. You can't select anything, or click any buttons or menu items. Nothing works until Inkscape finishes what you asked.

If Save or Undo worked, (and the problem is related to resources) I guess it's possible Inkscape coincidentally finished what it was doing just before you clicked Save or Undo.

If you finally figure out what you're doing that is taking a long time, and without thinking, you ask Inkscape to do it, again, unfortunately (despite many requests for such a feature) there's no way to abort it. You just have to wait. Or else be willing to lose everything since your last save, and close the file.

How large are these files? And do you remember the last thing you did before you were unable to select something?

Edit - Here's an article that explains about performance issues, and how you can keep working and avoid a lot of waiting. https://forum.inkscapecommunity.com/ind ... article=35

Or it could be what druban mentioned, an accidentally locked layer.

If this problem is still happening the next time you open the files, and you don't find any locked layers, I would ask if you have a dual or multiple monitor setup?