Mouse pointer does not always change shape

[bakubo]

I have an M1 Mac Mini currently on 12.6.2. A strange problem that I have had on all my Macs with various versions of Monterey is that the mouse pointer sometimes does not change shape when pointing at various things or changes to the wrong shape. I cannot predict when it will be correct and when it will be wrong. I suppose about 80% of the time it is correct, but other times it is not correct. Here are the shapes it should be in various situations:

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/pointers-in-macos-mh35695/mac

For example, sometimes the I-beam shape will be shown when I am not in a text input area.

I have never had this problem with any of my many Windows PCs over the years, but I have had this same problem with 3 Macs (all using a different mouse).

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this?

 

[Steven Wandy]

I have an M1 iMac running Venture 13.1 and have seen this when using the Photos app and especially when I open Pixelmator PRO as an extension from Photos. Most other times I don't see it happening like you describe.

 

[ChrisLumix]

I don't know if this is relevant to your problem? but sometimes the pointer doesn't change shape automatically - only when you click in a particular place. And other apps or sites can have their own rules : for example, when I do a Search in the BBC iPlayer web page, I get the I-beam in the search input text field but also the pointer so I can click somewhere else if I choose. Perhaps it's a difference in behaviour between PC and Mac that you're not yet used to?.

 

[Jeff Wahaus]

I think it's normal. The pointer position isn't always sampled at a frequency fast enough and so the pointer image isn't always correct. It should eventually correct itself but it doesn't which is a long standing OS bug.

 

[bakubo]

Here are a few examples of things I see occasionally. This is not a complete list, it is just a few things I recall from time to time. I do not know how to make MacOS do these things. It all seems random. Most of the time it is okay, then it won't be in one case, but okay in another case, then in the first case it will be okay again, etc.

TextEdit -- With multiple files opened in tabs sometimes when selecting a different tab the mouse pointer does not change to an arrow, but instead stays as an I-beam -- sometimes changes to a pointing hand though.

Sometimes when moving mouse pointer to another window in order to click on it to make it the active window it will be a pointing hand or I-beam instead of an arrow.

Lightroom Classic:

- Sometimes instead of an arrow there is a pointing hand when on the right panel. For example, when a photo is selected in the Library module sometimes when I want to tick a keyword rather than it be an arrow it is a pointing finger or I-beam. Makes it hard to be sure I am selecting the proper keyword sometimes.

- Metadata Caption field: type a letter or two and a pop-up list of word captions previously used appears -- the mouse pointer does not change to a pointer, but instead stays as an I-beam.

 

[JasonTheBirder]

I have never had this problem with any of my many Windows PCs over the years, but I have had this same problem with 3 Macs (all using a different mouse).

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this?

I don't, but I have the same problem. When in some applications, my mouse will change to one thing, and then when I move my mouse to another area where it should change, it will not change no matter how much time passes while my mouse is still. The only when to get it to go back to a normal shape is to hover it over the title bar of the application.

Using Ventura.

My feeling is that it is related to apps using a custom toolkit -- for me it happens in darktable, which uses Gtk3. I know for a fact that Gtk also has another bug related to the mouse that is currently being worked on.

--
Wildlife YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/WildEarthPhoto
My personal website: https://jpolak.org/

 

[bakubo]

Here are a few examples of things I see occasionally. This is not a complete list, it is just a few things I recall from time to time. I do not know how to make MacOS do these things. It all seems random. Most of the time it is okay, then it won't be in one case, but okay in another case, then in the first case it will be okay again, etc.

TextEdit -- With multiple files opened in tabs sometimes when selecting a different tab the mouse pointer does not change to an arrow, but instead stays as an I-beam -- sometimes changes to a pointing hand though.

Sometimes when moving mouse pointer to another window in order to click on it to make it the active window it will be a pointing hand or I-beam instead of an arrow.

Lightroom Classic:

- Sometimes instead of an arrow there is a pointing hand when on the right panel. For example, when a photo is selected in the Library module sometimes when I want to tick a keyword rather than it be an arrow it is a pointing finger or I-beam. Makes it hard to be sure I am selecting the proper keyword sometimes.

- Metadata Caption field: type a letter or two and a pop-up list of word captions previously used appears -- the mouse pointer does not change to a pointer, but instead stays as an I-beam.

I just noticed that on a youtube video page when I tried to highlight and copy a few words of text that sometimes it would show the pointing hand and sometimes it would show the correct I-beam. Hard to highlight exactly the characters using the pointing hand. Weird, buggy software.

 

[bakubo]

I don't know if this is relevant to your problem? but sometimes the pointer doesn't change shape automatically - only when you click in a particular place. And other apps or sites can have their own rules : for example, when I do a Search in the BBC iPlayer web page, I get the I-beam in the search input text field but also the pointer so I can click somewhere else if I choose. Perhaps it's a difference in behaviour between PC and Mac that you're not yet used to?.

So the websites are coded so that they do the proper thing for Windows, but for MacOS they do the proper thing 80-90% of the time, but not for 10-20% of the time?

It is not just websites. See these examples:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66802737

 

[JasonTheBirder]

I don't know if this is relevant to your problem? but sometimes the pointer doesn't change shape automatically - only when you click in a particular place. And other apps or sites can have their own rules : for example, when I do a Search in the BBC iPlayer web page, I get the I-beam in the search input text field but also the pointer so I can click somewhere else if I choose. Perhaps it's a difference in behaviour between PC and Mac that you're not yet used to?.

So the websites are coded so that they do the proper thing for Windows, but for MacOS they do the proper thing 80-90% of the time, but not for 10-20% of the time?

It is not just websites. See these examples:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66802737

You are right, and at least my problem has nothing to do with websites. It occurs in other apps....it's just really strange. I hope there's a fix soon. It's quite annoying for screen recordings.

 

[bakubo]

I think it's normal. The pointer position isn't always sampled at a frequency fast enough and so the pointer image isn't always correct. It should eventually correct itself but it doesn't which is a long standing OS bug.

How many minutes or hours is one expected to wait for the sampling to catch up and do the right thing? I know that seconds, even tens of seconds, is not long enough as far as I can tell. You are correct that it seems to never fix itself.

Long standing never fixed basic bugs that users must live with and constantly be annoyed by is just part of the Apple Tax, I guess. I keep finding them. Not obscure things, basic things. Not a good way to go for a company that if it was a country would be the 8th richest in the world.

Apple’s GDP Makes it 8th Richest Country in the World

https://www.macobserver.com/news/apple-eighth-richest-country/

Apple has 165k employees. Surely one or two could spend a few weeks to fix some of the simple, basic bugs that have been around forever. :-(

 

[bakubo]

I don't, but I have the same problem. When in some applications, my mouse will change to one thing, and then when I move my mouse to another area where it should change, it will not change no matter how much time passes while my mouse is still. The only when to get it to go back to a normal shape is to hover it over the title bar of the application.

Using Ventura.

Thanks for the report about Ventura. I was wondering if possibly it had been fixed, but it hasn't. I am on Monterey 12.6.2. I suspect it was a bug before Monterey too. Yet another longstanding simple, basic bug that never gets fixed. Part of the Apple Tax. :-(

 

[bakubo]

This guy has his M2 Pro Mac Mini and I have it cued up to where he talks a bit about some more longstanding Mac problems that never get fixed.

Persistent Mac Problems That Are Never Fixed

Long standing never fixed basic bugs that users must live with and constantly be annoyed by is just part of the Apple Tax, I guess. I keep finding them. Not obscure things, basic things. Not a good way to go for a company that if it was a country would be the 8th richest in the world.

Apple’s GDP Makes it 8th Richest Country in the World

https://www.macobserver.com/news/apple-eighth-richest-country/

Apple has 165k employees. Surely one or two could spend a few weeks to fix some of the simple, basic bugs that have been around forever. :-(

 

[ChrisLumix]

I don't know if this is relevant to your problem? but sometimes the pointer doesn't change shape automatically - only when you click in a particular place. And other apps or sites can have their own rules : for example, when I do a Search in the BBC iPlayer web page, I get the I-beam in the search input text field but also the pointer so I can click somewhere else if I choose. Perhaps it's a difference in behaviour between PC and Mac that you're not yet used to?.

So the websites are coded so that they do the proper thing for Windows, but for MacOS they do the proper thing 80-90% of the time, but not for 10-20% of the time?

It is not just websites. See these examples:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66802737

I just tried your 'multple TextEdit windows' thing and got perfect behaviour - the pointer changed to arrow whenever I moused out of the input area of a document, and back to I-beam whenever in it.

But then, I'm still using Mavericks which works aok for me.

 

[bakubo]

I have owned three M1 Macs at various times:

• M1 iMac with Bluetooth Apple Magic mouse
• 14" M1 Pro MBP with wireless mouse -- tiny USB-A receiver (not Bluetooth) -- tried a different mouse, but it made no difference
• M1 Mini with wired mouse

A strange problem that I have had with all 3 of the computers is that sometimes the first click of the mouse button does not do anything. It is not confined to a single program. For example, in Lightroom Classic in the Library grid view sometimes when clicking on a thumbnail to select it does not work on the first click, but works on the second click. Or in the browser clicking on a youtube video on the main page sometimes does not do anything on the first click. Other situations and programs too. I would say the first click is ignored about 5-10% of the time.

Anyone else noticed this?

 

[Jeff Wahaus]

... A strange problem that I have had with all 3 of the computers is that sometimes the first click of the mouse button does not do anything. It is not confined to a single program. For example, in Lightroom Classic in the Library grid view sometimes when clicking on a thumbnail to select it does not work on the first click, but works on the second click. Or in the browser clicking on a youtube video on the main page sometimes does not do anything on the first click. Other situations and programs too. I would say the first click is ignored about 5-10% of the time. Anyone else noticed this?

Yes, this is normal behavior. A window must be the active window for a mouse click to register. If you click on a control within a non-active window the first click simply activates the window. You'll notice the title bar of the active window is slightly different than the non-active windows. It depends on the theme you're using, in my case the active window is black.

Also, keep in mind that some programs (like the calculator) ignore the active window rule and register the first click.

 

[Jeff Wahaus]

Yes, this is normal behavior. A window must be the active window for a mouse click to register.

Now that I've played with it I think I was wrong. All of the non-active windows I've tried are registering the first mouse click. Perhaps it's only certain programs.

 

[bakubo]

... A strange problem that I have had with all 3 of the computers is that sometimes the first click of the mouse button does not do anything. It is not confined to a single program. For example, in Lightroom Classic in the Library grid view sometimes when clicking on a thumbnail to select it does not work on the first click, but works on the second click. Or in the browser clicking on a youtube video on the main page sometimes does not do anything on the first click. Other situations and programs too. I would say the first click is ignored about 5-10% of the time. Anyone else noticed this?

Yes, this is normal behavior. A window must be the active window for a mouse click to register. If you click on a control within a non-active window the first click simply activates the window. You'll notice the title bar of the active window is slightly different than the non-active windows. It depends on the theme you're using, in my case the active window is black.

Also, keep in mind that some programs (like the calculator) ignore the active window rule and register the first click.

You misunderstood. I am not talking about changing to a different window to make it active. I am talking about a window that is already the active window.

 

[JasonTheBirder]

This guy has his M2 Pro Mac Mini and I have it cued up to where he talks a bit about some more longstanding Mac problems that never get fixed.

This thread shows precisely why camera manufacturers have relatively primitive operating systems in their cameras compared to general-purpose computers.

I've used Linux, Windows, and MacOS (extensively, as in years of use of each of the latest), and I can say that they all suck. They are way less stable relative to camera firmwares.

The last thing I would want is endless glitches when I'm using my camera.

BTW, I think I do have that click problem that you have with my Mac M1. Seems again to only happen in GTK apps.

 

[bakubo]

I just tried your 'multple TextEdit windows' thing and got perfect behaviour - the pointer changed to arrow whenever I moused out of the input area of a document, and back to I-beam whenever in it.

But then, I'm still using Mavericks which works aok for me.

I am not surprised. It also usually works for me too. As a reminder, this is what I wrote:

Here are a few examples of things I see occasionally. This is not a complete list, it is just a few things I recall from time to time. I do not know how to make MacOS do these things. It all seems random. Most of the time it is okay, then it won't be in one case, but okay in another case, then in the first case it will be okay again, etc.

TextEdit -- With multiple files opened in tabs sometimes when selecting a different tab the mouse pointer does not change to an arrow, but instead stays as an I-beam -- sometimes changes to a pointing hand though.

Sometimes when moving mouse pointer to another window in order to click on it to make it the active window it will be a pointing hand or I-beam instead of an arrow.

You have quite an old version of MacOS from 2013. It is famous for being probably the best MacOS ever released with lots of effort put into bug fixes and performance improvements.

On my current Monterey 12.6.3 and all the earlier versions of Monterey over the last year I have noticed this problem though on three Apple Silicon Macs. TextEdit is not the only program. Possibly if you have TextEdit open with, say, 3 tabs and use it everyday for about a year like I do then you may eventually see the problem. Or there is a great chance that in does not occur in your 10 year old MacOS. There is an unlikely outside chance it could even be some sort of Apple Silicon hardware glitch or Apple Silicon specific software glitch. I assume that running Mavericks you are using a rather old Intel Mac.

This is a pretty good video. He thinks Snow Leopard is overrated and that OS X 10.9 Mavericks was the best because it fixed lots of bugs and greatly improved performance.

Was Snow Leopard 10.6 greatest macOS release ever? An OS X essay

OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard long has been held as the gold standard for OS X/macOS releases. It's not uncommon to hear people to this day laud Snow Leopard as the best version of any Apple OS. There's been a lots of attempts to contextualize why Snow Leopard was so loved with solid points but they fall a bit short.

 

[ChrisLumix]

On my current Monterey 12.6.3 and all the earlier versions of Monterey over the last year I have noticed this problem though on three Apple Silicon Macs. TextEdit is not the only program. Possibly if you have TextEdit open with, say, 3 tabs and use it everyday for about a year like I do then you may eventually see the problem. Or there is a great chance that in does not occur in your 10 year old MacOS. There is an unlikely outside chance it could even be some sort of Apple Silicon hardware glitch or Apple Silicon specific software glitch. I assume that running Mavericks you are using a rather old Intel Mac.

Yes - the 2011 iMac, also one of the best machines (graphics card excepted) Apple ever released.

This is a pretty good video. He thinks Snow Leopard is overrated and that OS X 10.9 Mavericks was the best because it fixed lots of bugs and greatly improved performance.

Was Snow Leopard 10.6 greatest macOS release ever? An OS X essay

OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard long has been held as the gold standard for OS X/macOS releases. It's not uncommon to hear people to this day laud Snow Leopard as the best version of any Apple OS. There's been a lots of attempts to contextualize why Snow Leopard was so loved with solid points but they fall a bit short.

Thanks for that - should be an interesting read...