Free cursor in SL
Mar 07, 2022
By
Meryl Hooker
I am working in Storyline via Parallels. Today, I was no longer able to control my mouse. I get a message at the top of the screen that says Click Control + Alt (Option on my Mac) to free the cursor. Do any of you know what that means or how to fix it?
When I click the commands, I can briefly select objects but I am unable to move them. I cannot adjust the objects panel and the slide panel. After a few seconds the cursor reverts back.
This happens in all of my SL files. I have uninstalled and reinstalled SL as well, but still no dice.
Any ideas/suggestions?
6 Replies
Hi Meryl!
I'm happy to help! With Parallels, you have the option to set the mouse to only work within the Parallels window or have the mouse also have access to the rest of the screen where the Mac controls are.
It would be helpful to see a screen recording of this behavior so we can determine exactly what setting needs to be changed. Can you share a Peek with us in this discussion or in a support case?
Hi Lauren,
Here's a link to a Peek shot. https://360.articulate.com/review/content/56248ccc-23aa-4ec2-a28f-46fa0d5702dd/review
The secret seems to be connected to the cursor appearing as white (bad) or black (good).
The weird thing is that this has not happened before. I didn't change anything. It just stor of happened.
Thoughts?
Hi, Meryl.
Take a look at this article outlining the different options you can select when working with the mouse cursor in Parallels:
Is it possible your current setting is Optimize for Games?
Hey Maria,
YES! My setting was for Optimizing Games. I turned that off.
But alas...
While it did make my cursor hop around a little less, it still goes white (and transparent) when on the Last Opened File list on the homepage, and when it hovers on the slides on the left hand side of a single slide view, as well as when hovering on objects and the timeline
I feel like I'm getting closer and that this is some kind of settings issue, particularly since it is only happening in Storyline.
I'm working on a Windows 11 Pro Evaluation. Do you think that has something to do with it?
Hi Meryl,
Can you please try to install the latest Windows update and then reinstall Parallels Tools?
Gold star for you, John!
I don't know which wire you wiggled over there, but the new Windows 11 update and reinstalling the Parallels Tools did the trick.
Thank you so much!