Jittery or Jerky Mouse in AutoCAD

Issue

Your cursor (mouse) is acting jittery or jerky in CAD, or it's simply moving around in a way you cannot control.

 

Solution

First, a few questions:

Question 1: Is there anything in particular you're doing in CAD that might be causing the mouse issue?

Is the cursor simply moving around without any command active, or are you performing any specific action?

 

For example:

 

• Is your cursor snapping to a grid?

 

If the cursor seems to be snapping to a grid – especially if you're working in Paper Space – type SNAP in the Command line and click Off. It's the only way to disable this type of snap.

 

While you're at it, try turning off the GRIDSNAP setting as well.

 

 

• Is your issue resulting from PDF underlays?

 

PDF underlays can sometimes cause a jerky mouse. Numerous AutoCAD users have reported this issue. It seems that updating your video card driver may help. Also, some users have reported better performance if they convert the PDF to a JPG.

 

You can also make sure your drawing toggle modes at the bottom of the screen are turned off. The system could just be trying to snap to the many points in the PDF.

 

 

• Is your drawing file excessively large?

 

We've sometimes found large drawings to be the culprit – especially with unusual linetypes and hatch patterns, most commonly in an Xref.

 

The quickest way to test for this issue is to simply detach the Xref. If detaching one or more of your Xrefs does fix the issue, then it's a matter of either:

• Spending the time to diagnose the Xref, or
• Just leaving the Xref detached while you complete your work.

We recommend cleaning all Xref drawings by either using our Nuke tool or completing a manual drawing cleanup before Xrefing them into your main drawing file.

 

If the issue is in an Xref and you need to get it to work, or if cleaning your Xrefs doesn't do the trick, you can start by just freezing any non-essential layers. If that still doesn't do it, you can sort the layers by linetype – for any layers that are not a standard AutoCAD linetype, either turn them off or set them to Continuous (if possible). Definitely attempt to turn off or freeze any layers in the Xref that contain hatches.

 

 

Question 2: Do you have an older or slow computer?

You might simply need a more powerful CAD workstation. If you have an older computer, we suggest looking at getting a robust CAD workstation with a more powerful processor / video card. For details, see our System Requirements.

 

 

 

 

Question 3: Are you using CAD on a Mac with Parallels?

If so, Try these steps.

 

 

Question 4: Did you address the previous questions but you're still having mouse issues?

If you:

• Can't pinpoint a specific action in CAD that is causing your mouse issue, and ...
• Have confirmed in our System Requirements that your computer is new and powerful enough to run AutoCAD correctly, and ...
• Are either:
• Not running CAD on a Mac with Parallels, or ...
• Tried the Parallels solution and you're still having mouse issues ...

 

... it's time to start some additional troubleshooting.

 

 

 

Additional troubleshooting steps:

Try the following steps one at a time. If one of the steps seems to resolve your mouse issue, you can stop there and get back to work.

 

Step 1: Check your Hardware Acceleration setting.

The Hardware Acceleration setting can interfere with your CAD installation's graphic performance. Try following our steps to disable Hardware Acceleration.

In some cases, you might have trouble opening CAD while Hardware Acceleration turned off. If so, use our steps to open AutoCAD or F/X CAD while Hardware Acceleration is disabled.

 

 

Step 2: Update your video card driver.

This step is extremely important for getting the most power out of your computer.

 

 

 

You can find your video card (display adapter) in the Device Manager. To open the Device Manager, open your Start menu and search for

Device Manager in the search box. Then select the Device Manager option at the top of the menu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check to ensure that your video driver is the most recent version. You may also need to run the DirectX Runtime Web Installer to make sure DirectX is up to date.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3: Ensure your AutoCAD installation is using DirectX to access your video card.

AutoCAD uses a set of components called DirectX to talk to your video card. If your installation is using a gdixx.hdi software driver instead, it could cause issues with your mouse.

 

 

Open the Options dialog box:

 

 

 

 

 

In the Options dialog box, select the System tab. Then click the Graphics Performance button.

 

 

 

 

The Graphics Performance dialog box will open. Check what's listed as your Virtual Device. You should see a version of DirectX listed here.

 

 

 

 

If you see a version of DirectX here, great! Move on to the next troubleshooting step.

 

If you see a gdi driver listed as your Virtual Device in this location, here's what to do:

 

• First, ensure that you've already turned off Hardware Acceleration and updated your video card driver (steps 1 and 2 above).

 

• If you're still having mouse issues after completing those steps, follow our steps to reset AutoCAD or F/X CAD to defaults.

 

• Still having mouse issues? Try uninstalling and reinstalling AutoCAD.

 

• Finally, if you're still having mouse issues after reinstalling AutoCAD or F/X CAD, or are unable to open your installation at all:

 

 

 

 

Step 4: Clean your drawing!

Some of the slowness of CAD is related to multiple DWG file issues: DGN Linetype issues, RegApps issues, Proxy Images, etc.

 

Follow our steps to clean your drawing and all Xrefs.

 

 

 

Are you running Parallels? Try these steps:

1. Launch your Windows virtual machine.

 

2. Disable any antivirus programs you have running in Windows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Restart Windows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Restart Windows again.

 

 

8. Enable your antivirus program.

 

You should now experience better mouse performance. If not, you can also check the following settings to improve the mouse performance:

1. Shut down Windows.

2. Click the Gear icon to open the Configuration dialog box.

3. Click Hardware/Mouse & Keyboard.

4. Select Don’t optimize for games from both the Mouse and Keyboard menus.

5. Start Windows, and open CAD.

6. Follow our steps to turn off Hardware Acceleration.

Still having mouse issues? Move on to our additional troubleshooting steps.