# Cursor jumping around in composer / editor text box
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017
**Category:** Bug
**Tags:** composer
**Created:** [April 27, 2023, 1:59am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017 "2023-04-27T01:59:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2023, 1:59am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/1 "2023-04-27T01:59:28Z")
the cursor seems to be jumping around in the composer / editor. anyone else experiencing this? i’ve had it in both mobile and desktop views on my forum in chrome and safari. it happens when i have a quote in the text box or some text i am editing. the cursor jumps to another place when i start to type or even sometimes if the mouse cursor goes off the text box without clicking. i haven’t had it yet on Meta here but it’s been happening lately on our forum to me and others. also doesn’t happen all the time, seems mostly on longer posts.
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### Author:  [@Stephen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Stephen)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2023, 2:15am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/2 "2023-04-27T02:15:07Z")
Have you tried working in [safe mode](https://meta.discourse.org/t/53504?silent=true) on your instance to see if it continues?
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2023, 3:10am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/3 "2023-04-27T03:10:35Z")
not yet. i’ll try reproducing it again first thing in the morning when i get to my desk, and also [safe mode](https://meta.discourse.org/t/53504?silent=true). i first noticed it a few days ago when i was editing our moderator guide and thought maybe it was a discoTOC thing, but then i noticed a few more times in other places - seems to only happen when i was editing a previous post or quoting someone, in both mobile and desktop. then today a couple of my users also noted they experienced odd cursor behavior lately in mobile view composer box. it’s like you click/tap to get the cursor in a spot where you want to edit or enter text but then when you actually type, the cursor immediately moves to a different place and the text entered appears in the new location. ~~doesn’t happen with the select and edit feature.~~
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2023, 3:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/4 "2023-04-27T15:29:09Z")
ok i did manage to reproduce it in [safe mode](https://meta.discourse.org/t/53504?silent=true) and this time i used the select to edit function but on a long block of text to bring up the editor. it doesn’t happen every time i try to edit or post. right now, the cursor is jumping to the top of the post when the mouse moves over an element like a button or the editor tool bar. even if i am way down in the text body, it jumps up to the top. but sometimes it seems to happen just as i enter the text (in mobile view it does this). very odd because it’s inconsistent. even if i select text in the editor, the cursor is deselecting and moving to another place at times.
for example, if i select some text to make a link via the link button, the link is created at the top of the page with no text in it, instead of around the text i selected. it’s jumping when i mouse over the link button but before it’s clicked. and this is in [safe mode](https://meta.discourse.org/t/53504?silent=true). it’s odd because it doesn’t happen right away. the behavior of the cursor may be normal at first in the editor, but after making a few changes, it suddenly starts moving to different places on the page.
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2023, 3:46pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/5 "2023-04-27T15:46:15Z")
Hey Lilly,
It would be great if you managed to have a video capture of what’s happening.
I often have OBS recording my desktop in the background, it helped me many times capture weird issues in various software and get repro steps.
For issues that I know I can repro more easily, I use ShareX, which has a great record feature.
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2023, 3:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/6 "2023-04-27T15:48:27Z")
yea i’ll try to get a screen video on my desktop. it’s happening on my ipad too so i can grab one there when i can reproduce it. of course this issue only seems to be happening when i really need to edit some long post 🤦♀️
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2023, 4:14pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/7 "2023-04-27T16:14:30Z")
here is simple one from my ipad (safari) where the emoji gets put in wrong place at top of page instead of where i place cursor.
desktop chrome
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### Author:  [@Jagster](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jagster)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2023, 5:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/8 "2023-04-27T17:39:43Z")
That happends quite often, but not every time on my iPad too. I’ve blaimed myself, I touch somehow screen before hitting the toolbar.
Because — again: for me — it happends too randomly I can’t give any help to reproduce it. But buying an iPad and using it 😉
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2023, 5:11am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/9 "2023-04-28T05:11:05Z")
Pretty unlikely, but can you double check in [safe mode](https://meta.discourse.org/t/53504?silent=true) on desktop chrome?
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### Author:  [@Don](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Don)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2023, 8:21am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/10 "2023-04-28T08:21:53Z")
Hello,
Yeah, I think this is a bug related with what I reported before. [When composer opens with fast edit, can't close the keyboard](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-composer-opens-with-fast-edit-cant-close-the-keyboard/243494). This is still a problem.
When composer opened from fast edit (if there are multiple same word) then the composer focus is broke. This issue is still active after you close the composer so when you open a post with regular edit then this bug still remain.
It seems when you opened this way the composer and try to type for example a special character (which change the keyboard from alphabet to numeric) this will drop the focus for a moment and when the focus is reactivated it will drop the cursor to the position which was when you opened, I guess.
Huawei P20 Pro
Android 10
Chrome 112.0.5615.136
In this video I show:
1. Opening composer with fast edit
2. Opening composer with regular edit (after I opened it with fast edit)
3. Switching to composer preview (keyboard left open)
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### Author:  [@Jagster](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jagster)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2023, 8:58am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/11 "2023-04-28T08:58:33Z")
I’ve struggled with fast edit quite often with iPad. It started few weeks again. It just doens’t do anything, if I’ve painted more than one word, or painted section ends to space (well, that can be just coincident).
Sometimes it needs three of four tries, sometime I have to paste just one word.
It happends here and at my own forum, but not at those forums that aren’t upgraded recently (in the meaning those are still using legacy things without sidebar etc.). But again: it happends randomly and I can’t give any route to reproduce it.
I’ve blaimed iPad, DiscourseHub, my net-connections and/or too excessive occurrence of hattiwatteners or sunspots.
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2023, 9:19am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/12 "2023-04-28T09:19:07Z")
I am able to repro the issue without using fast edit. 🙂
Repro steps:
1. Create a post
2. Write and set the cursor anywhere but on the first char of the first line
3. Click the emoji button
4. The cursor goes to the first char of the first line
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2023, 10:53am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/13 "2023-04-28T10:53:39Z")
i’ve reproduced in chrome and safari in [safe mode](https://meta.discourse.org/t/53504?silent=true). both with the fast edit and regular. also with any button and without clicking (just mousing over).
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2023, 2:24pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/14 "2023-04-28T14:24:58Z")
ok i’ve managed to reproduce it here on meta finally when editing one of my posts. super annoying because my typed text was going in the wrong place and it took me about 4 tries to get it in the right spot. had to make sure my mouse wasn’t on any element except the text box.
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### Author:  [@Paul\_King](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Paul_King)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2023, 10:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/15 "2023-05-03T22:33:43Z")
Possibly some kind of ‘ease of access’ feature being invoked by a browser keyboard shortcut unwittingly pressed while typing?
Not on a Mac, but sporadically have a similar sounding issue on PC - in my case not restricted to Discourse though.
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2023, 7:07am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/16 "2023-08-25T07:07:01Z")
This has returned to meta. Chrome on window desktop, but not in safe-mode.
I cannot edit any text by selecting a word or phrase and using the editor toolbar (either using the select edit feature or the regular pencil icon). I could not make a word preformatted text or bold or whatever. The cursor jumps to the beginning of the text in the editor window as soon as the mouse cursor leaves the editor window area. Seems related to the mouse and non-touchscreen interface in a TC or plugin 🤷🏻♀️
It is not happening in desktop view on my iPad Safari iOS.
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2023, 12:55pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/17 "2023-08-25T12:55:16Z")
> [@Lilly](#):
>
> The cursor jumps to the beginning of the text in the editor window as soon as the mouse cursor leaves the editor window area.
Can you describe very precise steps, or record a video? I can’t repro here 🤔
Also, I don’t encounter the original bug anymore.
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2023, 12:56pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/18 "2023-08-25T12:56:36Z")
exactly same as here
> [@Cursor jumping around in composer / editor text box](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/12):
>
> I am able to repro the issue without using fast edit. slight_smile Repro steps: Create a post Write and set the cursor anywhere but on the first char of the first line Click the emoji button The cursor goes to the first char of the first line
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2023, 12:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/19 "2023-08-25T12:58:29Z")
I can’t repro.
When I click a formatting icon, the cursor stays at the same place.
If I click the emoji icon, the composer’s not focused anymore as the emoji input is focused instead.
🤔
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2023, 1:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017/20 "2023-08-25T13:00:03Z")
This was driving me nuts last night. I had to switch to my ipad so i could use the preformatted text button in my SQL queries.
[Next page](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cursor-jumping-around-in-composer-editor-text-box/263017.md?page=2)