Can't select or deselect in Fireworks CS6 (Mac version)

I got the same problem.  Come on. Adobe.  You got all the money from creative cloud and you are not willing to spend money to make sure your update doesn't break major funtciton?

I was seeing the same thing and after going through Activity Monitor and quitting one thing after another I found my problem was being caused by AirServer. It must have been an update they pushed out as I've had that installed for a long time and not had the problem. I confirmed this by taking AirServer out of my startup items and rebooting the machine and Fireworks still worked as it should. Very happy to have things back to normal.

Hey, it's me again! Warboys!

I've got this error again. My Mac was wiped (left my company) and I just reinstalled everything.

When Spotify and Fireworks are open, I can't select objects by clicking. When Spotify is closed, it's fine.

Unfortunately, the solution I posted above has stopped working this time around.

Any ideas?

Having EXACTLY the same issue. Uninstalled and reinstalled both Fireworks and Spotify - no success!

So frustrating, I can't seem to focus without Spotify playing!

I have started having the same problem in the last few days. It seems Spotify have regressed the fix they originally put in place for this. I have raised the issue on the Spotify community forum and they are looking into it.

In the meantime, I recommend using the Spotify web-based player if you can: https://play.spotify.com/

This worked! Thanks a lot!

Same problem but with Google Music instead of Spotify.

I have been fighting the same issue for a couple of weeks. I tried removing Spotify, clearing Fireworks preferences, etc. Then I opened my Activity Monitor and used that to narrow down the issue.

As soon as I quit Google Chrome, everything started working correctly in Fireworks. As long as Chrome is not open, the issue is resolved.

Wow!!... Indeed it's Spotify. Weird. I reinstalled Fireworks several times before finally stumbling upon this thread. However this is it. I'm switching to Sketch for real now!

Turning OFF Spotify worked for me to solve this issue. So annoyed at Adobe for this whole Fireworks fiasco...

A lot of glitches in Fireworks can be solved by deleting the preferences file. First you will have to make sure your Library folder is viewable and you are accessing the root folder on your hard drive. In recent releases of Mac OS, it is hidden by default.

First, show your Hard Drive by following these directions:

1. In the Finder, choose Preferences from the Finder menu.
2. Click the General icon on the toolbar.
3. Select "Hard disks" in the "Show these items on the desktop:" section.
4. Close the Finder Preferences window.

Next, you'll have to unhide the library folder by following these instructions:

In the Finder, choose View > Show View Options (or press Command-J).

Near the bottom of the resulting View-Options palette is a setting called Show Library Folder. Enable this option. Your Library folder is immediately visible.

In that folder, find the Preferences folder. Then in the preferences folder, find the file with this name (or similar): "com.adobe.Fireworks.12.0.0.plist" and delete it.

Restart your machine and Fireworks and your problem may be solved.

Thanks Jesse for your clear instructions!

However I don't have the "Show Library Folder" in the View-Options palette.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks for your help!!

Milly

Hi Milly,

It appears the instructions I gave you reveal the library while you're in your root user folder (home folder). You must be in this folder for it to appear in the view options. This is your user library. There is also a system level library, which may actually not be hidden in the root folder since the hard drive root folder where it resides is usually hidden. So once you follow the instructions to show your hard disk, go to that root folder and their should be a library folder where you can find system level preference file for Fireworks. I may look for this file and delete it in both the user and system level library, then restart and launch the app. I'm not sure if it is in both folders or not. Hope this works!

Jesse... - What you're describing is a waste of time. This problem in this thread has nothing to do with Fireworks'@ preferences, it is to do with other running software interfering with Fireworks. Deleting the preferences file will have no effect.

Not true. Sometimes it has to do with Spotify. Other times the deletion of preference files will work. This fix has worked for both myself and my staff multiple times, including just a few days ago. We use Fireworks almost exclusively for the work we do. Periodically, we have selection issues and are not running Spotify. This fix works every time.

Jesse, I work with Fireworks CS6 in both Windows and Mac, but only in the latest is where I found this issue (Just a few days ago and for the first time). I delete the file you describe some post before this and I don't have Spotify installed in this machine but nothing happend. But on my PC FW works fine.

Sorry to hear that. I hope you find a solution. Are you running any other software or is any running in the background? That would be the next thing I'd check. The preference file fix worked for us on the current software just a few days ago.

Same problem here for the last three or four weeks: I could only drag-select, not click-select. I happen to have three versions of Fireworks installed on my MacBook (CS4, CS5 and CS6), and when the bug appeared in one, it also appeared in the other two. Closing Spotify solved the problem. Chrome has no effect one way or another on my machine.

Closing Spotify fixed my select and deselect issues.  How in the world are those related?

Are you )("#€/&"#(:ing kidding me? Closing Spotify make it possible to select things in Fireworks again. How could something like this go out into production??!

Fireworks is no longer supported and development was halted since May 2013 (and the last version came out in 2012), so it is to be expected that it will experience more and more compatibility issues with newer operating systems.

FW is living on borrowed time: it is a dead application. When FW CS6 was released in 2012 there were no such issues - and now there are, of course. And Adobe is not going to fix things - that is the harsh reality.

It might very well stop working altogether in an upcoming version of MacOsX and Windows at some point in the near future.

unbelievable... just had to quit spotify to be able to select things again... drove me nearly insane being on a tight scedule... adobe, please, please do continue fireworks, since it is still the only tool, that riped and streamlined over the years into the swiss army knife for web and ux designers.

Sorry to be the bearer of ill tidings, but Adobe will NOT continue development of Fireworks. Nor will they release it in the public domain.

This is similar to what happened to Freehand - a number of Fireworks users have even set up an initiative to convince Adobe to release Fireworks as open source. Knowing Adobe and its behaviour in the past, this will never be allowed to happen.

Reality check: Fireworks is dead, gone, and will soon be dust when more compatibility issues pop up due to operating system updates.

Start looking for alternatives, lest you find yourself with a non-functioning workflow, I suggest. I did, and I loved Fireworks. Letting go is painful. But having your work potentially compromised by broken old software is worse, in my opinion.

Can anyone recommend any alternatives (other than Photoshop?) .... love the Pages on Fireworks.

It's a shame Fireworks s not going to continue. I start using Fw just a couple of years ago, 'cause my (by then) new job.

About a new program to use... I found one, that is online and its name is Gravit but is a beta for the moment.

Having Google Chrome running also causes the issue. I'm running version 39.0.2171.27 beta (64-bit).

Close Chrome and the issue goes away. Strange.

Been bugging me for a year... closed chrome and bingo, fireworks fully functional.  Inconvenient perhaps, but less so than using FW with dragging to select etc.!!  Thanks for cracking that... I didn't have spotify installed.

Concerning Chrome causing issues with selecting in Fireworks, I noticed that it was the Google Music extension that was causing it. Once I disable the Google Music extension, the problem stopped and I can now have Chrome and Fireworks open at the same time.

If you don't have the Google Music plugin and Chrome is causing the issue, I'd be curious if there are any other plugins that cause this issue—maybe disable one-by-one to see which one is the culprit.

I had this problem quite before using Google Play to listen to music on my Mac. Still, sadly is the fact that FW is "dead". Now I have to return to Photoshop.

By the way. I said there was a program called Gravit that is still on Beta stage. At his moment I don't recomend it. The program crashed and qhen I reported the issue, they just closed my post with no answer to what problem I had.

Jonsuh, you are right about Google Play Music extension.  The confusion was with me. 

I had the Google Play Music Download/Upload Manager installed on my Mac.  After reading your post, I uninstalled that in the system preferences pane, no difference. 

Then I closed Chrome, Fireworks fixed.  So I thought that Chrome was the issue.

But after reading your reply, I opened the extension manager in Chrome preferences, and saw that the Google Play Chrome extension was enabled as well, closed it, presto, Fireworks as it should be.

I also had to quit Spotify to be able to select things again. Wow. Thanks for the info.

Thanks jonsuh! Disabling the Google Play extension in Chrome fixed the problem for me too.

Before I found this discussion I noticed that right clicking allowed me to select objects. That might be easier than dragging to select, for those still working around the problem.

Thanks to everyone (esp. @Jesse... & @mrswarboys ) who contributed to this. I now know it was Spotify that caused all my pain. I also now know how to find those pesky user/library files that Apple chose to hide on me.

Thanks for this post, this bug was driving me nuts, although I thought I did not have Spotify program on my computer, but I did have a App installed called "Radia" which streams Pandora. As soon as I closed App, Fireworks all fixed, yay!

After getting my head burstung for days I figured out the solution, at least for myself. Hope it works for others too.

The problem seems to be with Fireworks running in parallel to any application which polls the internet, continuously.  My culprit was Chrome browser.  On deeper investigation,  a extension installed in Chrome was causing the issue.  Disabling that solved the issue.

A piece of advice : check for Internet applications such as the browser, spotify,  any music streaming apps etc. Try disabling them.

Hope it helps.

This resolved my issue - looks like I must QUIT Chrome if I want to run Fireworks. Many thanks for tracking down a work-around - I was pulling my hair out.

EDIT to ADD: More specifically - disabling the "Google Play Music" extension in Chrome fixes the issue. With that disabled - Chrome plays nicely with Fireworks. (I'm using CS5).

This is all very interesting, but it is a major concern that FW will stop functioning correctly because of some Chrome extension or other, or because of a part of a newer OS.

Unless FW is updated to fix these issues, there is a fair amount of certainty FW will stop working correctly by the next OS update.

And Adobe is not going to do that - so is FW not a lost cause?

I would agree - this is a losing battle. (Ultimately FW will become inoperable and vanish).

I have compared/tested numerous other applications and none have come close to FW for the work I do and the way that I use it.

In the meantime - I shall keep a keen watch for something that matches it (Sketch is getting close) and soldier on with FW 5 - until I can't.