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You are here: Home / Mac / Mouse cursor (pointer) disappears; invisible / missing; fix
Mouse cursor (pointer) disappears; invisible / missing; fix

Mouse cursor (pointer) disappears; invisible / missing; fix

By SK 29 comments Last updated December 19, 2018

It’s a strange and random problem for many of us Mac users.  We work as usual and then all of the sudden the Mac mouse cursor (pointer) disappears, and we’re stuck! To find it, we hunt all over our screen, clicking and wiggling all over the place to just get that darn pointer visible.  This particular problem occurs with no pattern, it just happens. We call it the “where’s my mouse?” syndrome. And it’s definitely something you don’t want to catch!Mouse cursor (pointer) disappears; invisible / missing; fix

But we are not alone.  Many fellow macOS and Mac OS X users encounter this issue too.  And they find that their mouse cursor (or pointer) randomly disappears and then reappears with no apparent logic. And this problem is especially annoying for folks whose work depends on the mouse cursor. The bottom line is that this issue makes it impossible to use our mouse or trackpad.  So what to do?

Contents

  • 1 Quick Tips 
    • 1.1 Related Articles
  • 2 The Causes of Your Mouse Cursor’s Disappearing Act 
  • 3 Siri to the Rescue 
  • 4 Assign a new Hotkey via Mission Control! 
  • 5 How-To Fix Mouse Pointer Disappearing Problem
    • 5.1 1-First make sure that there are no connections or interactive issues
    • 5.2 2-Use Your System Preferences
    • 5.3 3-When you cursor becomes invisible, switch your windows and press Command (⌘) and Tab
    • 5.4 4-Visit Your Dock or Your Menu Bar
    • 5.5 5-Try Your Trackpad or Touchpad
    • 5.6 6-Reset NVRAM
    • 5.7 7-Click and Drag
    • 5.8 8-Right Click
    • 5.9 9-Force Quit
    • 5.10 10-Patience is a Virtue
  • 6 There’s An App For That!
  • 7 Launching Without a Cursor, No Mouse Required!
    • 7.1 Keyboard Shortcuts: The Basics
    • 7.2 Keyboard Shortcuts: Most Helpful
  • 8 How To Launch System Preferences Via the Keyboard
  • 9 Reader Tips 
    • 9.1 Related Posts:

Quick Tips 

Try These Steps To Fix Your Disappearing Mouse Pointer

  • Change the mouse’s or trackpad’s on-screen pointer to a larger size
  • Move down to the Dock, pause, and then move up to screen center
  • Ask Siri for help in locating your mouse on-screen or increasing the cursor’s size to help you find it
  • Switch your active window by pressing the Command (⌘) and Tab keys
  • Create a new hotkey in Mission Control
  • Check battery levels for wireless mice and trackpads
  • Turn on the accessibility preference Shake Mouse Pointer to Locate
  • Click and drag or right-click to make your mouse pointer visible
  • Try a finger gesture on your trackpad
  • Force Quit open programs or restart your computer
  • Reset NVRAM or PRAM

Related Articles

  • Spotlight Search Not Working on MacBook, How-To Fix
  • How-To Configure Your Mac’s Trackpad
  • How-To Add Magic Mouse Gestures
  • What To Do When Your Mac’s Mouse or Trackpad Cursor Moves Randomly

The Causes of Your Mouse Cursor’s Disappearing Act mac mouse missing

Mouse disappearing problems are usually caused by several different factors:

  1. Times when your Mac is running low on available memory
    1. Too many open browsers (Safari, Chrome, Firefox)or software tabs (Word, Photoshop, etc.)
    2. Using multiple monitors
  2. Watching YouTube videos (often hides mouse)
  3. Using multiple high-resolution displays (working with two screens or more)
  4. Third party software conflicts also cause a disappearing cursor
    1. Notice when it occurs–are you having this problem only when you use third-party software such as Microsoft or Adobe?

If you get warning messages saying things like “your startup disk is full”? Check out this article for tips to address this problem

Siri to the Rescue 10 Things Every Mac Owner Should Know

Don’t forget that starting with macOS Sierra, Siri is available to help you through your digital lives.  If you set up Siri on your Mac, use Siri to get your mouse cursor back!  Hopefully, you set up a keyboard shortcut for accessing Siri, so launching her without your mouse or touchpad is easy.  Mouse cursor (pointer) disappears; invisible / missing; fix

The default shortcut for Siri is one of the following

  • Hold Command (⌘)+Space
  • Hold Option+Space
  • Press Function (FN) +Space

There’s also an option for you to customize your own keyboard shortcut for Siri.

If Siri is enabled on your Mac, she can help you get your mouse cursor back.  Just have her perform the steps listed below.

Check out our article on using Siri on macOS Sierra to see what she offers and how to get her working for you!

Assign a new Hotkey via Mission Control! Mission Control Mac

Reader Dan provides a great temporary fix that’s both quick AND easy—using just your Mac’s Mission Control. Open Mission Control and assign a new hotkey to bring up your dashboard as an OVERLAY. When you can’t find your cursor, just tap that hotkey twice, and your cursor returns!

How-To Fix Mouse Pointer Disappearing Problem

Before you try any of the steps below, click somewhere else and see the cursor returns.  If not, close all open apps and restart your Mac.  See if your mouse cursor is back.  If the cursor has not returned or you cannot close and restart your Mac, continue the trying the solutions below.

1-First make sure that there are no connections or interactive issues

For instance, make sure that your mouse is turned on if you are using a wireless mouse. And check the battery level of your mouse.  If you happen to use a mousepad, try a solid color rather than patterned or multicolor.  The color or pattern differences sometimes confuse your mouse.

If you configured interactive corners (Mission Control’s Hot Corners) on your screen, try and move into an interactive corner when your mouse cursor disappears, often it reappears just by doing this simple step.  It seems that flipping to a Hot Corner restores visibility to your mouse cursor.

Some readers report that even when they don’t have hot corners configured, opening up Mission Control appears to restore your missing mouse cursor.

2-Use Your System Preferences

  • Go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Display > Cursor Size and change the cursor sizeMouse cursor (pointer) disappears; invisible / missing; fix
  • Or go to System Preferences -> Accessibility -> Zoom -> More Options button and check “Enable temporary zoom”. Simply hitting Ctrl+Option brings back the mouse cursor
  • Another option is to allow Shake to Find. Go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Display > and turn Shake Mouse Pointer to Locate ON  Mouse cursor (pointer) disappears; invisible / missing; fix

3-When you cursor becomes invisible, switch your windows and press Command (⌘) and Tab

Go to another app then return to the app that you were using Command (⌘) and Tab Keys. This often works if this problem occurs because of a bug in the app.  You’re basically switching back to your active app

4-Visit Your Dock or Your Menu Bar

When your mouse cursor goes invisible, just scroll blindly to below your screen dock (usually at the bottom of the screen.) Then scroll back up again. Your mouse cursor should reappear.

Mouse cursor (pointer) disappears; invisible / missing; fix

Alternatively, move your cursor all the way up to the menu bar, at the top of your screen.  Once there, select a menu and click. Invoking a menu click often brings your cursor back.

5-Try Your Trackpad or Touchpad

If you have a trackpad, perform a three-finger swipe to the right on your Trackpad so that you get the Widgets screen. Wait 10-20 seconds and then do a three-finger swipe to the left to get back to the Finder and the cursor reappears!

Mouse cursor (pointer) disappears; invisible / missing; fix

Alternatively, try a four finger swipe up and down on your Trackpad or Touchpad.  A straightforward and fast solution!

Some readers also report success with a double click with two fingers on their Touchpads or Trackpads to get mouse cursors back.

6-Reset NVRAM

  1. Turn off your Mac
  2. Press your power button to turn on your Mac and immediately after the startup sound, press and hold Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. Keep holding these keys until your computer restart again

7-Click and Drag

One solution is to click directly on your desktop and drag as if you were to be selecting a group then release. The mouse cursor usually reappears immediately after

8-Right Click

Try a right click on your mouse if it has it or a Control-Click for mice that don’t.  For Trackpads, click two fingers at the same time.  Many times, the cursor comes right back.

9-Force Quit

Press and hold Command (⌘)+Option+Escape and force quit from your open applications.

Often, you won’t need to force quit any applications.  Sometimes just bringing up the force quit menu brings your cursor back

If nothing above works, try this. Just press Command–Control–Power button to force restart your computer.

10-Patience is a Virtue

A final suggestion is to just wait patiently for a few minutes.  Usually, your mouse cursor comes back out of its hiding, right on its very own!  Or if you find yourself frustrated, try closing your laptop or computer.  Just walk away.  Wait a few minutes, have a cup of tea and return. With some time, your mouse returns.

There’s An App For That!

Yup, of course, there’s an app for that too. Mac users experiencing the “where’s my mouse” problem often benefit from the installation of a simple app to assist. There’s quite a selection of mouse locating app out there so head to your mac’s app store, search for mouse locator, and find an app that fits your need and wallet.

These apps all have the same premise, helping you find your mouse quickly and simply when you cannot.

Launching Without a Cursor, No Mouse Required!

There are quite a few commands we can do so without our cursors.  And when performing the steps above, you probably need some of these at hand.  So let’s go through a quick list of how to use our Macs without a mouse, trackpad, or touchpad.  Keyboard shortcuts are our friends in these situations.  And with practice and muscle memory, you probably will find yourself using these even when the mouse, etc. is working!  Keyboard shortcuts just make us more efficient Mac users.

Mouse cursor (pointer) disappears; invisible / missing; fix

Keyboard Shortcuts: The Basics

  1. Copy = Command (⌘)+C
  2. Cut = Command (⌘)+X
  3. Paste = Command (⌘)+V
  4. Undo = Command (⌘)+Z
  5. Redo = Command (⌘)+SHIFT+Z
  6. Select All = Command (⌘)+A
  7. Find = Command (⌘)+F
  8. New (Window or Document) = Command (⌘)+N
  9. Close (Window or Document) = Command (⌘)+W
  10. Save = Command (⌘)+S
  11. Print = Command (⌘)+P

Keyboard Shortcuts: Most Helpful

  1. Open = Command (⌘)+O
  2. Switch Application = Command (⌘)+Tab
  3. Swap Windows in current application  = Command (⌘)+~
  4. Switch Tabs in current application = Control+Tab
  5. Minimize = Command (⌘)+M
  6. Quit = Command (⌘)+Q
  7. Force Quit = Option+Command (⌘)+Esc
  8. Spotlight = Command (⌘)+SPACEBAR
  9. Open Application Preferences = Command (⌘)+Comma
  10. Force Restart = Control+Command (⌘)+Power Button
  11. Quit All Apps and Shutdown = Control+Option+Command (⌘)+Power Button (or Media Eject )

How To Launch System Preferences Via the Keyboard

  • Hit Command+Spacebar to bring up Spotlight and type “System Preferences.”
  • Then press return and you’re good to go

Using Mac keyboard shortcuts allows you to do things that normally need a mouse, touchpad, trackpad, or another input device.  So at times when your cursor disappears, knowing some of these shortcuts really saves the day (and your work.)

Check the menus of the applications you’re using to discover even more shortcuts. They are listed to the right of each menu item (when available.) Be aware that individual applications may have their shortcuts. So the shortcuts that work in one app may not work in another.

macOS and OS X also allow you to create keyboard shortcuts.  One caveat is that you cannot create shortcuts for general actions, like opening or closing an app.  To create your own shortcut, go to your Mac’s Apple menu > System Preferences, click Keyboard, then click Shortcuts.

Reader Tips 

  • One of our readers, James, pointed out that for him this particular problem occurs with only certain conditions:
    • YouTube videos often try to hide your cursor. Pause the video and your cursor returns
    • Citrix Receiver. Citrix Receiver is an emulated environment, and it thinks the mouse is within this environment, so it turns if OFF
    • Parallels Desktop. When running Windows, the cursor may get trapped on the windows side hiding it from the Mac side
    • James recommends using a mouse locator app to find where the mouse is, and he then can use it even if invisible. A Big Thanks to James for these excellent tips!
  • A consistent albeit temporary fix I’ve found is to move the invisible mouse to the top left-hand corner and click once and the mouse reappears. It ALWAYS works for me!

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Show 29 Comments

  1. Jackson says

    December 18, 2018 at 6:30 PM

    A 100% consistent but temporary fix I’ve found is to move the invisible mouse to the top left-hand corner and click once and the mouse will reappear.

    It ALWAYS works for me.

    But I just have to keep doing it everytime my mouse disappears. 😛

    Just a temporary but reliable fix.

    I’m using Macbook Air.

    Reply
  2. anna says

    December 3, 2018 at 1:26 PM

    I have no luck /maybe because I’m not so good with computers/ to get back cursor on the mail up in right corner- I guess web mail cursor?

    Reply
  3. Matt says

    October 25, 2018 at 7:19 AM

    How about this: Instead of giving us workarounds…how about Apple fixes this ridiculous problem?

    Reply
    • Daniel says

      November 16, 2018 at 12:09 PM

      very good point. i liked the point about patience or just using keyboard commands instead – so we all have to train the 20 most important keyboard short cuts now. haha..

      Reply
  4. Dodo says

    April 9, 2018 at 5:39 AM

    missing pointer on external monitor, only some windows => solved by changed to larger pointer size

    Reply
  5. DAN LOVE says

    January 16, 2018 at 2:53 PM

    I have a “Temporary Fix” that is easy to and quicker to use than any of your suggestions.
    Go to “Mission Control” in the System preferences, and while you’re there assign a “HOTKEY” to bring up “Dashboard” as an OVERLAY (I use F19); then just tap it twice and ,voila, the cursor is back. Of course APPLE should eliminate this problem, because work-a-rounds are not kosher for Operating Systems.

    Reply
    • Elizabeth says

      January 17, 2018 at 3:25 AM

      Hi Dan,

      Thank you for sharing your awesome tip! We’ll add it in. And yes, we totally agree—Apple should fix this issue, it’s been going on for years!

      Cheers,

      Liz

      Reply
  6. Harvery says

    October 14, 2017 at 6:37 PM

    What’s up, I logged onto your post “Mouse cursor (pointer) disappears; invisible / missing” for help. And it worked! Thx

    Reply
  7. richard says

    July 28, 2017 at 1:57 AM

    Funny, as soon as I Googled it and went to this page, it worked again!

    Reply
  8. ZePequeno says

    July 19, 2017 at 2:02 PM

    This has been happening to me if i have video playing on CRACKLE via my web browser.

    Reply
  9. Jay says

    April 14, 2017 at 1:57 PM

    Just gonna leave this here in case anyone needs it because I didn’t find this solution anywhere else on the Internet:

    MacBook Pro 2016 running macOS Sierra: mouse pointer (cursor) set to as large as possible in System Preferences > Accessibility > Display > Mouse Options… mostly for fun, I’m not especially blind but the reactions from people who happen to walk up to my desk are funny.
    Using dual-monitors and the MBP display (or even just the two monitors), I found that if I tried to maneuver within a TeamViewer or Microsoft Remote Desktop window, the cursor would disappear entirely. It is still there, but it became invisible.
    I found out this can be negated by turning the cursor size down to something more normal. Clearly this is a bug as if I was actually visually-impaired and needed that large cursor to do work with, I would not be able to do so.
    Maybe someone will bring this to Apple’s attention but honestly, it’s 4:57 on Friday, so it won’t be me.
    Hope this helps someone.

    Reply
    • SK says

      April 16, 2017 at 9:41 PM

      Hi Jay,

      Thanks for sharing your experience. That definitely sounds like a bug and certainly an annoying and problematic one for folks needing that larger mouse pointer. I am constantly battling with a lost mouse cursor and have some sight impairment, so I use a third-party app to help me along as needed.

      Thanks again for letting us know about this quirk.

      Cheers,

      SK

      Reply
  10. James Katt says

    February 4, 2017 at 12:47 PM

    The problem is that the mouse cursor is made INVISIBLE. It is still there. It continues to work. But it is invisible. And the problem occurs with only certain conditions:
    1. In Safari, YouTube videos when playing try to hide your cursor. When you pause the video, your cursor returns.
    2. Citrix Receiver. I think the problem is that Citrix Receiver is an emulated environment. And it thinks the mouse is within this environment, turning it off in the Mac side.
    3. Parallels Desktop when running Windows. It traps the cursor on the windows side hiding it from the Mac side.

    I use Simple Mouse Locator to find where the mouse is so I can use it even if invisible. Then I will try to turn off the offender – generally this is YouTube.

    Reply
    • SK says

      February 5, 2017 at 7:01 AM

      James,

      Thanks for sharing your experience and tips! I’ll add these excellent suggestions into the article.

      Cheers,

      Liz

      Reply
  11. Elizabeth says

    December 21, 2016 at 6:12 AM

    Hi Mike,
    Yeah I know. I wish there was a really simple way to fix this permanently. This particular problem plagued macs (and frustrated mac users) for years!

    Cheers,

    Liz

    Reply
  12. Mike says

    December 20, 2016 at 4:17 PM

    This really isn’t much help when you’re in the middle of a stock futures trade. A bit disconcerting. It’s happened to me several times; not so rare I think.

    Reply
  13. Instructions says

    December 12, 2016 at 10:40 AM

    Had this issue. Mouse works. Clicks still work, and I have the feature turned on to enlarge the cursor when jiggled. When I stop, it shrinks back down into nothingness. Memory is fine; over a gig is free. “press Command and Tap”? Not helpful. I can see the cursor only when jiggled. Closing all open apps helps, but doesn’t help when it disappears again when I, y’know, actually want to use an app. Restarting helps, but it a major interruption when this happens regularly and randomly in my workflow, seemingly caused by different sets of apps. What is NWRAM? You’re describing the procedure for NVRAM.

    Reply
    • Elizabeth says

      December 15, 2016 at 9:20 AM

      Thank you for the feedback and for finding a spelling error. We’ve updated the article with some recent suggestions and corrected that spelling mistake on NWRAM. I’d like to blame my keyboard but since W and V are not near each other, the mistake’s on me. I hope some of the updated content helps.

      Liz

      Reply
  14. Michael says

    December 11, 2016 at 7:58 AM

    @Anonymouse that doesn’t fix my problem, sadly. As posted below, my problem is caused by Citrix.

    Reply
  15. Michael says

    December 11, 2016 at 7:57 AM

    This happens to me all the time when I use Citrix Receiver. I think it’s a Citrix problem, not a macOS problem.

    Reply
  16. Anonymouse says

    October 6, 2016 at 12:14 PM

    Please update this article with this ‘solution’ from ages ago:

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6726461?tstart=0
    I had this problem return, but it went away again when I went to System Preferences > Accessibility > Zoom and unchecked both “Use keyboard shortcuts to zoom” and “Use scroll gesture with modifier keys to zoom”. Comes right back if I check either one.

    Reply
  17. joseph says

    July 19, 2016 at 11:51 AM

    Brand new MacPro with plenty of memory. No cursor anywhere, except like writer above mentioned – sometimes can make it appear by tooling around bar – but mostly does not work.

    Reply
  18. kul says

    July 13, 2016 at 7:48 AM

    it happens to me with i press shutdown

    Reply
  19. Squafdonoboles says

    June 28, 2016 at 2:14 PM

    My cursor disappears while on desktop, no apps running.

    Reply
  20. onerib says

    June 13, 2016 at 11:35 AM

    When I get weird issues like this, a lot of the time it is caused by my keyboard. Usually, either something is on the keyboard and pressing down on a certain key(s) or a key is just stuck

    Reply
  21. MaxR says

    March 15, 2016 at 7:45 AM

    Same thing happens to me. I have el capital and o365. 15.19.1. I run an excel workbook that periodically pops up a userform that prompts me to select from a list even if the workbook is minimised. Sometimes when it pops up the cursor vanishes when I roll over the form or any open workbook. When I say it vanishes I mean it completely disappears even if i move the mouse off the window. You can see the mouse is still active but not visible. The only workaround I’ve found is to right click off to one side of the screen until the cursor reappears. It will then sometimes vanish as before but sometimes remains visible. I’ve recently found that moving the cursor to the bar at the top of the screen and clicking will also make it reappear. This is a workaround not a fix. The cursor shouldn’t just disappear. I run a Logitech 2 button wheel wireless mouse but can’t see how this could cause the problem as its only over excel.

    Reply
  22. xyz says

    January 13, 2016 at 7:29 AM

    i’m sorry, that’s not a solution to me. apple has to get that fixed.

    Reply
  23. dev says

    January 6, 2016 at 10:42 AM

    how to ‘Go to System Preferences’
    Where is the step to do that. How do i go to find system preferences

    Reply
    • SK says

      January 6, 2016 at 11:40 AM

      Click on the Apple logo on the left most corner of your mac.You will find System Preferences on the drop down.

      Reply

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