Forum Discussion
AlwinO
Jul 23, 2024Copper Contributor
Flickering mouse pointer on Mac- How to get rid of it
Software: MS Word for Mac - Office LTSC Standard for Mac 2021
System: MacBook Pro M3 Pro 2023
Problem: How to get rid of the flickering mouse pointer?
Video: Watch the video of the screen.
- HarperWhiteIron Contributor
1. Quick Fix Program
Turn off hardware acceleration
Open Word → Choose “Word” → “Preferences” from the top menu.
Go to the “General” tab
Uncheck “Use Hardware Graphics Acceleration”.
Restart Word
2. Reset the cursor settings
bash
# Execute in the terminal (to reset the system cursor cache)
defaults delete -g AppleHighlightColor
killall Dock
3. Create a clean test environment
Create a new macOS user account:
bash
sudo sysadminctl -addUser TestUser -password test123
Log in with the new account to test if Word is still blinking.
4. Modify the Office rendering mode
bash
# Force the use of the Metal rendering engine (requires Office 16.45+)
defaults write com.microsoft.Word UseMetalRenderer -bool true
5. Disable dynamic cursor effect
bash
# Disable macOS cursor magnification effect
defaults write -g NSTextInsertionPointBlinkPeriod -float 500
6. Alternatives
Use the Web version of Word
Go to Office.com → Run Word in your browser.
Advantage: completely circumvents the local rendering problem
7. External monitor test
If using a MacBook:
Connect the external display → Close the cover and use it
Check if there is a conflict with the Solo Display driver.
5. If the above methods do not work:
Completely reinstall Office:
bash
# Uninstall Office
sudo /Library/Application\ Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/Microsoft\ AutoUpdate.app/Contents/MacOS/OfficeRemover
# Fresh Installation
brew install --cask microsoft-office