diff --git a/notebook/static/base/js/utils.js b/notebook/static/base/js/utils.js
index 78e7c09be9..b07c73e363 100644
--- a/notebook/static/base/js/utils.js
+++ b/notebook/static/base/js/utils.js
@@ -500,41 +500,13 @@ define([
     };
     
     var to_absolute_cursor_pos = function (cm, cursor) {
-        /**
-         * get the absolute cursor position from CodeMirror's col, ch
-         */
-        if (!cursor) {
-            cursor = cm.getCursor();
-        }
-        var cursor_pos = cursor.ch;
-        for (var i = 0; i < cursor.line; i++) {
-            cursor_pos += cm.getLine(i).length + 1;
-        }
-        return cursor_pos;
+        console.warn('`utils.to_absolute_cursor_pos(cm, pos)` is deprecated. Use `cm.indexFromPos(cursor)`');
+        return cm.indexFromPos(cusrsor);
     };
     
     var from_absolute_cursor_pos = function (cm, cursor_pos) {
-        /**
-         * turn absolute cursor position into CodeMirror col, ch cursor
-         */
-        var i, line, next_line;
-        var offset = 0;
-        for (i = 0, next_line=cm.getLine(i); next_line !== undefined; i++, next_line=cm.getLine(i)) {
-            line = next_line;
-            if (offset + next_line.length < cursor_pos) {
-                offset += next_line.length + 1;
-            } else {
-                return {
-                    line : i,
-                    ch : cursor_pos - offset,
-                };
-            }
-        }
-        // reached end, return endpoint
-        return {
-            line : i - 1,
-            ch : line.length - 1,
-        };
+        console.warn('`utils.from_absolute_cursor_pos(cm, pos)` is deprecated. Use `cm.posFromIndex(index)`');
+        return cm.posFromIndex(cursor_pos);
     };
     
     // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2400935/browser-detection-in-javascript
diff --git a/notebook/static/notebook/js/completer.js b/notebook/static/notebook/js/completer.js
index 47d5bef7b6..3ac2b3ed79 100644
--- a/notebook/static/notebook/js/completer.js
+++ b/notebook/static/notebook/js/completer.js
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ define([
 
         // one kernel completion came back, finish_completing will be called with the results
         // we fork here and directly call finish completing if kernel is busy
-        var cursor_pos = utils.to_absolute_cursor_pos(this.editor, cur);
+        var cursor_pos = this.editor.indexFromPos(cur);
         if (this.skip_kernel_completion) {
             this.finish_completing({ content: {
                 matches: [],
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ define([
             // adapted message spec replies don't have cursor position info,
             // interpret end=null as current position,
             // and negative start relative to that
-            end = utils.to_absolute_cursor_pos(this.editor, cur);
+            end = this.editor.indexFromPos(cur);
             if (start === null) {
                 start = end;
             } else if (start < 0) {
@@ -202,8 +202,8 @@ define([
         // append the introspection result, in order, at at the beginning of
         // the table and compute the replacement range from current cursor
         // positon and matched_text length.
-        var from = utils.from_absolute_cursor_pos(this.editor, start);
-        var to = utils.from_absolute_cursor_pos(this.editor, end);
+        var from = this.editor.posFromIndex(start);
+        var to = this.editor.posFromIndex(end);
         for (i = matches.length - 1; i >= 0; --i) {
             filtered_results.unshift({
                 str: matches[i],
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ define([
         // After everything is on the page, compute the postion.
         // We put it above the code if it is too close to the bottom of the page.
         var pos = this.editor.cursorCoords(
-            utils.from_absolute_cursor_pos(this.editor, start)
+            this.editor.posFromIndex(start)
         );
         var left = pos.left-3;
         var top;
diff --git a/notebook/static/notebook/js/tooltip.js b/notebook/static/notebook/js/tooltip.js
index c511628ada..d131200d84 100644
--- a/notebook/static/notebook/js/tooltip.js
+++ b/notebook/static/notebook/js/tooltip.js
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ define([
         this.cancel_pending();
         var editor = cell.code_mirror;
         var cursor = editor.getCursor();
-        var cursor_pos = utils.to_absolute_cursor_pos(editor, cursor);
+        var cursor_pos = editor.indexFromPos(cursor);
         var text = cell.get_text();
 
         this._hide_if_no_docstring = hide_if_no_docstring;