InDesign Problem

Software
1

Every time I open a file in InDesign, the whole program freezes after a single click. Even moving the smallest object causes it to lock up again. At this rate I won’t get anything done, and I have a couple of projects I really need to finish. I’ve already tried reinstalling it, leaving it open for a while, and a few other things, but nothing helps. Illustrator and Photoshop run perfectly - it’s only InDesign that keeps freezing.

Any ideas on how to fix it? The only thing I can think of is that I updated it right before opening an InDesign file - but Illustrator updated at the same time and it’s running smoothly.

2

Have you rebuilt the preferences and cache files? Sometimes they become corrupted, and a reinstall doesn’t necessarily fix it.

3

What version of InDesign and what operating system, exact versions please :slight_smile:

slight edit - when was the last time you rebooted the computer, sometimes a reboot clears temporary issues.

Any plugins? Any 3rd party software, like VPNs, firewalls, Anti-Virus running? Do you use WebRoot?
Any new fonts recently installed?

A quick way to check is to start your computer in Safe Mode, open only InDesign and if it’s behaving normally you know it’s an external factor - you can then reboot in normal mode and then try eliminate the external factor.

As @Just-B says, resetting preferences and clearing caches are good steps.

Close InDesign. Relaunch while holding Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows) or Cmd+Ctrl+Option+Shift (Mac) and confirm deletion of preferences.

Instrusctions below and a nuclear option.

Manually delete the InDesign cache and recovery folders and restart InDesign

Windows
Delete the contents of:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Adobe\InDesign\Version 21.0\

Mac
Go to:
~/Library/Caches/Adobe InDesign/

and
~/Library/Preferences/Adobe InDesign/

Delete the relevant InDesign version folders.

Remove Recovery Data
If documents are crashing or opening strangely, also delete the contents of:

Windows
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Adobe\InDesign\Version 21.0\en_US\Caches\InDesign Recovery

Mac
~/Library/Caches/Adobe InDesign/Version 21.0/InDesign Recovery

Nuclear option
https://helpx.adobe.com/ie/creative-cloud/apps/troubleshoot/diagnostics-repair-tools/run-creative-cloud-cleaner-tool.html

1 Like