Artboard blank when switching displays - InDesign on macOS 26.3.1

Forum|Forum|12 days ago
March 24, 2026
4 replies
42 views

I have a 14” MacBook Pro M1 Max with 32 gigs of ram. Running Tahoe 26.3.1

If I have to use my MacBook Pro screen with Indesigne, and this has been happening for a while now, I would say at least last 2 versions before current version. If I leave indesign open with a document open and close my MacBook Pro and plug into my external 27” 5K Samsung display via that usb-c / thunderbolt port the document window is the colour of the artborad and I cannot see the open document no matter what I do. Zooming out. command 0, etc. It can be in windowed mode or frameless mode.

Screen shot above shows the document open but the artboard only being seen.

Anyone else have this issue and found a solution for it? Keep hoping an update will fix it but it never does.

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @Ben__P,

Adding to the suggestions, could you please confirm if the issue you’re experiencing is similar to the one discussed here:
https://community.adobe.com/questions-671/indesign-blank-window-when-switching-displays-887781?postid=3557065#post3557065

If yes, this behavior has already been logged as a bug, and the team is actively working on a fix for it.

In the meantime, I’d recommend trying to reset the InDesign preferences manually and see if that helps. You can follow the steps and the video at the bottom of this article:
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/setting-preferences.html

Please let us know your observations after trying this and confirm if the issue matches the one shared above so we can proceed accordingly.

Abhishek

rob day

Community Expert

Hi @Ben__P , Have you tried clearing you Caches, username/Library/Caches/Adobe InDesign/Version X.0, and if that doesn’t work resetting your Preferences?

Also, your screen capture is showing the Zoom level as 5%. Have you tried setting the View to Fit Page in Window

Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @Ben__P

That does seem strange. Could you try pressing Cmd+E on your keyboard to see if the problem persists?

Also, try running InDesign under a different administrator account (macOS) and share your observations.

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Anubhav

B

Ben__PAuthor

Known Participant

I hit Cmd E on my keyboard and it just brings up the export to PNG, nothing changes in my view. I will try running under a different user account and see if the problem persists.