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Black modal screen when trying to save

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I just spent hours on this and haven't saved it til now (I know, my fault), but when I clicked save as, this modal popped up and I can't exit out of it or do anything in InDesign now. HELP!! I don't want to lose all this work.

Peter SpierCorrect answer

Community Expert

try hitting Esc to exit the dialog and see if you are able to export to .idml

If that fails, consider doing a force quit in hopes that restarting InDesign will fix the problem and hopefully auto-recovery will kick in.

S

soumend

Participant

The same thing happened to me today when I used 'Save As' in Adobe InDesign 2025 for the first time. Initially I followed these steps: quitting InDesign and then pressing and holding Ctrl+Shift+Alt while restarting the application, and unfortunately the issue was not resolved. Next, I simply uninstalled the application with the 'no preference saved' option and then reinstalled the app. Now, the 'Save As' issue is resolved, and it works fine.

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Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

For future issues

Reinstalling rarely fixes everything - you can do a complete reinstall using the
Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

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N

nice_amazement9191

Participating Frequently

I have the same issue in windows 11

See Screenshot: Blank document -> File -> Save As -> Dialog freezes
InDesign Version 20.2
I have also opened old .indd files and tried to save them -> same result

Tried to uninstall and install again - same result
Tried to uninstall all previous versions and install InDesign Version 20.2 - same result

Need help!

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E

Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

Try resetting your preferences:

InDesign 19.3 and newer go to Preferences > General > and click on "Reset Preferences on Quit" and then quit and restart.

Or
Windows: Start InDesign, and then press Shift+Ctrl+Alt. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.
macOS: While pressing Shift+Option+Command+Control, start InDesign. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.
A dialog will appear asking to delete the InDesign Preferences, select 'Yes' on this dialog.

More in-depth cleanse of preferences
https://helpx.adobe.com/in/indesign/kb/indesign-preferences-support-file-locations.html

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Reinstalling rarely fixes everything - you can do a complete reinstall using the
Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

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Rollback to a previous InDeisgn version

https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/using/install-previous-version.html#:~:text=Open%20the%20Creative%20Cloud%20desktop,down%20list%2C%20select%20Other%20Versions.

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Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

Very frustrating - have your resolved it?

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eacribb

Participant

Update! I had to force quit. Nothing was working. But somehow my data was recovered for most of the document other than the last few things, so yay!

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Anshul_Saini

Community Manager

Hi @eacribb,

I'm sorry to hear about the trouble you experienced. I'm glad to know that most of your data was recovered after the force quit.

Could you please provide some additional details to help us understand the issue better?

Which macOS version are you using?
Is this happening with all files or just this particular one?
Are you still facing this issue with new files?

Thank you for your patience.

Best regards,
Anshul Saini

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Barb Binder

Community Expert

I think Peter's suggestion is the only one left to try. Let us know if that works.

This won't make you feel better (yet) but we've all lost work like this, and I can say from experience that it takes a lot less time to recreate it, the second time around.

I'm sorry, @Erin33612282lqe4.

~Barb

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~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

Peter Spier

Community Expert

This won't make you feel better (yet) but we've all lost work like this,

By @Barb Binder

Too true.

Good luck.

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Peter Spier

Correct answer

Community Expert

try hitting Esc to exit the dialog and see if you are able to export to .idml

If that fails, consider doing a force quit in hopes that restarting InDesign will fix the problem and hopefully auto-recovery will kick in.

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K

Karim284735558zya

Inspiring

Our superman .. thank you

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Barb Binder

Community Expert

Yikes.

What happens if you click the green circle in the top left corner?

Do you have more than one desktop defined or multiple monitors? Can you look at the other desktops or monitors to see if save as is over there?

I work with multiple desktops on my Mac, and sometimes when I move InDesign from one desktop to another, the model dialog box appears on the original desktop and I have to go find it.

~Barb

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~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

E

eacribb

Participant

The green button just makes it go full screen. I can't even move the InDesign over to another screen. Unfortunately nothing is on my other screen 😞 This modal has blocked me from doing anything in the file

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