Catastrophic InDesign failures (Admitted by Adobe)

Hi @ali_4619,

Thanks again for sharing all the details. At this stage we need to isolate the issue step by step so we can understand where it's coming from. Could you please try testing the problem in Safe Mode (https://adobe.ly/3Ii3AVD) and also in a new local admin user profile (https://adobe.ly/4gIQ4ac) and confirm if you see the same behavior there as well?

It would also be very helpful if you could confirm whether this behavior is only happening in InDesign or if you notice similar issues in any of the other Creative Cloud apps on your system.

In addition, please check if GPU Performance is enabled under InDesign Preferences. If it is, try toggling it off and see if that makes a difference. Another test that can sometimes help is to go into Preferences > File Handling and temporarily uncheck Auto-activate Adobe Fonts to see if that improves stability.

Please give these a try and let me know the results, so I can share your findings with the team.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

• I have trialed InDesign on five other computers including other high powered computers and same problems.

By @ali_4619

That's, I think, the part that's most puzzling.

I wonder if those are random different machines, or do they have anything in common? For example, belong to the same organization, have the same corporate software installed, connected to the same network etc. 

It sounds like you have already done most of the following:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/reset-indesign-preferences-and-other-troubleshooting/td-p/11990234

But this compendium can help you track through and reason out the many possible factors.

It really does sound like you’ve been through the wringer here, and fair play for persisting for a full year. Since you’ve already been through Adobe support, Microsoft, and HP, I’d suggest a few angles that are less obvious but have helped others in similar situations:

1. Rule out the environment (not just the app):

• Try creating a brand-new Windows user profile and install only Creative Cloud + InDesign there. Sometimes profile-level corruption or lingering settings can cause bizarre, persistent issues.

• Check whether OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, or any sync/backup software is monitoring your InDesign file locations. These can massively slow down saving and even cause corruption.

2. GPU / driver quirks:

• Try disabling GPU Performance in Preferences > Performance. NVIDIA RTX cards are great but not always happy with Adobe’s GPU handling.

• Also, make sure you’re testing with Studio Drivers (not just Game Ready drivers).

3. Fonts as a hidden culprit:

• Font conflicts or corrupted font caches often create the exact behaviour you describe (lag when changing fonts, document corruption). Try clearing the font cache (e.g. using a tool like FontNuke or manually clearing the Windows Font cache folder).

• Run InDesign with only Adobe Fonts activated and see if performance improves.

4. System-wide conflict check:

• Use a “clean boot” startup (Windows with only essential services). If InDesign runs properly there, it points to a third-party conflict.

• Antivirus was ruled out, but tools like Nahimic (audio), or vendor-installed utilities (HP background services) can sometimes interfere.

5. Collaboration / file source:

• If you’re collaborating with designers, test whether the corruption happens only with files from them or also with new blank docs you create yourself. Imported legacy files (from older versions, or from Quark/Illustrator) sometimes carry corruption forward.

6. Nuclear option:

• Since you’ve already tried other machines and the same account, one test would be try logging into someone else’s Adobe ID on your machine and see if the issue follows you. If it doesn’t, the account itself may be the culprit despite what support says.

If none of that works, you might want to document one reproducible example (e.g. “open this clean file, change font, it takes 5 minutes”) and post it here or on Adobe’s UserVoice sometimes engineers will pick it up if it’s a clear reproducible bug.

Or post it here.