Participant

Question

Certain Variable Fonts crash InDesign 2026

Forum|Forum|3 months ago
November 1, 2025
9 replies
3074 views

My software recently updated to Adobe InDesign 2026 on Windows 11. Whenever I try opening an InDesign document now, I receive a dialog box with the error message "Adobe InDesign 2026 has encountered a problem and needs to close." The program then closes.

I've sent multiple reports. I've updated Windows 11 to the most recent version. I've tried running InDesign as an administrator. Nothing seems to work.

Has anyone else experienced this issue? What can be done here?

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Greetings everyone,

I am grateful for all the information shared thus far. I recognize how disruptive these crashes with certain variable fonts have been, especially when they completely hinder file access. I wanted to give a quick update. The product team has released a hotfix today with version 21.0.1, and the crash related to specific variable fonts has been fixed in this update.

If you continue to face the issue, please update to 21.0.1 and try opening your files again. You can also check the full release notes here: https://adobe.ly/3K8uShQ

If the problem remains after the update, please let me know so I can take immediate action.

Abhishek

J

jonascreates

Participating Frequently

Wow, that was quick! Thanks so much.
I just installed Version 21.0.1. and from a quick check I can confirm that a couple of documents that caused a crash before now work perfectly fine (opened, edited, saved).

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Nick Sherman

Participant

I see @Abhishek Rao has reported a fix for this is already in the works, which is great to hear because – as someone who makes fonts – I have been fielding questions about this from my customers. Until that fix is available, I have some additional insight that may be of interest for other people who make fonts and have found themself on this thread looking for details. (If you are a graphic designer reading this and not a person who makes fonts, the rest of this message may not be very relevant to you.)

As far as I can tell – after spending literal days trying to figure out why some fonts were affected and others weren't – I believe this crashing bug is triggered by how the fontmake tool handles anchor points when generating variable fonts.

For example: If I use fontmake to generate a variable font that only has /A /acutecmb and /Aacute glyphs, that font will crash InDesign consistently … but only if the /A has a `top` anchor and the /acutecmb has a corresponding `_top` anchor when generating. Deleting the`_top` anchor results in a variable font that does not crash InDesign. It doesn't seem to be an issue with variable fonts generated using tools other than fontmake that I've tried, so presumably whatever fontmake is doing with the anchors is what is triggering InDesign.

I don't believe this is necessarily a fault of what fontmake does with those anchors, and it is more of an issue with how InDesign handles the resulting fonts. This hypothesis is backed up by the fact that the same fonts that crash InDesign now worked fine in previous versions, and still continue to work fine in the latest version of Illustrator (and all kinds of other non-Adobe apps).

Until a proper fix is shipped, people who make fonts can theoretically use different techniques to generate their variable fonts if they want to try to find a temporary workaround. But considering that fontmake is the standard tool for so many workflows, with options that don't exist in other font generating tools, the best bet is probably what Abhishek already suggested: advise your customers to use the older version of InDesign until the fix has been shipped.

Janesveg

Participant

Our whole Design Team are having the same problems and can't update. Our IT chaps are looking into it but now it looks like an Adobe problem I'll update them.

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jonascreates

Participating Frequently

after updating to InDesign 2026, I’m experiencing consistent crashes when trying to open INDD files created with InDesign 2025.

The app loads the document interface, even the document shows up for a second and then immediately quits without an error message.

This does not apple to every document but quite a lot of them.

Will re-install IND 2025 to maintain workflow.

Community: Anyone else facing this issue?
Staff: please investigate, escalate, fix?

PS: Super tired of resetting prefs and the whole shebang and having to invest hours experimenting trying to make software run that I've been paying several grand for in the last decade.

Bill Silbert

Community Expert

It's understandable to get tired of resetting preferences but after an upgrade it is essential. Old preferences are tied to old code and don't always respond well to new code. If you have been resetting preferences using key commands try doing it manually in the manner described below:

For Macintosh Users: The User Library folder in which InDesign’s preferences are stored is hidden by default on most Macintoshes. To access it make sure that InDesign is closed and click on the desktop to launch a Finder Window (Command-N). With this window in column view follow the path User>Home folder (it’s the folder with an icon that looks like a house—it may have the user’s name rather than “Home”) and click on the Home folder. With the Option Key pressed choose Library from the Finder Go Menu. “Library” will now appear within the Home folder. Within the Library folder find the folder called Preferences and within it find the folder called “Adobe InDesign” and the file called “com.adobe.InDesign.plist” and delete both that folder and that file. When InDesign is next launched it will create new preference files and the program will be restored to its defaults.

For Windows Users: On Windows 7 and above the preference files are hidden. To find them go to the Control Panel and open Folder Options and then click the View tab. Then select “Show hidden files and folders” or “Show hidden files, folders or drive options” in Advanced Settings. Then delete (or rename) the folder at the end of this path: C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\<Version #>\<Language>. Make sure that InDesign is closed when you do this. When you relaunch the program it will create new preference files and the program will be at its default settings.

The advantage of manually deleting preference files is that after you’ve reset up the program (make sure that no document window is open) to your liking, you can create copies of your personalized “mint” preference files (make sure that you quit the program before copying them—that finalizes your customization) and use them in the future to replace any corrupt versions you may need to delete.

J

jonascreates

Participating Frequently

Hey Bill,

thanks. I reset the prefs, even restarted my Mac. No luck.

C

claudia2323

Known Participant

I've had now the second case where InDesign 2026 (V21.0) crashes when I try to use certain variable fonts.

The second I apply the font, InDesign crashes.

I'm on Windows 11, version 25H2 (German OS, English InDesign). It crashes when I open a document with the font in it. It also crashes when I import a paragraph style which contains the font or when I just mark text and try to manually apply it. I've also created a new document and tried there to make sure the issue isn't with my original document.

1) I've used the font in earlier versions of InDesign without problems

2) The font still works without problem in other Adobe apps (I've tried Illustrator and Photoshop) and also outside of Adobe (I've tried Word... there ofc I only get the default weight because of limited support but that still works).

I'm using the original font from the designer (Calvin Variable from Typogama) but just in case, I've re-exported the font with a font design tool to see if it makes a difference but I had the same issues as before. It crashes InDesign 2026 and works everywhere else.

Any ideas what could be the issue and how to resolve it?

Thanks,

Claudia

C

claudia2323

Known Participant

More issues and info...

I've encountered another font with the same issue as described above: Advent Pro (a variable Google Font).

Did some more testing and narrowing down:

1) Uninstalled & re-installed InDesign => no change

2) Uninstalled InDesign with your cleaner tool and then re-installed => no change

3) Uninstalled the CC app with your cleaner tool and then re-installed => no change

4) Deleted the Windows font cache => stopped the Windows service and deleted what I could in C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Local\FontCache (I couldn't delete all files in there; Windows would allow me to only delete about half). Restarted everything... => no change

5) Now it's getting interesting: Uninstalled V21.0 and re-installed 20.5 (ie old version) => Font is working properly without crashing. Same font, the only change is the version of InDesign.

Ie it appears to be a font problem with InDesign 2026 (V21.0), and specifically with certain variable fonts.

I would appreciate any help because I use more and more variable fonts and I have to use the new InDesign version since I updated most of my key templates/documents to the new version already.

Thanks,

Claudia

E

Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

Could be the variable fonts need a new version or something - did you check with the Variable Font makers to see if there's any updates?

Frustrating that it's not working for you.

D

defaultzchg1y2buluk

Participant

same here! had to uninstall and go back to previous versions

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @taylor.brunwald,

Thanks for sharing the crash details and reporting this. I've reviewed your crash reports and can confirm that a bug has been logged for this issue. The product team has identified the root cause and is already working on a fix.

It appears that the crash is related to certain variable fonts used in some documents. As a temporary workaround, you can remove the affected variable font from your system or document package, or roll back to the previous InDesign version (20.5) until the fix is released.

I'll keep you updated here once the fix becomes available.

Thanks again for your patience and for helping us make InDesign better.

Abhishek

AnemaDesigns

Participant

Hi @Abhishek Rao ,

I've been having the same issues. To the point where I cannot open any InDesign file and affecting my work. Has this bug issue been sorted?

zachr15025109

Participant

Hi all i've tried several different times over the passed week to use the new version of inDesign. It works great on newly created files and old files that do not have any links. But anytime I open a file created in the previous version with linked files it crashes immediately. I've tried resetting preferences and reinstalling the software but no luck. Is anyone else experiencing a problem like this?

M

mike_5856

Participant

Yes, I am having the same problem as of today. Can only open files from the current version. All other files crash. Very frustrating.

E

Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

If @Mike Witherell compendium of fixes is not working or still have issues

I did see this the other day, could be similar

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/indesign-v21-not-starting-after-update-win-11/m-p/15570413#M640032

taylor.brunwaldAuthor

Participant

I tried repairing the C++ files and the issue persists. It even persists in Safe Mode.

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Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

Did you try the creative cloud cleaner tool - I have a saved snippet here to post

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

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Hi Taylor,

Experiment with resetting InDesign (in up to 4 ways).

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

Mike Witherell

taylor.brunwaldAuthor

Participant

I tried these fixes and the issue persists. I even tried repairing my system's C++ files and running the system in Safe Mode, yet InDesign continues to crash upon opening.

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