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vevegirl13
Known Participant
Oct 26, 2025 5:25 PM UTC
Answered

Contextual Task Bar InDesign

Okay, I don't know if anyone else has this problem; however, I keep having it, and it's really annoying and frustrating because for some reason the Contextual Task Bar in Illustrator or InDesign keeps acting up by only moving in one place up and down not all over the screen like it should be and I've tried to save all my stuff, exit out, and reopen as well as turning it off in the Window section of both applications and nothing and I have no idea how to fix this so if anyone knows a permant solution to this please tell me cause I'm lost and I would really appericate it so much! Thanks so much in advance!

-vevegirl13

Abhishek Rao
Abhishek RaoCorrect answer
Community Manager
Sep 21, 2026 1:42 PM UTC

Hi everyone,

 

Sorry for the delay in getting back, and thank you for your patience.

I wanted to share an update that the Contextual Task Bar behavior has been confirmed and logged as a bug. The product team is actively working on a fix.

I’ll keep this thread updated as soon as we have more information to share.

 

Thanks again for your patience!

Abhishek

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9 replies

jasonrjrobinson
jasonrjrobinson
Participating Frequently
Aug 20, 2026 1:46 PM UTC

If you can see the right side of it, click the trees dots “...” and unpin task bar...

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melissapiccone
Community Expert
melissapicconeCommunity Expert
Community Expert
Nov 6, 2025 7:43 PM UTC

I have the same issue - it's stuck on the wrong screen and only moves up and down. It's been happening for a while in both 2025 and 2026. I need it to teach live classes and record training.

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Melissa Piccone | Adobe Trainer | Online Courses Author | Fine Artist
Barb Binder
Community Expert
Barb BinderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
Nov 6, 2025 10:07 PM UTC

Well hello, @melissapiccone !

 

Try this link: https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-indesign-rebuilding-preferences-cache/ or follow Eugene's link. 

 

~Barb

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~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
Community Expert
Eugene TysonCommunity Expert
Community Expert
Oct 27, 2025 8:31 AM UTC

I just leave it off - no use for it really, seems superflous and counter-intuitive, my workspace is clean, with panels required docked and only thing I want to see on the pages when I'm working is stuff on the pages. I don't like panels floating about obstructing the page, that's just me. 

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If it's not behaving as expected

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

 

----------

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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    Barb Binder
    Community Expert
    Barb BinderCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    Oct 27, 2025 1:50 AM UTC

    Hi @vevegirl13:

     

    I can't tell if you want it off or on. 

     

    What version of InDesign are you using, exactly?

    What operating system are you using, exactly?

    Is this new behavior for InDesign?

     

    ~Barb

     

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    ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
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