Participating Frequently

Question

Document becomes unresponsive once I turn on Overprint Preview

Forum|Forum|3 months ago
October 13, 2025
2 replies
230 views

I am using an M1 Macbook air on latest OS Sequoia.

When I turn on overprint preview, the whole document becomes unresponsive. I am unable to turn it off, the cursor disappears and I can't click any objects on the document. The axis rulers move when I scroll but the actual document does not scroll. The only way to escape this is to restart the whole application.

This seems about 60% of the time I use Overprint Preview, and typically when I am on GPU preview, and not on CPU. However Indesign performs much worse on CPU preview in my experience.

Does anyone have an explanation for this? I can't find anything online. I have tried reinstalling and resetting preferences.

As expected this has a pretty big impact on my workflow so would love to get it sorted out.

Thanks!

leo.r

Community Expert

This seems about 60% of the time I use Overprint Preview, and typically when I am on GPU preview, and not on CPU.

By @tak.izm

Do I understand correctly that it only happens when you have GPU Performance turned on, but never when it's off?

Also, how much RAM do you have?

T

tak.izmAuthor

Participating Frequently

Correct, although general performance is worse on CPU preview this issue doesn't seem to happen. Only when I'm on GPU.

8GB RAM

leo.r

Community Expert

Correct, although general performance is worse on CPU preview this issue doesn't seem to happen. Only when I'm on GPU.

8GB RAM

By @tak.izm

The 8 GB RAM may contribute significantly to your issue. While 8 GB is the official supported minimum for InDesign, in reality it's barely sufficient to keep InDesign afloat. That's why you have unsatisfactory performance in general.

The GPU mode is in general known for various problems that affect some users from time to time without any kind of established consistency. And with 8 GB RAM, in my view, you can't expect any kind of advanced performance anyway. Should you have at least 16 GB, the GPU mode might work with no issues. So at this point you'll simply have to settle for CPU performance.

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @tak.izm,

Thanks for sharing the details. I tested Overprint Preview on the latest build, and it worked fine on my end. Could you please confirm if you're using an external monitor and whether the issue occurs only when it's connected? Also, let me know if this happens with a specific file or with all files, and share the exact InDesign version you're working on. If possible, please attach a short screen recording of the behavior, so I can review it further.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

T

tak.izmAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hi Abhishek,

I'm not using an external monitor, just using the laptop.

This issue happens with all files, no matter how big. It even happens with simple text documents with no linked files.

I am using InDesign 20.5 . I've had this issue for a while which makes me think it's the laptop, but it's got to the point where it's unbearable now.

Will try and get a screen recording tomorrow

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