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Question

I can't save my document.

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
January 29, 2025
4 replies
2472 views

Hi,

I'm having issues with InDesign. At random times, I'm all of a sudden unable to save my document. I can't save, save as or undo anything. All these options are "grey" in the menu, and all I can do is close the document and hope for the best. First I thought it was because I had an old iMac, but recently I bought a brand nye iMac with the latest version of InDesign, but the issue is still happening, with several different documents pretty often.

Working with a lot of books and deadlines, this is very stressful and extremly annoying. I always use the shortcut for saving, but then I realize nothing has been saved for a long time, and I have to start all over again.

Is there a way to fix this?

Bug

leo.r

Community Expert

All I know is that this problem keeps popping up every now and then for years. (I tried to search the forum, but as it often happens, it didn't produce any relevant results).

So I don't have a solution, but I understand how frustrating it is to find out that all the Save keystrokes actually didn't save anything. Whatever causes this issue, it's a bug by itself that InDesign pretends that it executes a disabled menu - instead of beeping at the user as it should. Hopefully, suggestions listed by others will help.

magnusr15740449Author

Participating Frequently

I don't understand why they can't find a solution, when it has been a problem for so long. I googled it, and people complaing about this issue many many years back. At least I have several different things to try next time it happens, so fingers crossed something works out.

E

Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

This issue with Save, Save As, and Undo being greyed out in InDesign has frustrated users for years, and the reason it hasn’t been fully fixed comes down to multiple factors rather than a single root cause.

It’s likely triggered by a mix of system updates, third-party conflicts, and software bugs that vary from user to user. OS updates from Apple and Microsoft can introduce compatibility issues that Adobe has to patch, but new updates can also create new problems. Third-party software, including fonts, peripherals like Wacom tablets, and even security programs like WebRoot, can interfere unexpectedly. VPNs, firewalls, and cloud storage services can also disrupt saving by blocking connections or causing permission issues.

Other potential causes include low disk space, file permission errors, corrupted preferences, and cache problems. Since no two users have the exact same setup, Adobe can only patch specific cases as they appear, but new variables keep reintroducing variations of the issue.

Given that software behaviour can be influenced by 100+ different factors, the number of possible interactions is astronomical, easily in the range of nonillions (1 followed by 30 zeros). This makes it nearly impossible to test every scenario, which is why some bugs persist for years.

For now, the best approach is keeping software updated, disabling unnecessary third-party tools, avoiding cloud/network saves when possible, resetting preferences if needed, and force quitting if saving stops working. It’s frustrating, but until Adobe can pinpoint every trigger, workarounds are the only real solution.

*edit*
I know I said keep software updated - but I don't keep Adobe software updated - I turn off automatic updates and I turn off the option to remove the previous version - so basically I have InDesign 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 installed on the computer.

I use InDesign 2022 because it works well with the work I'm doing and I've no need to move up to 2023 and beyond at the moment.

I am in testing phase to move to 2023 or even 2024 - but I take a systematic approach to testing software that I use for production and only full move after intense rounds of testing.

L

Lakes Printing

Participant

Having the same problem. It seems to happen when I do a "comand z" to undo and operation. It wont undo, and at that point it will not let me save - it asks me to save, but wont let me. I have to re-start. Did reset my preffs, and it did not help. Its been doing it a lot the last 2 days. My files are saved on a local network.

magnusr15740449Author

Participating Frequently

It's the exact same with me. I always notice the problem when I do a "comand z" to undo something.

Peter Spier

Community Expert

I think we've been seeing a number of similar problems with saving, and maybe restricted to Mac, over the last couple of months. Like @Eugene Tyson I suspect this is some sort of application <-> OS miscommunication (bug), and in the back of my mind I think some of it may have to do with not using the latest OS update, but I'm a Windows user and can't keep Apple's naming system straight.

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Is the document being operated on a cloud-based drive or locally on your hard drive?

Mike Witherell

magnusr15740449Author

Participating Frequently

I work both locally and on "shared space" in dropbox. I'm actually not sure if every document with that problem is in Dropbox or on my hard drive. I haven't thought about that to be honest.

E

Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

If it won't save try File>Export and choose IDML for the file setting.

Try opening that and see if the issue persists.

If that doesn't work try these in order and see if either fix the issue

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Try resetting your preferences:

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.
Further info and instructions here if needed:
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

Peter Spier

Community Expert

Unfortunately resetting prefs requires a restart of InDesign, and you'll lose your unsaved work if you just close the application.

My advice, when export fails, is to force quit InDesign on your Mac, then try the prefs reset. Hopefully, the force quit will trigger an auto-recovery and you work will reappear, but if the file is damaged the recovery probably won't be successful, either. You might want to do the program restart from booting into Safe Mode.

There are a lot of problems reported with the new version of InDesign on Mac, and many seem to be fixed by updating both the OS and InDesign.

magnusr15740449Author

Participating Frequently

Thank you Peter, I will have that in mind.

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