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martin_willners
Participant
June 3, 2026
Answered

I just installed version 21.4 of InDesign, and now I can't undo anything. The keyboard command doesn't work and the Undo option in Edit menu is grey. How do I solve this? It's impossible to work with undo option.

  • June 3, 2026
  • 4 replies
  • 138 views

Undo is not available for anything like moving an object or changing color.

    Correct answer Bill Silbert

    Do you have any third-party plug-ins installed for your InDesign? If so, make sure that they are also updated to the latest versions and that their developers have made the plug-ins compatible with 21.4. Also, try resetting your InDesign preferences. This will restore the program to its defaults and, hopefully, fix the undo issue.

    To reset preferences:

    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: You can try the quick way of resetting on a PC which is to hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift when launching InDesign and respond affirmatively when asked if you want to reset. There have been some recent reports that the window asking if you want to reset is not popping up but that the prefs are being reset anyway. If this works great but if it doesn’t you may have to manually delete them.

    To do so:

    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.

    4 replies

    Participating Frequently
    June 11, 2026

    Same probleme here. I have to restart Indesign every 20min to find back my Cmd+Z, my multiple selections, or juste to be able to move anything (ant yes, I have cleaned all of my files etc… I didn’t have this problem one month ago !)

    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    June 24, 2026

    Hi ​@Claire332065288yce and ​@Fox Hat Nomads,

     

    Apologies for the delayed response and sorry to hear you experience this issue. 

    The selection-related issue reported in InDesign 21.4 was a known regression and has been addressed in the 21.4.1 hotfix release, which is now available. Ref:

    Could you please update to 21.4.1 and confirm whether you still experience the Undo issue? Also, please let us know your operating system and version.

    If the issue persists, please manually reset your InDesign preferences by following the video at the bottom of this article:
    https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/setting-preferences.html

    To help isolate any third-party or account-specific interference, please also test InDesign in Safe Mode and in a new local administrator user account:

    Windows Safe Mode: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-your-pc-in-safe-mode-in-windows-92c27cff-db89-8644-1ce4-b3e5e56fe234
    macOS Safe Mode: https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-help/mh21245/mac

    New User Account (macOS): https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-help/mh15191/mac
    New User Account (Windows): https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/manage-user-accounts-in-windows-104dc19f-6430-4b49-6a2b-e4dbd1dcdf32

    If the issue still occurs, please ensure InDesign has Full Disk Access on macOS (System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access). On Windows, make sure the logged-in user has full control permissions or launch InDesign using Run as Administrator and test again.

    If the problem continues after all the above steps, please let us know whether it is file-specific or occurs with all documents, and share a short screen recording demonstrating the behavior so we can investigate further.

     

    Thanks,
    Abhishek

    Fox Hat Nomads
    Participating Frequently
    June 11, 2026

    Thanks… But 
    on my MacBook pro under Library>Preferences… there is no “adobe InDesign” file but there are “com.adobe.xxxx.plist” docs but no InDesign.plist 
    Could it be anywhere else?
    Also another issue if I save and quit it stalls and I have to “force quit”?

     

    Community Expert
    June 3, 2026

    Which OS? I just checked and my undo option is not greyed on 21.4 macOS 26.5.1 

    -Manan
    Bill Silbert
    Community Expert
    Bill SilbertCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    June 3, 2026

    Do you have any third-party plug-ins installed for your InDesign? If so, make sure that they are also updated to the latest versions and that their developers have made the plug-ins compatible with 21.4. Also, try resetting your InDesign preferences. This will restore the program to its defaults and, hopefully, fix the undo issue.

    To reset preferences:

    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: You can try the quick way of resetting on a PC which is to hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift when launching InDesign and respond affirmatively when asked if you want to reset. There have been some recent reports that the window asking if you want to reset is not popping up but that the prefs are being reset anyway. If this works great but if it doesn’t you may have to manually delete them.

    To do so:

    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.

    martin_willners
    Participant
    June 3, 2026

    Thanks Bill, your solution worked. You made my day.