InDesign 2026 Extremely Slow Performance and Long Launch Times on macOS

Forum|Forum|4 months ago
March 11, 2026
14 replies
844 views

Since updating to the 2026 version, InDesign has been working slower and slower for me, primarily on my iMac. Launching the app takes almost two minutes, the spinning wheel appears roughly every 30 seconds and lasts for up to a minute, and it’s become impossible to. I’ve restarted, updated, and cleared my iMac, uninstalled and reinstalled the app, and nothing seems to help. Is there something I’m missing?

Correct answer leo.r

@Elliot Lindner Try to create a new admin user account in System Settings > Users & Groups and work from there. Will it make a difference?

kiroosha_

Participant

Hey team, I’m having the same issue on the same comp specification. It’s not possible for me create a new admin user. What other solution do you have? Also, when is this going to be fixed?

leo.r

Community Expert

First, this thread started 4 months ago. So can you please confirm your macOS version, RAM amount, Mac model, and InDesign version. Also, do you associate the issue with a macOS or InDesign upgrade?

> It’s not possible for me create a new admin user.

I think the new user doesn’t have to be admin. Just try to create a new user and see if there’s a difference in InDesign performance.

kiroosha_

Participant

Hey Leor,

Spec: Macbook pro 16GB Sequoia 15.6.1

InDesign version: 21.5

It doesn’t matter if the new user is admin or not, this solution is categorically not acceptable. To explain: when creating a new user I also need to set up everything up from scratch: all my system settings, all apps need to be redownloaded, I also work from Dropbox so all files need to be synced again and downloaded, and so on. Doing this would be disruptive to my work and client deadlines as it’s very time consuming. Hope this makes sense, and looking forward to your solution. The product as it is is sadly unusable.

B

brookrene

Participant

I agree. It is PAINFUL. I finally decided today to go back to 2025 because this is unsustainable.

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Hi Elliott,

Make sure you have at least 16gb RAM memory, and a hard drive that is less than 75% full.

Are you operating the InDesign files from the local hard disk?

What version of macOS are you running?

In case you want to experiment with resetting InDesign, here is a compendium of troubleshooting ideas you can explore.

Mike Witherell

Elliot LindnerAuthor

Participant

I have 16GB of ram, and my hardrive and iMac storage are both nearly empty, and I’m operating from my local hard disk. I have MacOS Tahoe 26.3.2, and have tried restarting, reinstalling Tahoe, and doing nearly everything from the troubleshooting list, and am still having incredibly slow startup time and major lag when working :(

Elliot LindnerAuthor

Participant

Some more info: InDesign 2025 works fine, I just prefer using the 2026 version. I’ve tried using Safe Mode when restarting my iMac and there’s no change, same with having a SSD or HDD plugged in. When launching InDesign, it takes usually up to 2 minutes with my CPU at 100-200%. Opening any file, even a completely blank one, is the same.

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