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InDesign 2026 Text Disappears While Editing Text Frames on Windows

Forum|Forum|5 months ago
November 21, 2025
37 replies
17697 views

First, the latest InDesign update installed "2026" on my Win 11 box, but did not remove/update the "Start", or the "Taskbar" shortcut links ...

After sorting out the "Can't open this InDesign file - it was created in a newer version" roadblock, I have been working on simple, no linked art, etc. 8.5x11" documents and running into a BIG problem ...

Creating & saving a single-page document, then creating an additional text frame, adding formatted text, thinking about "what's next" \, etc ...

I will have the "text cursor" involved, tap the intended frame to enter SOMETHING/ANYTHING text-related & the existing content disappears ...

The text frame remains, nothing is flashing, no warning/error box appears - nothing ...

Going to the edit drop-down menu shows "undo clear" (not my initial reaction destination) ...

The "undo clear" desire returns the affected text, but in a previous iteration - the last save has resolved to "somewhere" in the run-up to said "save" ...

The backspacing of text, "enter" for a new paragraph > gone ...

Previous "before back-deletion" characters, no new paragraph break - whatever "accomplished since "SAVE" does not exist ...

Windows has been updated a few times recently (not sure of an update happening between an "OK" InDesign build & this latest workflow re-direct) ...

I'm just a remote Prepress/Graphic Designer who's getting older & more invisible (boo-hoo) ...

Would be nice if my $59.99/month subscription wasn't also an unscripted walk in the woods ...

Correct answer grahamf71544212

The issue is resolved in pre-release build 21.2.0.27. Thanks you very much to everyone that contributed to resolve this issue.

Regards Graham Australia

Show previous replies

I

ireneuszm44262668

Hello from Poland,

I have a problem with InDesign. Until recently I was working on InDesign 2025 and Windows 10. About a week ago, probably after installing the latest version, InDesign 2026, a problem started with text disappearing while working in the program.

I tried various solutions. I uninstalled InDesign, tested the previous version (2025) as well as the current one (2026), changed display performance settings, turned off smoothing, and finally even replaced the graphics card. Nothing helped. The same issue with disappearing text persists all the time. Eventually, I installed Windows 11, but that didn’t help either.

To restore the text, I constantly press “W” (Preview mode) to make the missing text reappear. But this is not a workable solution. It is very frustrating. What are the prospects for fixing InDesign?

Best regards,
Blessed Christmas holidays

Luke Jennings3

Community Expert

I assume you have applied all updates (from the Help menu). Make sure you replace the existing preferences when re-installing.

A

andrea_1314

I'm having an issue in InDesign where the text disappears when it's highlighted, and sometimes when I'm deleting/editing text within a text frame. It reappears if I manipulate the text frame, or sometimes when I click on it. I have never had this issue before and it's not one file, it seems to be happening in all files. Any help would be appreciated. I did do some research to see if I could fix the problem myself and nothing seems to be working so far.

Frans v.d. Geest

Community Expert

Which InDesign version?

Which OS (Windows or Mac)?

Is GPU rendering on or off?

A

andrea_1314

It's version 21.0.1 but it was happening in 21.1 as well. I thought at first maybe it was a glitch with the update since it happened after I started using the newer version. It's Windows and GPU is off, but it doesn't look like I have the option to turn it on

W

Whimsical_idea5F8B

Beim Bearbeiten von Text in einem Textrahmen wird der Inhalt des kompletten Textrahmens auf der Seite unsichtbar. Er erscheint erst wieder bei einer Änderung der Ansicht - z. B. durch Scrollen der Seite aus dem Ansichtsbereich und wieder zurück.

Ich habe bereits die Voreinstellungen gelöscht, Neustarts auch des PCs, Fonts reduziert ...

Es passiert bei allen Dokumenten.

Jemand eine Ahnung? Adobe Support ist keine Hilfe.

Win 11, Indesign 21.0.2

Harshika Verma

Community Manager

Hi Whimsical_idea5F8B,

Thank you for reaching out. It looks like you're experiencing a similar issue mentioned in this post. The product team is currently investigating the issue, and they would need to review the affected document directly.

To help them investigate, could you please share one of the InDesign files where you're seeing the text disappear, along with a short screen recording showing the exact workflow that triggers the issue?

If the files are confidential, you can share them with Abhishek Rao via DM using any public cloud service like Google Drive or Dropbox.

Thanks,

Harshika

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi everone,

Thanks everyone for chiming in and sharing your experiences. I've checked in with the product team on this, and to move the investigation forward, they need to review an affected document directly.

If you're able to, please share one of the InDesign files where you're seeing the text disappear, along with a short screen recording showing the exact workflow that triggers the issue. If the files are confidential, you can share them with me via DM using any public cloud service like Google Drive or Dropbox.

I really appreciate your help and patience here, and I'll keep the thread updated as we learn more.

Abhishek

M

michaelu65308741

Here's the file and a recording of text disappearing during edits, and reappearing when user view of the text box changes.

indesign_text_disappears.zip

text_disappear_text.zip

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi everyone,

Thanks for sharing your experiences here. I tested the same workflow on InDesign 21.0.2 on Windows 11 and wasn't able to reproduce the behavior on my side. However, since multiple users are reporting similar symptoms, I've escalated this with the product team for further review. To help us investigate this properly, it would be very helpful if you could share an affected InDesign file along with a short screen recording showing the complete workflow where the issue occurs. If the files are confidential, you can share them via DM on the community using any public file-sharing service like Google Drive or Dropbox. Once I have those, I can run deeper checks and pass everything along to the team.

Please let me know once you're able to share them.

Abhishek

S

shemayah_4918

This is not a file issue it happens to all files regardless. I had adobe connect to me, after an hour of troubleshooting the Adobe tsch said htis is an Adobe issue its a bug. Its taking Adobe way to long to correct such an important issue where it messes up entire production groups. It seems all the corparate companies dont really care any more since they keep getting paid regardless if the product works or not. I thing a lawsuite is what we need to start planning.

M

mathieu_3609

Bonjour
Depuis quelques jours, les textes que j'écris dans les blocs d'effacent sans raison quand je travaille dessus. Je suis obligé de faire un zoom/dézoom pour les faire réapparaître mais ça recommence régulièrement. Savez-vous d'où ça peut provenir sachant que ma carte graphique est à jour.
Merci d'avance

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Bonjour Mathieu,

Other than forcing a screen redraw, or zooming in and out one step (like I do), you could try turning on or off the GPU Acceleration in Preferences, to see if it makes any change in behavior.

Mike Witherell

T

Tommy21868908gmk3

When selecting text to change or cut it, all the text on the page goes blank. To recover it, I have to go to "EDIT" and select "UNDO." How can I fix this recurring problem?

C

charles_5126

Yes, that is happening to me, too. As I posted yesterday, it started last week with devestating consequeces for moving forward with my book. I am attaching another of many examples that have happened today. The PDF file should tell the story. I am using Windows 10, as I have all along, and the latest update of InDesign as provided by Adobe..

Missing_text_bug-2.pdf

Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @FlyDutch23,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Could you check if the older version of InDesign is still installed on your computer, as it could be the default when opening INDD files? Additionally, please share a brief screen recording of the issues related to text frames, so we can better assist you.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

B

betty_9205

Anubhav—

Have just begun using ID2026 and am having same problem as mentioned by FlyDutch...am on a tight deadline and am quite frustrated. Immediate help would be appreciated.

rob day

Community Expert

Still can't get your file--maybe try saving as an IDML and reopening? Also did you try the regular troubleshooting, trashing your caches, if that doesn't help trashing prefs?

keithconover

Inspiring

Had already cleared caches and trashed prefs, multiple times. The problem wth downloading the file is that I'm over my allotment for that particular URL. The real solution is as I get ready to start publishing this textbook on its own URL I'm going to move some files to that URL's hosting allotment so my quits complaining but that'll take a while to get going. However, I just deleted a few files and so was able to download. The chapter I'm currently having issues with is chapter 4, here is a picture of the text frame sidebar on page 14 that is giving me fits this morning.

rob day

Community Expert

Had already cleared caches and trashed prefs, multiple times.

Did you try Saving As an IDML and reopening?

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