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InDesign 21.2 Freezing and Becoming Unresponsive During Normal Workflows (Opening Files, Placing Images, Exporting PDFs) on Windows and macOS

Forum|Forum|2 months ago
February 19, 2026
15 replies
1468 views

I’ve been having major issues with InDesign locking up ever since this update. It doesn’t crash so it doesn’t send a report either. At least two times every day, I need to either force quit the app or restart. It is very frustrating!

Correct answer Abhishek Rao

Hi everyone,

Thanks for sharing all the details here, and sorry about the experience. I’m checking this with the product team and will keep you posted as soon as I have an update.

In the meantime, I’d recommend trying a few quick isolation steps. Please test the issue after restarting your machine and make sure it hasn’t been running for a long session before launching Adobe InDesign again.

It would also help to check the behavior in Safe Mode on both Windows and macOS, and from a new local admin user account (Win / macOS), to rule out any third-party interference or account-related issues.

Additionally, please try disabling the Generative AI options in InDesign preferences, then restart the app and check if that improves the behavior.
In addition, please try the troubleshooting mentioned in these helpx articles as well:
Fix crash issues when launching InDesign

Improve InDesign performance on Windows and macOS

Slow performance in InDesign

If the issue persists, please share the following details so we can take this further with the product team:
1. On macOS, a screenshot of your system details would help.
2. On Windows, please share the msinfo32 system summary by saving it from the File menu. Also, please provide the IDSniffer file from this location:
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Adobe\InDesign\Version 20.0\en_US\Caches\GPULog\IDSniffer
3. Screen recording demonstrating the workflow and the issue in action.

Please let me know if any of these steps help. I’ll keep you posted with updates from the product team.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

<Marking as correct for better visibility on the thread>

E

elfelm

Known Participant

Does this have a fix yet? It’s been happening for MONTHS. No relief. HELP!

Images in InDesign is a NIGHTMARE now. Having to place images and then having it crash, and then have to force close it to open it AGAIN for me to place 1 or 2 more images, then repeat repeat repeat.

This is slowing my workflow down exponentially. Will we be refunded for this complete inability to use the software? Looking for solutions, not just “we’re working on it”. It has been months… Too expensive to be dealing with this constant headache that is losing me money.

leo.r

Community Expert

What are your InDesign and operating system versions? Did you try any of the workarounds mentioned here? This info can help troubleshoot your case further. It’s understandable that having this kind of issues for months is maddening.

Abhishek Rao

Correct answer

Community Manager

Hi everyone,

Thanks for sharing all the details here, and sorry about the experience. I’m checking this with the product team and will keep you posted as soon as I have an update.

In the meantime, I’d recommend trying a few quick isolation steps. Please test the issue after restarting your machine and make sure it hasn’t been running for a long session before launching Adobe InDesign again.

It would also help to check the behavior in Safe Mode on both Windows and macOS, and from a new local admin user account (Win / macOS), to rule out any third-party interference or account-related issues.

Additionally, please try disabling the Generative AI options in InDesign preferences, then restart the app and check if that improves the behavior.
In addition, please try the troubleshooting mentioned in these helpx articles as well:
Fix crash issues when launching InDesign

Improve InDesign performance on Windows and macOS

Slow performance in InDesign

If the issue persists, please share the following details so we can take this further with the product team:
1. On macOS, a screenshot of your system details would help.
2. On Windows, please share the msinfo32 system summary by saving it from the File menu. Also, please provide the IDSniffer file from this location:
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Adobe\InDesign\Version 20.0\en_US\Caches\GPULog\IDSniffer
3. Screen recording demonstrating the workflow and the issue in action.

Please let me know if any of these steps help. I’ll keep you posted with updates from the product team.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

<Marking as correct for better visibility on the thread>

V

vcimperm

Inspiring

Adobe InDesign 2026 will not run or open launch on my Windows 11 computer!!!!! I recently had an Adobe tech log in remotely and install InDesign for me. It worked for about a week than quit. I have been going back and forth between the new and old versions of InDesign to be able to do my job!

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @vcimperm,

I’m really sorry you’re running into this. I understand how disruptive it is when InDesign won’t even launch, especially when it was working fine earlier.

Could you please confirm if you see any error message when launching, or if InDesign simply doesn’t open at all?

In the meantime, I’d recommend going through the troubleshooting steps in this article:
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/crash-on-launch.html#unexpected

Please focus on the section that talks about miscellaneous issues related to corrupt VCRuntime files, as this is a common cause for launch failures on Windows and aligns closely with what you’re experiencing. Let me know if that helps.

If the issue still persists after that, please try launching your system in Safe Mode using the steps here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-your-pc-in-safe-mode-in-windows-92c27cff-db89-8644-1ce4-b3e5e56fe234

This will help isolate whether any third-party apps or services might be interfering with InDesign.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

V

vcimperm

Inspiring

I’ll take a look at what you have here.

The latest InDesign will not even launch. There is nothing. I reverted to using 20.5.2

W

WhirledPeasAndCarrots

Participating Frequently

I’ve only recently been having the same issue. The funny thing is -- I am still working off InDesign 2025 and have not updated since the summer because of all the bugs (I’ve been in the middle of a large project and couldn’t risk having issues.) So why is it all the sudden freezing when it’s been fine until now? Tells me it isn’t a 21.2 issue. I’ve been using Adobe products since 2002 and have NEVER had this many issues. The last few updates have been ridiculously buggy and the worst I’ve seen in the nearly 25 years I’ve been using the products.

leo.r

Community Expert

@WhirledPeasAndCarrots Just to make sure: what’s the exact InDesign version you’re currently using? Also, what’s your operating system version, and how much RAM do you have? (And yes, it’s true that a considerable number of issues is being reported recently, even if some of them were caused by the operating systems rather than InDesign itself.)

W

WhirledPeasAndCarrots

Participating Frequently

InDesign 20.5
Windows 11 Enterprise
Processor: 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-13700 (2.10 GHz)
RAM: 32.0 GB

And it doesn’t matter how many programs I have open. I could have everything closed except for InDesign and still have freezing. I plan on updating next month; can’t risk it until this large project is completed.

D

defaultbjxqpv5wcywy

Participant

Having this same problem and honestly I am just tired of ADOBE, I wish I could replace it. Having to place images on a 100 plus page design presentation and having to force close it to open it again to only work for 3 or 4 images and having to repeat the process is absolutely driving me nuts. I just want ADOBE replaced and looking for alternatives to this insanity already.

leo.r

Community Expert

What are your InDesign and operating system versions?

B

Bonner2552034498qo

Participant

reposting this comment with a screen recording attached: I hope this helps the bug-fixers to address the issue.

I’m a full-time graphic designer and have recently started experiencing a lag issue in Adobe InDesign that appears to be related to screen rendering.

When switching between tabs of open documents, the screen will sometimes turn completely gray. The layout objects are still present and selectable (I can click where items should be), but the document itself does not visually render—almost as if the display or image processor is lagging behind the interface.

This is a new issue that began recently and was not happening before. It tends to occur when switching between multiple open documents.

For reference, my system setup is:

Computer: Apple Mac Studio
Operating System: macOS Tahoe 26.3.1
Application: Adobe InDesign

I wanted to report the issue in case it may be related to the current OS or GPU rendering. Please let me know if there are any recommended troubleshooting steps or if additional system details would be helpful.

Screen Recording 2026-03-11 at 3.05.46 PM.mov

B

Bonner2552034498qo

Participant

I’m a full-time graphic designer and also have recently started experiencing this lag issue in Adobe InDesign that appears to be related to screen rendering.

When switching between tabs of open documents, the screen will sometimes turn completely gray. The layout objects are still present and selectable (I can click where items should be), but the document itself does not visually render—almost as if the display or image processor is lagging behind the interface.

This is a new issue that began recently and was not happening before. It tends to occur when switching between multiple open documents.

For reference, my system setup is:

Computer: Apple Mac Studio
Operating System: macOS Tahoe 26.3.1
Application: Adobe InDesign

I wanted to report the issue in case it may be related to the current OS or GPU rendering. Please let me know if there are any recommended troubleshooting steps or if additional system details would be helpful.

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi everyone,

Sorry to hear about the freezing issues. To help investigate this further, could you please share a screen recording showing the full workflow from launching InDesign until the issue occurs? This will help me test it on my end and report it to the product team. Along with the recording, please also share your (Windows/macOS and version). Additionally, when the lag or freeze happens, please check Activity Monitor on macOS or Task Manager on Windows and let me know if CPU, memory, or disk usage spikes unusually high or remains normal at that moment.

Looking forward to hearing back.

Abhishek

idiotproo67

Participant

Aaaarrrgghhh!!! Having the same problem. First I was the Undo issue, but Ive also been having InDesign Freezing as well. With the (not responding) crap in the Force Quit Applications section. Nothing has changed on my end. Just this seriously annoying mess has appeared since the update… I;m on 2026 v21.2 like everyone else here...

leo.r

Community Expert

Try to revert to InDesign 21.1: Creative Cloud app > InDesign > Other Versions in the three-dot menu. Some users reported that it fixes the Undo issue at least.

S

SomeGuyCalledWim

Participant

Also having major performance and freeze issues with this update. Doesn’t crash - so no report goes out.
I’m on PC, Windows 11, Core i9 Pro, 64gb Ram, Quadro graphics…

Menus disapear after a short time (consistently) - Have to constantly use short cut keys to save, close and restart. (interestingly it doesn’t say that it’s not responding).
Takes FOREVER to open up - Like an imbarrassingly long time, My boss had a go at me for just staring at the screen, I was waiting for Indesign to load...
Constant slow-downs and thinking icon when doing mundane simple tasks.

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