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Becky25617854viti
Participant
Feb 19, 2026 5:02 PM UTC
Answered

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

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!

      Abhishek Rao
      Abhishek RaoCorrect answer
      Community Manager
      Aug 17, 2026 2:47 PM UTC

      Hi everyone,

       

      Thanks again for all the reports and testing shared in this thread.

      To help with the ongoing investigation, could anyone who previously experienced the spinning cursor/freezing while placing or updating files please confirm whether the issue still occurs in InDesign 21.5 or later?

      If you can still reproduce it, please try the workaround mentioned earlier: go to InDesign Preferences via the Edit menu, disable the Generative AI options, and test the workflow again to see if that prevents the freeze.

      Please share your results here. In the meantime, I’ll continue to keep this thread updated with any further information from the product team.

       

      Thanks,
      Abhishek

       

       

      <Marking as correct for better visibility on the thread>

      View reply

      92 replies

      efrat_0563
      Participant
      Oct 28, 2026 4:25 PM UTC

      the 21.6 version is unusable, it keeps freezing. i want back to the 21.5 version and now can work. when will the new version be fixed? i tried to disable the Generative AI and it did not help

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      CroftonNJ
      CroftonNJ
      Participating Frequently
      Oct 28, 2026 2:50 PM UTC

      Using InDesign 21.6.0.57 and the opening file dialog just came up and appeared to freeze the program. Hitting cancel doesn’t actually get rid of it, and when I tried to close other files that were open, and it asked did I want to save, didn’t actually save and just repeated the dialog when I tried closing the file multiple times. I looked at the Generative AI options in preferences, but they were already switched off. Force quitting now, since regular quitting is not working.

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      leo.r
      Community Expert
      leo.rCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      Oct 28, 2026 3:52 PM UTC

      What’s your operating system version?

      Also, are you referring to the actual Open dialog, or to the "Home screen”? You can disable the home screen in preferences.

      Was it just a one-off glitch or you can’t use InDesign anymore?

      Try resetting your preferences and caches - it often fixes unusual problems:
      https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-indesign-rebuilding-preferences-cache/

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      PromoCorner
      PromoCorner
      Participant
      Oct 21, 2026 6:04 PM UTC

      I have 21.6 and keep having the issue.

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      Harshika Verma
      Community Manager
      Harshika VermaCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      Oct 22, 2026 4:42 PM UTC

      Hi ​@PromoCorner,
      Thank you for reaching out, and we understand how annoying it could be. The team is currently investigating this issue. Meanwhile, the team is working on it. Did you get a chance to try the workaround suggested in the correct answer to this post shared by Abhishek?

      Let us know if that works for you. 

      Thanks,

      Harshika

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        jacquiw73259306
        Participant
        Oct 17, 2026 10:53 PM UTC

        I’m currently on 21.6 and had this issue. Turning off all Generative AI options seems to have cured it (fingers crossed)

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          Harshika Verma
          Community Manager
          Harshika VermaCommunity Manager
          Community Manager
          Oct 22, 2026 4:39 PM UTC

           Hi ​@jacquiw73259306, 

          Thank you for letting us know that the workaround is working for you. We will keep you all posted on any further updates from the product team regarding this issue. 

          Thanks,

          Harshika

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          angular_sincerity2335
          Participant
          Oct 9, 2026 3:09 AM UTC

          After trying EVERYTHING. The only thing that worked was to download a previous version of inDesign v.21.1 - No more freezing or crashing.

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          angular_sincerity2335
          Participant
          Oct 9, 2026 2:42 AM UTC

          I’m still having the issue even after following your suggested steps. v21.6
          Thank you.

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          DerOberfranke
          Participant
          Sep 28, 2026 6:45 PM UTC

          Habe das gleiche Problem mit der Version 21.6 x64

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          Anubhav M
          Community Manager
          Anubhav MCommunity Manager
          Community Manager
          Sep 28, 2026 8:19 PM UTC

          Hello ​@DerOberfranke 

           

          I’m sorry to hear you’re having similar trouble with InDesign. Would you mind trying the suggestions shared in this help article (https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/desktop/troubleshoot/launch-and-crash-issues/slow-performance.html) and let us know if they help?
           

          Looking forward to hearing from you.
          Anubhav

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          DerOberfranke
          Participant
          Oct 9, 2026 6:36 AM UTC

          Habe alles überprüft und nach Anweisung gemacht. Das Problem besteht weiterhin.

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          samarinaa47520588
          Participant
          Sep 20, 2026 2:57 AM UTC

          still having this issue 

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            Dan Iosif23277824j246
            Participating Frequently
            Sep 9, 2026 5:00 PM UTC

            The product team is aware of this behavior and couldn’t care less, for the last six months. Oh, what a surprise!

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              Chase Creative Studio
              Participant
              Sep 4, 2026 2:13 PM UTC

              Any resolve yet on this? For months my InDesign is crashing either when I save it, or when I place an image. It completely freezes and I have to quit it, or it crashes my Windows and I have to restart Windows.

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