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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>

Show previous replies

AngelaS24

Participant

Hello,

I’m having a similar issue for the past 1.5 weeks. I’m on Adobe Indesign 2026 v 21.2

MacOS Tahoe 26.3

Adobe Indesign will crash when I try to open a file. If I can get it open, it crashes when I save it or try to export a PDF.

I’ve noticed this is mainly when I am opening files from dropbox or google drive via finder (cloud documents). I’m also unable to open documents from my adobe creative cloud. This also still happens with local files, but not as often.

It’s inconsistent when it happens. Some times it’s fine, and then a few files later it decides to crash.

Upon opening InDesign, I also automatically have 10+ background tasks titled “UpdateRecentFiles.” Even if I cancel them, I need to force quit the program.

Things I’ve already done:

Reset preferences
Save files locally
Uninstall the latest version and reinstall
Save files locally
Restart my computer

It seems to work for a time, and then crashes again.

leo.r

Community Expert

Upon opening InDesign, I also automatically have 10+ background tasks titled “UpdateRecentFiles.”

I think it’s a new issue. At least I’ve never heard about this particular task before, and Google only brings out one result from 2 months ago. That thread basically recommends to just disable background tasks in InDesign entirely:

https://www.reddit.com/r/indesign/comments/1qfn6ad/updaterecentfiles_in_background_tasks/

Also, I know you tried to reset preferences, but did you try to reset caches? Sometimes it’s the one step that helps resolve unusual issues:

https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-indesign-rebuilding-preferences-cache/

leo.r

Community Expert

10+ background tasks titled “UpdateRecentFiles.”

p.s. I consider it a bug. Users should not be subjected to cryptic messages whose meaning and purpose is unclear, not to mention that these tasks prevent the user from working with InDesign one way or another.

KATE_MEGPIE

Participant

In Design keeps crashing, literally every 3 minutes! Every time I upload a photo, the program freezes and the scroll wheel spins. This is impossible to work like that!!! Not to mention the corrupted files that are impossible to recover because the program freezes completely.

What's wrong? Why are we sending reports? Are these just Adobe statistics? Are you planning to do anything about this? This has been happening for a long time. I work on three different computers and have the same problems on all of them.

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @KATE_MEGPIE,

I’m sorry to hear how disruptive this has been. Thank you for sharing your experience.

To help me look into this more closely, could you please first confirm the exact InDesign version you’re using and your operating system details?

If you’re currently on version 21.2, I’d also recommend trying one quick test. Please make sure no document is open, then go to Edit > Preferences > Generative AI, uncheck both of the Alt Text related options, restart InDesign, and test again to see if the freezing still occurs.

I also tried locating the crash report you mentioned, but I wasn’t able to find any linked to your account. Could you please submit a crash report using the steps here https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/submit-crash-reports.html and then share the email address you used via DM?

Additionally, please let me know whether you’re working with files saved on an external drive or a remote network location, or if the issue also happens with files saved locally on your internal drive. It would also be helpful to know if this behavior occurs with all files or only specific ones.

I want to assure you that your reports and feedback are actively reviewed by our product team and play an important role in improving InDesign.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

KATE_MEGPIE

Participant

Okay, thanks for the tip. I unchecked the boxes and it hasn't crashed yet. I wonder, though, why are they checked if it's causing problems?

L

l8rg

Participant

This is happening to 4-5 of our users as well, its random when it happens

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @l8rg,

I’m sorry to hear that this is affecting multiple users on your end. I understand how disruptive random freezes can be. To help move this forward, could you please confirm if all affected users are currently on InDesign version 21.2 and also share the operating system details for each system? Since freezing can happen due to multiple factors, we’ll need to isolate this step by step.

It would also be helpful to know if this issue occurs when working with files saved on external drives, network locations, or cloud folders, or if it also happens with files saved locally on the internal drive. Please let me know what you observe there.

Additionally, please try testing the behavior in Safe Mode and from a new local admin user account to check whether any third-party software, plugins, or extensions might be contributing to the issue. You can follow these guides for reference:
For Windows Safe Mode: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-your-pc-in-safe-mode-in-windows-92c27cff-db89-8644-1ce4-b3e5e56fe234
For macOS Safe Mode: https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-help/mh21245/mac
For creating a new user on Mac: https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-help/mh15191/mac
For creating a new user on Windows: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/manage-user-accounts-in-windows-104dc19f-6430-4b49-6a2b-e4dbd1dcdf32

You may also find it helpful to review and try the suggestions in these articles on improving performance: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/slow-performance-indesign.html & Improve InDesign performance on Windows and macOS

Once you’ve had a chance to test these and share the details, I’ll be happy to take this further with the team.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @Becky25617854viti & @MFParksRec,

Sorry to hear InDesign has been freezing for you.

Could you please confirm the exact InDesign version and macOS version you’re using? Also, does the freeze happen during a specific action or tool, or does it seem random?

Please let me know whether you’re working on files saved locally or from a network location, external drive, or cloud folder, as that can sometimes affect stability.

As a quick isolation test, try creating and logging into a new local admin user account on your Mac and check if the issue persists there. Ref: https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-help/mh21245/mac

Moreover, please try the suggestions in this helpx article as well and update: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/crash-on-launch.html

Please let me know what you observe.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

B

Becky25617854vitiAuthor

Participant

To answer your questions, it is extremely slow when starting up the app and locks up randomly.

I am working on an HP operating system.

I haven’t noticed any consistent action that causes it. A coworker who updated to 21.2 has had the same issues. One coworker who has not updated to 21.2 and was still using 21.0 has not had any issues. I uninstalled version 21.2 and reinstalled 21.0 and it’s been fine since.

Sometimes I can just restart InDesign but sometimes I need to restart my computer to get ID working properly again.

I’m saving files to an external drive.

I probably won’t try the suggestions you shared since 21.0 is working properly. But if I have to update again and have issues I will try them then.

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @Becky25617854viti,

Thank you for sharing the detailed update. I understand how frustrating this must be. When you’re ready to try 21.2 again, I’d recommend testing it once with files saved locally on your internal drive instead of the external drive. This will help us determine whether the storage location is contributing to the freezing.

Please let me know if you decide to test this and how it goes, and I’ll be happy to take this further based on your update.

Abhishek

MFParksRec

Participant

I just wanted to point out that I am having a similar issue today. I restarted the app at least 5 times now.

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