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

I’m having similar issues. When placing and image or drag it from Windows Explorer onto an InDesign document, the mouse cursor changes to the loading cursor and Indesign becomes unresponsive. I need to shut down InDesign from the task manager and then start it again. It works fine until I need to place images. This happens on all documents, both new and old. This is on version 21.3.

Hello,

Reporting that our organisation has been having this issue consistently across 21.3, 21.2, 21.1. 

It crashes when opening files, saving files. It will crash upon launching the program because it gets stuck in a Recovery loop where it won’t close the recovering menu.

It is starting to impact us operationally severely as our team cannot work on documents that are due by middle of this week.

We have had no luck or support from Adobe with this and when escalating it, are told that the support team is on a holiday. Hoping any other users have had similar issues and found a resolution internally they could suggest.

Completely second the previous user asking if we will be refunded for being unable to use the software.

Thanks

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.

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>

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!

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. 

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. 

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.

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