Skip to main content
M
mattp26461402
Known Participant
March 5, 2026
Question

InDesign 21.2 Hanging with Spinning Beach Ball When Opening .INDDL Files (macOS 15.7.4)

  • March 5, 2026
  • 4 replies
  • 151 views

Indsign 21.2

Mac OS 15.7.4

 

Hangs randomly on open and save of .inddl files. Happened with 3 separate files so far.

Open for 2 files would simply freeze with spinning beach ball.

Save just started- file will open, then the last text change made by contributor populates on my screen and the asterix comes up showing I have unsaved changes, so I cannot close the file unless I save. Sometimes get a save progress bar that does not move. Sometimes not.

Restarted, reset prefs and cache. Logged out of CC. No difference.

Only workaround is to open file in cc app and duplicate it. This creates a new file that has to be shared again for editing and review, which is to say a pain resharing and updating links to our editors.

      4 replies

      A
      amanda_8551
      Participant
      March 26, 2026

      I’m having the same issue. Will check back for solutions in the future.

      Harshika Verma
      Community Manager
      Harshika VermaCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      March 27, 2026

      Hi ​@amanda_8551,


      Sorry for the trouble. We are investigating this issue. Could you please share one of the affected sample files after packaging it? You can follow the steps here to package the file: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/preflighting-files-handoff.html#package_files. This will allow us to test it on my end and check the behavior more closely.

      Please note that packaging works only for files saved locally, not for cloud-based files, so you may need to first save a local copy before packaging. If the file is confidential, feel free to share it with Abhishek Rao via DM on the community.

       

      We will try our best to help.
       

      Thanks,

      Harshika

       

      A
      amanda_8551
      Participant
      March 27, 2026

      Thank you for your response! Unfortunately I cannot package the file since I am no longer able to open any of them. The only workaround solution to even open the files was to duplicate, then i’m able to open the file to be able to save it out into a regular Indd file

      Mike Witherell
      Community Expert
      Mike WitherellCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 20, 2026

      Hey Matt,

      I noticed from your comments that you are saving INDD files as the beta experimental INDDL files. These are known to be unstable, and you should avoid using INDDL files. Their only purpose is to be able to Share for Text editing which is beta and is known to be unstable.

      If you are not really using Share for Text Editing, and you wish to store INDD files in the Adobe Cloud storage, consider INDDC filetypes. Best bet, tho, is work on a copy of your file from your own local hard disk in your computer as an INDD file.

      Mike Witherell
      M
      mattp26461402Author
      Known Participant
      March 20, 2026

      I was aware that this might be problematic as it's in beta, trying to help with as much information as I can for Abhishek. We are going to hold off on using the incopy on the web feature until it is out of beta.

        Abhishek Rao
        Community Manager
        Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
        Community Manager
        March 12, 2026

        Hi ​@mattp26461402,

         

        Thanks for the update and for sharing these details. Since the behavior seems to be limited to certain cloud documents, it might help to rebuild the document once outside the cloud environment. Please try saving the document to your local desktop as an INDD file. After saving it locally, save it again as an IDML file. Then open that IDML file and save it back as a new INDD file with a different name. Once done, you can re-upload the new INDD file to the cloud as a new cloud document and test if the issue still occurs.

        It would also help if you could share a sample file that reproduces the issue so we can take a closer look and check it with the team. If the file is confidential, feel free to share it with me via DM instead.

         

        Please let me know how it goes after trying this. Happy to take it further based on your update.

        Abhishek

        M
        mattp26461402Author
        Known Participant
        March 17, 2026

        Trying to save the .INDDL as a, IDML or INDD locally causes InDesign to become unresponsive.

        Abhishek Rao
        Community Manager
        Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
        Community Manager
        March 17, 2026

        Hi ​@mattp26461402,

         

        Thanks for your update. Could you please try testing this once in Safe Mode on macOS to isolate if any background services are contributing to the issue. You can follow the steps here: Start your Mac in safe mode

        Once you’re in Safe Mode, please try reproducing the issue again. While doing this, it would really help if you could record a short screen capture from the moment you open the file until it becomes unresponsive.

        This will help me investigate the behavior and take it further with the team. Please let me know how it goes after testing this.

        Abhishek

        M
        mattp26461402Author
        Known Participant
        March 6, 2026

        Now it will hang if I simply open the file and wait for a minute. Beach ball starts spinning, have to force quit. Cannot save or do anything with the document.

          M
          mattp26461402Author
          Known Participant
          March 6, 2026

          Disabled Typeface and reset preferences again and is working as expected for the moment. I am suspecting Typeface or Indesign is trying to activate a font.

          E
          Community Expert
          Eugene TysonCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          March 6, 2026

          It does sound like font activation is the likely culprit, especially since disabling Typeface seems to stop the freezing.

          Adobe InDesign will try to activate fonts when opening or saving documents, and if a font manager or auto-activation plugin misbehaves it can cause exactly what you're describing beachball on open/save, or a document suddenly showing as modified when it finishes activating fonts.

           

          A couple of things worth checking:

          In Typeface, try disabling the InDesign auto-activation plugin rather than the whole app and see if the problem returns.

           

          Check whether the document uses fonts that aren't locally installed but are being auto-activated.

           

          If the files are InDesign cloud documents (.inddl), network latency can make font activation stalls look like save freezes. Which is likely where your issue is coming from - files in the cloud - does it hang when the files are local?

           

          Also worth testing with Adobe Fonts sync temporarily disabled to rule that out.

           

          If disabling Typeface fixes it consistently, it's almost certainly the auto-activation hook between Typeface and InDesign, not the document itself.

            Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
            Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices