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maiziechan
maiziechan
Participant
April 18, 2026
Question

InDesign 21.3 Extremely Slow to Launch and Close on Windows 11

  • April 18, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 111 views

For the past few months I’ve been experiencing slow Indesign performance when editing documents but it has been tolerable until the past few days when Indesign started to be too slow to even launch. Closing the app is also extremely laggy, usually it does not fully close until I restart the computer.

Indesign can launch but takes more than 20 minutes to get to the home page, and I haven’t been able to load it to the point of being able to open any files.

I have already tried a clean removal + reinstallation of the app with the creative cloud cleaner tool, and also deleted all preferences. Most files are saved on adobe cloud.

I am on Id version 21.3, Windows 11 Pro, OS 26200.8117

Any help would be appreciated :) thank you

 

 

UPDATE: Running version 21.2 works fine it’s 21.3 that’s not working.

    3 replies

    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    April 22, 2026

    Hi ​@maiziechan, 

     

    Sorry to hear about the experience, I understand how frustrating this must be, especially when it’s blocking your work.

    Adding to the suggestions by the experts, could you please try disabling the Generative AI options in InDesign preferences and then relaunch the app to see if that improves the performance?

    Also, it would help to test the behavior in Safe Mode to isolate any third-party service or background process that might be conflicting with the latest version. You can follow this guide for Windows: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-your-pc-in-safe-mode-in-windows-92c27cff-db89-8644-1ce4-b3e5e56fe234

     

    Let me know how it goes after trying this, and we’ll take it forward with you.

    Abhishek

    Bill Silbert
    Community Expert
    Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 20, 2026

    You said that you deleted all preferences. If you did so using the key commands then it might be worth a try to manually delete the preferences. Sometimes that process can do a more thorough job of restoring the program to its defaults and improving performance.

    To manually delete preferences on Windows:

    On Windows 7 and above the preference files are hidden. To find them go to the Control Panel and open Folder Options and then click the View tab. Then select “Show hidden files and folders” or “Show hidden files, folders or drive options” in Advanced Settings. Then delete (or rename) the folder at the end of this path: C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\<Version #>\<Language>. Make sure that InDesign is closed when you do this. When you relaunch the program it will create  new preference files and the program will be at its default settings.

    An additional advantage of manually deleting preference files is that after you’ve reset up the program (make sure that no document window is open) to your liking, you can create copies of your personalized “mint” preference files (make sure that you quit the program before copying them—that finalizes your customization) and use them in the future to replace any corrupt versions you may need to delete.

    Mike Witherell
    Community Expert
    Mike WitherellCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 18, 2026

    Hi Maizie,

    It sounds like you have tried many things, so I don’t know. But you could try some suggestions from this edited compendium of InDesign troubleshooting advice.

    Mike Witherell
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