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chris_1528
Participant
May 3, 2026
Answered

InDesign 21.3 freezes with endless loading cursor when placing images on Windows 11

  • May 3, 2026
  • 41 replies
  • 2771 views

Hi

Each time I import an image into Indesign, the image loads okay, but I get the blue swirling ‘loading’ icon that never stops. I can save my document, and the menus still work but I can’t work on the actual page, and the only way I can clear it it to Force quit Indesign using Task Manager. 

This started about 2 weeks ago, and was fine before and I haven’t made any changes to my PC. I thought maybe it started after an update of Indesign, so I tried reverting to an older version, but still had the same problem.

I have tried re-installing Indesign. (version21.3)  I use Windows 11.

I really hope you can help please?

Thanks Chris

      Correct answer Abhishek Rao

      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>

      41 replies

      Show previous replies
      Agenturaxact
      Agenturaxact
      Known Participant
      June 30, 2026

      Randomly, when inserting a PDF or an image into an InDesign document, the image freezes. It becomes impossible to work with it, and InDesign cannot be closed normally—you have to force quit it through Task Manager.

      Thank you for the new version...

        K
        Katharina31174304k4dd
        Participant
        June 30, 2026

        Same problem here

        leo.r
        Community Expert
        leo.rCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        June 30, 2026

        ​@Katharina31174304k4dd  Did you disable Generative AI in preferences as discussed earlier in this thread?

        K
        Katharina31174304k4dd
        Participant
        June 30, 2026

        Hi Leo, yes, I did.

        S
        Shane372185470i9z
        Participant
        June 26, 2026

        Hey Adobe, instead of cranking out unnecessary updates on every program once a week, why don’t you guys spend a little bit more time debugging the updates before you release them and force them on us?

          F
          FVAlison
          Participant
          June 11, 2026

          I’ve also had the exact same issue, and turning off the Gen AI also fixed it for me.

            P
            PWS Katie O
            Participant
            June 5, 2026

            Had this exact same issue. Turning off the generative AI fixed it for me too. 
            What a pain! So much time wasted trying to fix a problem with something I didn’t even use or want.

              Abhishek Rao
              Community Manager
              Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
              Community Manager
              May 18, 2026

              Hi everyone,

               

              Thank you for your patience and for sharing all the detailed observations and troubleshooting steps. I’ve now logged this as a bug with the product team, and the issue is currently being investigated. I’ll continue to keep this thread posted as soon as I receive further updates from the team.

              In the meantime, the current workaround is the one already mentioned earlier in the thread: please try disabling the Generative AI options in InDesign Preferences via the Edit menu and then test the workflow again to see if that helps prevent the freeze while placing or updating files.

              Please let me know if disabling those options improves the behavior on your system, as that information will also help with the investigation.

               

              Thanks again for your support and patience while we work through this.

              Abhishek

              anned24474154
              anned24474154
              Participant
              June 16, 2026

              Is there a new version coming soon with a fix for this issues?

              nik.m
              Community Manager
              nik.mCommunity Manager
              Community Manager
              June 25, 2026

              Hey ​@anned24474154, we’re sorry about the delay in responding to you. The product team is investigating the issue.

              Please stay tuned. 

              Thanks, 

              Nikunj 

              knorrthankyou
              knorrthankyou
              Participant
              May 13, 2026

              We (5 designers here) were having the same issue and have all reverted back to the 21.1 version. This seems to resolved the problem. Hope this helps! 

              mel*
              mel*
              Participant
              May 9, 2026

              Here to say I’m having the exact same issue! It’s hard to tell what triggers the issue, for me it isn’t always related to importing an image. Sometimes I think it occurs when I’m doing a Ctrl+S save.

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

              Hi ​@mel*,

               

              Sorry to hear that you’re experiencing this issue. Could you please try disabling the Generative AI options in InDesign Preferences and then test whether the freezing behavior still occurs? 

              If this helps on your end as well, then it likely matches the same issue reported by the original poster in this thread. In that case, could you also please share the requested diagnostic details mentioned here so we can continue investigating this further with the team:

              https://community.adobe.com/questions-671/indesign-21-3-freezes-with-endless-loading-cursor-when-placing-images-on-windows-11-1560065?postid=7553142#post7553142

               

              Please do keep us updated on your observations.

              Abhishek

              C
              chris_1528Author
              Participant
              May 5, 2026

              Hi, yes it was happening with all images, however... thank thanks to Leo.r.. turning off both Generative AI options seems to have resolved the issue :)

              Thanks for all you help! 

              Mike Witherell
              Community Expert
              Mike WitherellCommunity Expert
              Community Expert
              May 4, 2026

              Does this happen with any image? All images?

              Mike Witherell
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