InDesign 21.3 - I randomly continue to get the blue spinning wheel, then InDesign semi-freezes.

Forum|Forum|4 months ago
May 8, 2026
34 replies
2349 views

I am using InDesign 21.3, working on a simple 2 page file, I go to place a logo and the blue thinking wheel pops up and doesn’t go away. I can click and move things around but none of it is being “saved”. I close the file and click to close the program and it just sits there still open. I then have to force quit the program. When I relaunch the file opens with the software and everything I did while the wheel was spinning was not saved.

It’s done this several times since the update and there is no pattern to why. I’m finding it randomly acting up. It’s really frustrating, especially when I’m not working on anything complicated.

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

J

JesseRDay

Participating Frequently

Following up. This was fixed for about a week (not sure why), but it’s been broken again for over a month. This makes 4 months of InDesign being practically unusable. I have to launch, force close, and relaunch every document I work on because the first launch inevitably crashes with these bugs. As people have pointed out, this is all due to GenAI implementation -- stop forcing AI on us!

K

Katie3271727866na

Participant

I’ve been experiencing this issue - turned off Generate AI and i still experience - any update on a fix for this?

nik.m

Community Manager

Hi @Katie3271727866na, we’re sorry that you’re experiencing the behavior even after disabling the Gen AI features.

The product team is actively working on a fix. We don't have a specific timeline yet, but we'll keep you updated as soon as we know more.

Could you confirm if you’re using version 21.6?

Thanks,

Nikunj

A

Admired_amazement5b3e

Participant

I’ve also experienced this issue. Disabling Gen AI fixed it, but note that I had to disable Gen AI with no projects/files open! When I tried to disable it with a project open, it reverted after a restart (even opening the exact same project). Adobe really need to rethink their Gen AI implementation.

C

CHEMBS

Participant

I tried your solution in InDesign 21.5. When I just clicked on Generative AI under the edit menu, InDesign refreshed and went black. When my document came back, the spinning stopped. I’ll let you know if it comes back.

Thanks!

P

Phill33761556chmp

Participant

fix works for me. Thanks

T

teresa_4721

Participant

Im on InDesign 21.5, Windows 11, and have had this issue for a while now. Its very random, sometimes you can continue normally but the cursor looks like a blue spinning wheel, other times nothing works and you cant do anything. When this happens I also cannot exit InDesign, I have to force quit.

I have tried your workaround to disable Generative AI and restarted InDesign. Still random.

J

Jeya35918077rcth

Participant

yes, happening in 21.5 too