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Inspiring
July 29, 2026
Answered

Indesign became unusable in our company (21.4.1)

  • July 29, 2026
  • 5 replies
  • 90 views

I was wondering if we are the only ones in the world experiencing this.
6 workstations, each with different settings/customizations, yet all 6 have the same problem.

InDesign starts showing the loading circle, as if it is doing something, and we are unable to select any object. Some parts of the application are still somewhat usable.

We find ourselves restarting the app 10 times or more per day, and, of course, restarting the application is not as simple as pressing the "X" button in the top-right corner because it doesn't do anything. We need to open the Task Manager and force-close InDesign every time. We restart, and here we are: after a whopping 10 minutes of work, we need to restart the s***t application again.

We've already tried uninstalling and reinstalling it, deleting all preferences and scripts, and installing it under another user account.

    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>

    5 replies

    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    July 29, 2026

    Hi @Carmelo5FA3,


    Thanks for the update. I'm glad to hear that disabling the Generative AI options has resolved the issue for your team.

    Just to let you know, we already have a bug logged for this behavior where the Generative AI options in InDesign Preferences can cause delays, freezes, and an endless loading cursor during certain workflows. You can follow the related discussion here:
    https://adobe.ly/4c8SUE9

    Our product team is actively working on a fix for this issue. We'll be sure to keep the community updated as soon as we have any new information to share.


    Thanks again for confirming that the workaround helped, and we appreciate your patience.

    Abhishek

    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Abhishek RaoCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
    Community Manager
    August 17, 2026

    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>

    leo.r
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    July 29, 2026

    First, disable the Generative AI options in preferences. Your symptoms sound like the ones caused by this feature. Also, InDesign 21.5 has just been released (although it’s not yet available in all countries).

    Inspiring
    July 29, 2026

    Hi leo.r, first thank you for answering, we disabled both option to all our workstation and, at least for now, seems to be working as expected.
    So I would like to thank you in behalf of our entire small Design team. 😊

    leo.r
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    July 29, 2026

    So I would like to thank you in behalf of our entire small Design team. 😊


    Glad it helped you and your team.