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Inspiring
September 1, 2025
Answered

Indesign crash (freeze) when moving objects both with mouse or arrow keys

  • September 1, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 441 views

My daily use of Indesign (19.5.5) all of a sudden is broken and I can't any more move objects. It usually occurs after a while, allowing me to work normally for about 30 min, then randomly moving or trimmering an object with the arrows causes the freeze of the program. I've already made the usal attempts to recover by working on a copy, rebuild from skratch the document and change the value in preference (units and rulers) (in mm) but the problem persists. Anyone facing the same issue? Thanks

Correct answer Bill Silbert

If this problem is a result of program corruption then it would be a good idea to trash your InDesign preferences. This will restore the proram to its defaults which will hopefully restore full performance.

To reset preferences on Windows:

You can try the quick way of resetting on a PC which is to hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift when launching InDesign and respond affirmatively when asked if you want to reset. There have been some recent reports that the window asking if you want to reset is not popping up but that the prefs are being reset anyway. If this works great but if it doesn’t you may have to manually delete them.

To do so: 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.

The 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.

3 replies

Bill Silbert
Community Expert
Bill SilbertCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
September 2, 2025

If this problem is a result of program corruption then it would be a good idea to trash your InDesign preferences. This will restore the proram to its defaults which will hopefully restore full performance.

To reset preferences on Windows:

You can try the quick way of resetting on a PC which is to hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift when launching InDesign and respond affirmatively when asked if you want to reset. There have been some recent reports that the window asking if you want to reset is not popping up but that the prefs are being reset anyway. If this works great but if it doesn’t you may have to manually delete them.

To do so: 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.

The 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.

Gioyer07Author
Inspiring
September 3, 2025

Thank you very much.

Abhishek Rao
Community Manager
Community Manager
September 1, 2025

Hi @Gioyer07,

 

Thanks for sharing the details. Do you see the Adobe crash reporter dialog when the freeze happens? If yes, please submit the report and share your email address with me via DM on the community, so I can review the logs. Ref: https://adobe.ly/46nAnR9
It would also help to check if the issue occurs when running InDesign in Safe Mode to rule out any interference from third-party apps or services. Ref: https://adobe.ly/3I3FBZX. If the problem continues, a short screen recording would be very useful, so I can get it checked with the team.

 

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

Gioyer07Author
Inspiring
September 2, 2025

Thanks. Will do my best to document everything. Things I've done later include: updating graphic card's drivers, setting the minimum distance in preference/units and rulers to "0.3mm" value (previously 0.25mm). Let's see how it behaves today (but condition is different because today I work at the same machine remotely on "smartworking"). 

 

leo.r
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 1, 2025

what's your operating system version? does it happen in all documents or only specific ones?

 

also, try general troubleshooting steps:

https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-indesign-rebuilding-preferences-cache/

Gioyer07Author
Inspiring
September 1, 2025

Win 11Pro 24H2  on I9 14900 64Gb ram Nvidia RTX 4060Ti

Happens on different documents

Thanks