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T
The Parabolica
Participating Frequently
April 9, 2026
Question

InDesign freezes when placing/updating placed files. Help

  • April 9, 2026
  • 6 replies
  • 47 views

For the past month or two, any time I try to Place a file or update a Placed file, InDesign usually freezes. The cursor turns into the spinning circle. I can close and save the files after this, but cannot close the InDesign app. I try various ways to place the files. File > Place or Ctrl D or copy and paste the placed file from another InDesign file. The files I use are typically on my Google Drive and I’ve installed the Drive app on my machine.

This is REALLY getting annoying. Adobe used to be so good with bugs. Any ideas? I’ve read a few posts that say they thought version 21.3 fixed this issue but I’ve still got it.

I’ve reset preferences, cleared old versions of InDesign, reinstalled InDesign. 

InDesign 21.3
Core i9 processor
Windows 11 home
64 GB RAM
500+ GB hard drive space

 

Thanks in advance for any tips.

    6 replies

    T
    The ParabolicaAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    April 15, 2026

    After more digging, I found an Adobe process that is suspended. "Adobe Notification Client". Googling this suggests that it may have something to do with licenses? I also saw that in the past this suspended task would cause an older InDesign (16.2.1) to hang. So I’m guessing this may be the issue. I am a fully paid and subscribed customer. Would anyone know how to fix this issue?

    T
    The ParabolicaAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    April 15, 2026

    I uninstalled 21.3 and installed 21.1 and it’s working fine thankfully. I still would like Adobe to figure it out. The whole project pipeline slams to a halt when InDesign isn’t working!

    Bill Silbert
    Community Expert
    Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 13, 2026

    Are you using any third-party plug-ins with your InDesign? If so try disabling them and see if the problem persists.

    T
    The ParabolicaAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    April 15, 2026

    No. I’m not. But that’s a good question.

    T
    The ParabolicaAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    April 13, 2026

    One last item...I am not able to close InDesign once the cursor starts “spinning” after placing a file. And an alert comes up that says it can’t close because there is a background process going on. Does that help anyone figure out what may be causing the issue?

    leo.r
    Community Expert
    leo.rCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 13, 2026

    Keep the Background Tasks panel open. Maybe it will show something suspicious there. Also, can you post a screenshot of that alert?

    T
    The ParabolicaAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    April 13, 2026

    Also, I have not had any problems placing files from a network drive or anywhere for over 3 years. But all of a sudden I’m having issues the last month or two. 

    leo.r
    Community Expert
    leo.rCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 9, 2026

    > The files I use are typically on my Google Drive

     

    Does it happen with files on your local drive?

    T
    The ParabolicaAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    April 13, 2026

    Yes. It still happens on the local drive.

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