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The Parabolica
Known Participant
April 9, 2026
Answered

InDesign freezes when placing/updating placed files. Help

  • April 9, 2026
  • 38 replies
  • 1291 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.

      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>

      38 replies

      Show previous replies
      The ParabolicaAuthor
      Known Participant
      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?

      Abhishek Rao
      Community Manager
      Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      April 24, 2026

      Hi ​@The Parabolica,

       

      Apologies for the delay in getting back to you. I wanted to check if you’re still experiencing this issue or if things are working fine now.

      If the problem is still occurring, could you please try a couple of quick checks? Open Window > Utilities > Background Tasks and keep that panel visible while placing a file. If you notice anything getting stuck there, it will help confirm that the freeze is tied to a background operation. Also, please sign out of the Creative Cloud Desktop app, quit all Adobe processes from Task Manager, then relaunch and sign back in and see if that helps. 

      Additionally, try creating a brand-new document and place a simple image like a PNG or JPG to check if this is specific to a document or an environment specific issue. 

      If possible, please share a short screen recording showing the issue in action so I can review this further with the team.

       

      Let me know how it goes.

      Abhishek

      SC King
      Participant
      April 27, 2026

      I followed these instructions and I haven’t gotten the endless spinning cursor since logging back in and re-opening InDesign. I’ve placed several files from my local drive. 

        The ParabolicaAuthor
        Known Participant
        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!

        leo.r
        Community Expert
        leo.rCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        April 27, 2026

         

        I uninstalled 21.3 and installed 21.1 and it’s working fine thankfully.

         

        Then I wonder if your issue has something to do with the new Generative AI preferences.

         

        Some users reported suspicions that these options caused issues upon placing images.

         

        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.

        The ParabolicaAuthor
        Known Participant
        April 15, 2026

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

        The ParabolicaAuthor
        Known Participant
        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?

        The ParabolicaAuthor
        Known Participant
        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?

        The ParabolicaAuthor
        Known Participant
        April 13, 2026

        Yes. It still happens on the local drive.

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