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holgerv265338
Known Participant
November 19, 2025
Answered

InDesign is messing up the preview

  • November 19, 2025
  • 18 replies
  • 468 views

This happens to me every now and then: InDesign completely messes up the preview on my screen. If I zoom in or out, it usually disappears.

At first, I blamed it on my old computer, where the graphics card was probably failing, but the same problem persists on my new Mac Mini.

It doesn't seem to happen at all; it's completely random.

 

This issue is still not fixed with the latest update (21.0.1), and it's even worse.

If I move an object with a drop shadow, InDesign "moves" the entire shadow. Zooming in and out doesn't help; I have to completely close and reopen the document for it to work as it should.

    Correct answer Abhishek Rao

    Hi ​@andreavagas,

     

    Sorry to hear that you’re experiencing this issue, and thanks for reaching out.

    Regarding the drop shadow behavior mentioned earlier, this is a known issue and a bug has already been logged. The product team is actively working on a fix. You can refer to this thread for more details: InDesign 2026: Drop Shadows graphical glitch | Community

    For the other preview glitch you’re seeing, could you please try disabling GPU Performance in InDesign preferences (if it’s currently enabled) and check if that makes any difference? Also, it would help if you could confirm the exact InDesign version and your OS details. If possible, please share a short screen recording showing the issue in action so I can take a closer look with the team.

     

    Let me know how it goes.

    Abhishek

    <Marking as best answer for better visibility>

    18 replies

    howlaman
    October 1, 2026

    I have been having issues such as this for months. Drop shadows display int he wrong spot or too large until I got into settings and they “magically” are fixed by being turned off and on again. Linked images or entire sections of a page will appear blank white or solid gray until I scroll or zoom in and out. This has been happening on a brand new computer with Windows 11. GPU Performance is disabled with no change. 

    leo.r
    Community Expert
    leo.rCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 1, 2026

    I think the drop shadows issue should be fixed in 21.6. 

    andreavagas
    andreavagas
    Participant
    April 14, 2026

    I’m having a similar problem with my preview. My columns will look slightly off, then if I zoom in or out, they appear normal. I thought it was my laptop’s problem, but I got a new one and it’s still a problem. Adobe, we need a fix.

    If we could install the programs locally and not have to rely on the cloud, maybe this wouldn’t be a problem. But the cat’s out of the bag.

      leo.r
      Community Expert
      leo.rCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 14, 2026

      Did you try to disable GPU Performance in preferences, as suggested earlier?

       

      If we could install the programs locally and not have to rely on the cloud, maybe this wouldn’t be a problem. But the cat’s out of the bag.

       

      InDesign is installed locally and its functionality is not relying on the cloud (except for some licensing and AI-related features that are out of the scope of this topic).

      andreavagas
      andreavagas
      Participant
      April 15, 2026

      Tell that to my fonts which take 10 minutes to load.

      I tried disabling GPU performance but it didn’t work. I have 4 colleagues who are also having this issue.

        BobLevine
        Community Expert
        BobLevineCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        November 19, 2025

        Disable GPU Performance in your InDesign preferences.

        Anubhav M
        Community Manager
        Anubhav MCommunity Manager
        Community Manager
        November 19, 2025

        Hello @holgerv265338,

        I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Could you please share a link to a sample file, along with a screen recording of your workflow and the issue that occurs after uploading it to a file-sharing service, so we can review it with the team?

        Looking forward to hearing from you.

        Anubhav

        holgerv265338Author
        Known Participant
        November 19, 2025

        Here's the testfile

         

        https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/52r78u3hqknim2lfi3n30/Test.zip?rlkey=a2qygun7s2za9ilsxpmlxkh8v&dl=0

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