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M
monstermunchmonster
Known Participant
September 4, 2020
Question

InDesign keeps crashing on my new mac

  • September 4, 2020
  • 6 replies
  • 1753 views

I have just bought a new mac, but InDesign keeps crashing when I copy and paste from another document.

I also happens with Illustrator and Photoshop.

 

If it doesn't crash when I am using it, then it will crash at some point when my mac is in standby/power saving mode so I need to reopen it again every time I want to use it.

 

I am using the most up to date versions of the software (there are no updates), and my mac is using Catalina 10.15.6.

 

It's pretty frustrating because it's a brand new mac.

 

Does anybody know how I can resolve this?

 

This topic has been closed for replies.

6 replies

M
monstermunchmonsterAuthor
Known Participant
October 8, 2020

Hi Srishti,

 

Thanks for your help. Your response has been marked as the 'correct answer', but unfortunately it has not resolved my issue.

I executed the first two commands without a problem, but the third command failed. I have included a screenshot below of the response from the third command:

  • "sudo chmod -R 777 /Users/<user>/Library/Application Support"

Srishti_Bali
Srishti_Bali
Legend
September 7, 2020

Hi there,

 

Sorry to hear about this trouble. In addition to the suggestions shared above, please try the steps shared here and share your observations with us.

 

Let us know if this helps or the issue still persists.

 

Regards,

Srishti

M
monstermunchmonsterAuthor
Known Participant
September 17, 2020

Hi Srishti,

 

I have figured out that both InDesign and Illustrator mainly keep crashing once my computer goes into sleep mode. When I reawaken the mac the apps have crashed and I need to reopen. Sometimes it happens when I am using the apps, but it's mainly after reawakening from sleep mode.

 

I have tried your steps:

 

Testing in safe mode

InDesign and Illustrator open fine in test mode 

 

Testing in root account

InDesign and Illustrator open fine in root account

 

I'm unsure now which steps I need to follow to resolve the issue? What do the results of the two tests tell me?

 

T
Test Screen Name
Legend
September 4, 2020

I don't think you've told us the actual app versions in use. A lot of people say "up to date" but what's really broken is the updater. So please post actual version numbers from ABOUT.

    M
    monstermunchmonsterAuthor
    Known Participant
    September 4, 2020

    If I do 'about' in InDesign it says version: 15.1.2.226

    Derek Cross
    Community Expert
    Derek CrossCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 4, 2020

    To reset your Preferences:

    1) Close InDesign
    2) Double click on Adobe InDesign's icon to launch it
    3) QUICKLY hold down Ctrl+Alt+Shift. (for Windows) or CTL+OPT+CMD+Shift (for Mac OS X)
    4) When a dialog appears, ask you “Delete InDesign Preference Files?” Click Yes.

    (If you don't see the question do it again.)

    M
    monstermunchmonsterAuthor
    Known Participant
    September 10, 2020

    Thank you Derek. I tried those steps but it didn't work. It still keeps crashing.

     

    I have a 'problem report' which is a long list of code. It opens every time it crashes. Would that be useful if I shared that?

    Srishti_Bali
    Srishti_Bali
    Legend
    September 14, 2020

    Sorry to hear this. Have you submitted the crash report? If not, please follow the steps shared here. 

    While submitting the crash report please use the same email address, with which you are signed in on this community. This will help us find the crash report and help accordingly. 

     

    Once done, please try the steps I shared earlier and share your observations with us. 

     

    Thanks!

    Randy Hagan
    Community Expert
    Randy HaganCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 4, 2020

    I'm happy to help if I can, but I've got some questions here:

     

    • You say you're copying/pasting from other documents. Are those between InDesign document files to InDesign document files? From Illustrator and Photoshop to InDesign? From files in other programs to InDesign/Illustrator/Photoshop? Depending on which of these situations you're creating, there will be different solutions to suggest. But as a general rule, you don't want to be moving files from any program into InDesign or Illustrator through the clipboard by copying and pasting. That introduces lots of problems, including the ones you're describing here. You want to always use the File>Place menu command to put content from other programs into InDesign and Illustrator. There are some instances where copying/pasting from other programs will work with Photoshop, but it's a much better workflow to first open those files from other programs in Photoshop, then, if needed, copy/paste the content between files opened in Photoshop.
    • You say you have a new Mac, but there are lots of new Macs for sale today which have configurations that aren't suited for work with Adobe Creative Cloud programs — especially if you have multiple CC programs open at the same time. If you could share what your new Mac system is and what its configuration is: amount of RAM, amount of storage space, etc., it'll help us understand if that contributes or aggravates your issues or not.

     

    Please share that extra information with us, and we'll be better able to help you with your problems.

     

    Happy to lend a hand,

     

    Randy

    M
    monstermunchmonsterAuthor
    Known Participant
    September 4, 2020

    Thank you Randy.

     

    - Today it is happening when I copy and paste text from one Indesign text box, into another Indesign text box - within the same document. Yesterday it was happening when I copied text from one indesign document into a text box in a separate indesign text box. It has also happened when I have copied text from a MS Word document into an InDesign text box.

     

    - I do use the file>place command. But I work with text a lot. So I constantly need to be able to copy and paste text from emails / Word / Indesign

     

    - My Mac is:

    MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)

    Processor: 2.3 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9

    Memory: 32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4

    Graphics: AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 4 GB

    Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

     

    Storage I have 1.18TB available out of 2TB.

     

    Thank you for your help.

    Randy Hagan
    Community Expert
    Randy HaganCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 4, 2020

    Well, you've certainly got enough of a hot-rodded Mac to run all this stuff. So we can safely set that possibility aside.

     

    But let me ask: If you use that File>Place menu command to place your MSWord files, does the system crash? It's an extra step to highlight all that text in your other InDesign doc and use the File>Export... menu command and save your selection in Rich Text Format (*.rtf) file format, but does that work better too? It's gotta take a lot less time than recovering a crashed InDesign document by refiring the app, recovering from the last saved version and redoing what may have been lost from the temp file.

     

    You'll get a minimal amount of file pollution by accumulating those interim *.rtf files you properly place within InDesign, but it's a lot less file overhead — and a ton less potential future complication — than creating a lot of crashed *.tmp files from CC applications on your system. It may not be your preferrred workflow, but if it works better for you and doesn't crash your system, it's probably the better one. It's likely the one that'll cause a lot less pain in the long run.

     

    I mean no disrespect. I'm just trying to offer what I think will be the best way to get you past your issues.

     

    Hope this helps,

     

    Randy

    Derek Cross
    Community Expert
    Derek CrossCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 4, 2020

    How much RAM do you have?

    Try resetting your InDesign Preferences.

    M
    monstermunchmonsterAuthor
    Known Participant
    September 4, 2020

    I've got: 32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4

    (Is that ram?)

     

    Do you know how I reset my InDesign preferences?

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