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martinl59591478
Participant
May 29, 2018
Answered

InDesign Not Opening....

  • May 29, 2018
  • 5 replies
  • 15835 views

I guess my first question is - "is this really the only way to get help from Adobe for a software suite that i pay a reasonably large amount of money for?"....

...but my main question is that every time i open InDesign it hangs,  sometimes i get in to my document, sometimes it hangs on the welcome screen and all i see if the spinning ball.  I have tried deleting from activity monitor CEPHtmlEngine but that doesn't seem to help, i have tried uninstalling and reinstalling but that doesn't seem to help and i have tried resetting the preferences file.  None of this has made any difference. 

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Martin

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer martinl59591478

Hi,

I changed the name of "applicationpreference.plist" to "applicationpreferenceold.plist" - but do bear in mind i was mainly guessing!  It did work for me thought :-)

Cheers,

Martin

5 replies

J
JOELPRESTON
Known Participant
April 19, 2023

Martin: It's great that you found the solution ... but would you mind posting the full path to the file we're supposed to edit (edit the name, I mean). I can't find it on Mac using only a partial path. Thanks for considering it. 

Rishabh_Tiwari
Community Manager
Rishabh_TiwariCommunity Manager
Community Manager
April 19, 2023

Hi @JOELPRESTON ,

 

Thank you for reaching out. You can find the file at this location:  /Applications/Adobe InDesign 2023/Presets/applicationpreferences/indesign

 

Let us know if that helps or if you need further assistance.

 

Thanks

Rishabh

J
JOELPRESTON
Known Participant
April 19, 2023

Thank you, Rishabh. I was able to find the file, and I made the suggested change to the plist filename, but that didn't fix the issue (I also restarted my Mac, but that didn't help). I've got InDesign2022 on Mac Big Sur (I'm not sure there's a more recent version for InDesign; I used to have a button in my menu bar that showed when I was connected to Creative Cloud, but that's gone, and there's no launcher in my Adobe Applications directory). I'm attaching a screenshot of what I see (dark mode)--a GUI with a top menu, but then, when I attempt to use a dropdown to (for example) create a new document, the option is grayed out (and there's no spinning vortex of doom or any other sign of the app performing any function).

 

 

E
evad50825793
Participant
February 6, 2021

I had the same issue, but it did not even open the start-up screen. I could not find the applicationpreference.plist file in the location you described. Solved the problem by ending the InDesign task which was running in the background in Task Manager. 

    S
    sionnas97704521
    Participant
    July 5, 2022

    This worked for me as well! (I'm running on a PC)

    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Legend
    May 29, 2018

    I guess I just assumed they would take some responsibility themselves!

    In many ways, Adobe has done that by initiating this forum.

    It's designed to be a collective knowledgebase of infinite details about all of the Creative Suite programs used to create all kinds of projects.

    Since this forum contains members with InDesign experience going back to when InDesign was first created 20 years ago (and before that to the earliest desktop publishing and digital media programs), it would be difficult for Adobe to hire tech support staff with this kind of deep, legacy knowledge.

    So they "hoodwink" some of us into becoming ACP and MVPs on the forum. But anyone can post an answer or suggestion or question.

    Adobe staff monitor all of the different forums assuring that you're getting the best advice, and Adobe software engineers chime in when they are needed, too. Of course, Adobe pays all the tech costs of maintaining the online forums.

    I've done similar tech support for other software companies; none are as good as this one. You really have tapped into the best of the best from around the world.  A melding of the best minds in the business.

    So don't hesitate to take advantage of us in the future!

    |    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
    M
    martinl59591478Author
    Participant
    May 29, 2018

    Hi Tamara, the actual link only gave me the idea, it wasn't really correct in the location of files or names .  I went to the folder - /Applications/Adobe InDesign CC 2018/Presets/applicationpreferences/indesign and changed the name of applicationpreference.plist - this seemed to sort it.

    T
    Tamara_Catharina
    Participant
    May 30, 2018

    Thanks! And what did you change exactly? From ... to ... ? (sorry to bother again)

    M
    martinl59591478AuthorCorrect answer
    Participant
    May 30, 2018

    Hi,

    I changed the name of "applicationpreference.plist" to "applicationpreferenceold.plist" - but do bear in mind i was mainly guessing!  It did work for me thought :-)

    Cheers,

    Martin

    Derek Cross
    Community Expert
    Derek CrossCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 29, 2018

    Yes, this forum is probably the best source of informed support from some of the world's leading InDesign and publishing gurus (not me!).

    But you need to supply some information – which version of InDesign and OS?

    Did you uninstall InDesign using the drop-down menu in the Creative Cloud App?

    Have you tried unticking in InDesign Preferences, GPU Performance?

    Have you really reset  your preferences: Close InDesign. Then hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift (Windows) or Cmd + Ctrl + Opt + Shift (Mac), and relaunch InDesign. Respond in the affirmative to the dialog asking if you really want to replace the preferences.

    If none of the above work, have you run the Adobe Cleaner after uninstalling InDesign Use the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems ?

      M
      martinl59591478Author
      Participant
      May 29, 2018

      Thanks Derek - I guess I just assumed they would take some responsibility themselves! 

      Thanks for the response.  I am using OSx 10.13 and the latest update of InDesign.  To answer your other questions in order:

      Yes.

      Couldn't actually get into InDesign to do anything.

      Yes, I really have and I did respond in the affirmative.

      I have not done this. 

      In the end I followed another tip on the web and renamed "applicationpreference.plist"  and this seemed to resolve everything but I am not why that worked.  It is also strange that this comes on the back of issues I am having with Premiere Pro where the audio on random clips disappears even though it was there last time I edited the project.  It's as if something in my Creative Suite has become corrupt but  I am not sure if they are even related.

      Derek Cross
      Community Expert
      Derek CrossCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 29, 2018

      I'm glad you got it sorted.

      And come back here again to this friendly forum if you have other issues. And don't forget to regularly back up your documents!

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