Indesign Save & Save as windows do not work

Forum|Forum|2 months ago
November 18, 2025
2 replies
326 views

Hi, I'm on the latest Indesign version (21.0) and my Save and Save as dialog windows are blank. It started last week, before that I did not have this problem. I am using a work-around as Save a copy window works.

I already tried setting preferences to the old dialog window, deleting caches and force restarting Indesign. So far to no avail. Adding a screenshot of the Save dialog window.

Bug

Correct answer cenek_4046

Why would this be necessary. Aren't they supposed to make something that works out of the box? I did a clean install on a new computer. Same issue.

Even went from W10 to W11. Exactly the same problem. Exactly!

Thanks everyone for advices.

I got onsite IT support here. They reinstalled the C++ redistributables, which did not help.

But then they started the Windows in a Safe mode, as Eugene suggested earlier (hold shift while clicking on a restart button in a Start menu, then Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings) started Indesign, then restarted the computer normally and it started working. Hope it helps.

Peter Spier

Community Expert

At what point do you see this? When opening the File Menu, or after Clicking on the Save As command?

C

cenek_4046Author

Inspiring

After clicking on the Save (as) option from the menu.

Peter Spier

Community Expert

So this is really Windows explorer, not InDesign, that is creating the dialog. I wonder if this isn't another manifestation of the need to rebuild the Microsoft Visual C++ libraries after installing version 21.

That will definitely need an Admin ...

E

Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

Try resetting your preferences:

InDesign 19.3 and newer go to Preferences > General > and click on "Reset Preferences on Quit" and then quit and restart.

Or
Windows: Start InDesign, and then press Shift+Ctrl+Alt. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.
macOS: While pressing Shift+Option+Command+Control, start InDesign. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.
A dialog will appear asking to delete the InDesign Preferences, select 'Yes' on this dialog.

More in-depth cleanse of preferences

https://helpx.adobe.com/in/indesign/kb/indesign-preferences-support-file-locations.html

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Reinstalling rarely fixes everything - you can do a complete reinstall using the
Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html