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InDesign Stuck in "Touch" Workspace on First Launch, Unable to Click or Use Shortcuts

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Hello. Brand new laptop (HP Zbook with touchscreen, Windows 10), just installed InDesign and open for the first time, I get this unfriendly "touch" screen (see screenshot) but cannot click (or touch) anything, or press any keyboard shortcut. I also tried what's described here without success (this is the first time I open InDesign on this computer). I'm running out of ideas, please help, thanks!

Bug

Mike-WitherellCorrect answer

Inspiring

This worked for me on Windows 11:

Right-click on the Start menu and select Device Manager.
In the Device Manager window that opens, select the arrow next to Human Interface Devices to expand it.
Under Human Interface Devices, right-click on HID-compliant touch screen and select either Enable device or Disable device depending on which action is desired.
If there are multiple HID-compliant touch screen devices listed, repeat the steps for each device.

M

Mark38723834kpdb

Participating Frequently

Why is Indesign doing this in the first place? Is it a bug or a feature? Lost quite some time to get out of this touch screen (and I do not have admin rights). I am a bit spoiled by other programs that work after installing, I know.

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Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @Mark38723834kpdb,

I'm sorry to hear about the trouble you've experienced with InDesign opening in Touch Workspace.

Touch Workspace is designed for touch-enabled Windows devices, but it shouldn't prevent you from accessing the standard InDesign interface.

Could you please try the following steps?

If the interface is unresponsive, close InDesign completely and try reopening it by double-clicking an existing .indd file from File Explorer. Once the document opens, go to Window > Workspace > Essentials to switch back to the standard workspace.
Once you can access InDesign, navigate to Edit > Preferences > Touch Workspace and uncheck Switch to Touch Workspace when the keyboard is detached. Restart InDesign and check whether the issue persists.

If the issue continues, please try backing up and resetting your InDesign preferences by following the steps in this Adobe Help article:

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/desktop/troubleshoot/launch-and-crash-issues/issues-on-startup.html

Additionally, could you please confirm your InDesign version, Windows version, and whether you're using a touchscreen laptop or an external touch display? Also, does this happen every time you launch InDesign, or only after a fresh installation?

Looking forward to hearing back.
Abhishek

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Mark38723834kpdb

Participating Frequently

Thanks, Abishek! Will keep it in mind for next time. It happened after installing an update, not at each startup. (Was quite maddening at that time).
Mark

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Jubilant_student93af

Participant

Hi, this is a long-running issue, and different fixes have worked for different people. In rough order from easiest to most involved:

1. Go through the touch tutorial. A few people (OneHipSista, Johanna) got out by swiping or clicking through the gesture screens and choosing “Get Started.” After that the cursor worked and they could switch workspaces.

2. Open an existing .indd file. Close InDesign completely, then reopen it by double-clicking any existing .indd file. Once it’s open, go to Edit > Preferences > Touch Workspace and uncheck “Switch to Touch Workspace when the keyboard is detached” (suggested by Abhishek Rao). This doesn’t work for everyone. Chris E OKC and AlisonSpooner reported it opening briefly and then dropping back to the unresponsive screen.

3. Disable the touch screen in Windows. The answer marked correct (Mike-Witherell, Windows 11) is: right-click Start > Device Manager > expand Human Interface Devices > right-click “HID-compliant touch screen” > Disable device. Repeat for every touch screen entry listed. You can re-enable it afterwards the same way. This may need administrator rights, which AlisonSpooner didn’t have.

4. If you use an external monitor or touch display. Peter334996763wkv closed the laptop lid so InDesign opened on the external monitor, then switched to the Essentials workspace. AlisonSpooner got around it by unplugging the USB cable of the touch display.

5. Reset InDesign preferences. This fixed it for aideno13530731 after the other steps failed. Close all Adobe apps, go to AppData\Roaming\Adobe in your Windows user folder, rename the “Adobe InDesign” and “Adobe InDesign [version number] Settings” folders by adding .old, then relaunch InDesign from Creative Cloud. This resets your custom settings to default, so back the folders up first if you want to keep them.

Once you’re in, switch back to a normal workspace (for example Essentials) from the workspace switcher.

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Mike-WitherellCorrect answer

Inspiring

This worked for me on Windows 11:

Right-click on the Start menu and select Device Manager.
In the Device Manager window that opens, select the arrow next to Human Interface Devices to expand it.
Under Human Interface Devices, right-click on HID-compliant touch screen and select either Enable device or Disable device depending on which action is desired.
If there are multiple HID-compliant touch screen devices listed, repeat the steps for each device.

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lindam29254655

Participating Frequently

It is already enabled. InDesign still not showing up under my plan.

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leo.r

Community Expert

It is already enabled. InDesign still not showing up under my plan.

This thread is about a totally different issue that has nothing to do with InDesign not showing up under a plan. Please create a new thread a describe your problem in detail.

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AlisonSpooner

Participant

Still happening in my 2025 version. And now, when I do the suggested solution of opening an existing file, it opens briefly then defaults back to the home interface an continues to be unresponsive. I'm using a large interactive display without any other screen. Does anyone have any suggestions???

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Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @AlisonSpooner,

Thanks for sharing the update, and I'm really sorry you're still running into this issue.

Since you're using a large interactive display, I'd recommend temporarily disabling the touchscreen to see if that helps bypass the unresponsive Touch Workspace. You can follow the steps mentioned on this official Microsoft page to disable it:
https://adobe.ly/3IV2crW

Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Abhishek

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AlisonSpooner

Participant

The solution you suggested is unavailable to me as I am not the administrator on the computer. I did manage to work around the problem by removing the USB cable for the touch interface.

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Phillbies

Participant

May 2025 and this is still happening! Absolutely unbelievably terrible service Adobe. Mine is completely unresponsive even when opening an existing file. THere is no possible way to take it out of touch mode. So I have an expensive and useless piece of software and unable to do the work I desperately need to do. I'm so sick of Adobe loading stupid tech into their software. Acrobat used to be a simple useful tool. Now it is just bloated with unneccessary functions that make it virtually unusable.

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gmendiastudio

Participant

july 2025.

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Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @gmendiastudio,

Are you also having trouble dismissing the Touch Workspace in InDesign? If yes, kindly try the suggestions shared by Harshika (https://adobe.ly/3I2gTcf) and let us know if they help?

If the problem persists, please confirm the version of the OS/InDesign installed and provide a small screen recording of the problem so I can better assist you.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

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OneHipSista

Participant

This just happened to me. I was able to get past it by swiping to the next gesture screen and clicking "Get Started." Not very intuitive.

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Rod35193707c7l0

Participating Frequently

I don't understand where to click?

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Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @Rod35193707c7l0,

Thanks for reaching out! If you're stuck on the touch workspace screen and can't click anything, try closing the InDesign app completely and then reopen it by directly double-clicking any existing .indd file. That should help you get past the initial screen. Once the file is open, go to Edit > Preferences > Touch Workspace and uncheck the option that says "Switch to Touch Workspace when the keyboard is detached."

Let me know if that works or if you're still stuck.

Abhishek

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aideno13530731

Participant

Hi, still experiencing this problem. None of the solutions listed here have worked.

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Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @aideno13530731,

Would you mind trying to manually reset InDesign's preferences and checking if it helps:

For macOS

• Close all Adobe applications.

• Go to the following locations

• ~/Library/Caches

• ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe

• ~/Library/Preferences

• Rename Adobe InDesign, com.adobe.indesign and Adobe InDesign 20 Settings folders to Adobe InDesign.old, com.adobe.indesign.old and Adobe InDesign 20 Settings.old

• Launch InDesign from the Creative Cloud.

Note: Location starting with this "~" sign indicates the User Library, which is hidden. So, you need to copy & paste the exact path in spotlight search or from Finder Menu > Go > Go to Folder > Paste the location in the dialog box like this:

For Windows

- Close all Adobe applications.

- Go to Location C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Adobe

- Rename Adobe InDesign and Adobe InDesign 20 Settings folders to Adobe InDesign.old and Adobe InDesign 20 Settings.old

- Relaunch InDesign from Creative Cloud

Disclaimer: Please note that renaming preferences folders will remove all the custom settings, and InDesign will launch with default settings. You can also save a backup of the folders in case you want to. The location is mentioned above.

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Anubhav

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aideno13530731

Participant

This worked, thank you!

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Susanna248990881sgi

Participating Frequently

I just wanted to give an update that I noticed at least one significant improvement has been made on this bug. Previously, if my Cintiq tablet was attached & turned on and I opened InDesign, it opened with the Touch interface even if it opened on a regular monitor.

Today I forgot to turn off my tablet before opening InDesign, and InDesign opened normally anyway! It opened on my primary (laptop) monitor with the normal, non-touch interface. I'm using the Windows version of InDesign 20.1.

Progress!

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Peter334996763wkv

Participant

Same thing happened to me on a touch-screen laptop and attached (non-touch screen) monitor. I had to close Indesign, than shut my laptop so it reopened on the external monitor. Then I could switch to Essentails workspace. Fngers corossed this doesn't happen on subsequent loads.

Version 20.0.2 x64

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Johanna30517285kafz

Participant

Same happened to me until I noticed that you had to go through the little tutorial (click next on the button) and then click Lets start (or something like it) After that you can use the cursor to switch Workspaces.

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Holeycow

Known Participant

This is causing me some real frustration as well. Surely it's not hard to have an option in preferences to switch off the touch option.
Every file I open opens as the touch option.

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MelissaNM

Participant

Just a quick note that this is STILL happening in Jan 2025 on startup.

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