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Léonard Roussel
Léonard Roussel
Participant
April 19, 2021
Answered

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

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!

 

<Title renamed by moderator>

    Mike-Witherell
    Mike-WitherellCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    October 12, 2025

    This worked for me on Windows 11:

    1. Right-click on the Start  menu and select Device Manager.
    2. In the Device Manager window that opens, select the arrow next to Human Interface Devices to expand it.
    3. 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.
    4. If there are multiple HID-compliant touch screen devices listed, repeat the steps for each device.
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    103 replies

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    Kelsey28207856c84e
    Participant
    June 14, 2023

    I had the same probleam and unfortunately none of the solutions above worked for me.
    While I was playing around I found a very easy solution...

    Windows Settings --> System --> Tablet --> Change "When I sign in" dropdown to "Never use tablet mode".

    Tada!

     

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      Susanna248990881sgi
      Participating Frequently
      June 14, 2023

      I tried this and it still opened in tablet mode, on the regular desktop monitor, even! 

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      Gena5FC6
      Participant
      August 10, 2023

      When opening InDesign, hold down "Control + Shift + Alt" as it's loading (or "Apple + Cmd" if on Mac).  It will give you the option to delete preferences - say yes. Then you can use your mouse instead of the touch screen.

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        James Gifford—NitroPress
        James Gifford—NitroPress
        Legend
        January 3, 2023

        Just as a more general answer, don't most dual-mode devices have something like an app list where the preferred usage mode can be set? Something like associating certain file types with apps — is there no "open this app in Touch mode, this one in Keyboard mode, etc." setting?

         

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        SPollok
        Participant
        November 15, 2022

        I am experiencing the very same problem. My computer doesn't have a touchpad what could cause the problem. Yesterday, it worked fine. Today it freezes on said touchpanel screen upon opening the software (I refuse the word app). I cannot click on anything. I also cannot open an existing project to cricumvent it. I have a deadline, so help would be highly appreciated!

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          Debbie15A9
          Participant
          November 25, 2022

          I just ran into this on a new InDesign install on my Asus laptop with touch screen. There was a button below the gestures that I touched and after a couple screens of a tutorial, it let me access the menus to select a different (non-touch) workspace.

           

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            Barney26144364s644
            Participant
            September 16, 2022

            I had a similar problem just now on my little 13-inch Elitebook. My solution was to quit INDD and go into the system settings to change my display settings ("Change the size of text, apps, and other items") from 150% scale down to 100%. Once the computer was at 100% scale, I then launched INDD and could see and interact with the menu that toggles from "Touch" to other modes. After switching it out of Touch mode, I went back into the system settings to change the scale back to 150%.

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              Anonymous
              December 4, 2021

              InDesign is doing this to me too. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling and nothing worked. I tried doing what you did and that didn't work for me. It just froze again.

               

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                Ian255802463804
                Participant
                August 9, 2022

                Experiencing similar difficulty!

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                  MoonsideKid
                  Participating Frequently
                  March 10, 2023

                  Your screenshot is identical to the problem I'm having. Initial install on Microsoft Surface Pro laptop; disabled touch mode on the laptop with no change in the issue. Tried unistalling and reinstalling--nothing. I also have no previous InDesign files to use as a workaround like the original poster did. I wonder why no one from Adobe has posted any response to this thread...there's just the one answer which doesn't seem helpful to almost everybody.

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                    Léonard Roussel
                    Léonard RousselAuthor
                    Participant
                    April 19, 2021

                    Ah, I think I just solved it for myself. Closing InDesign and opening an existing .indd, THEN disabling the Touch workspace worked for me. I'd still like Adobe to be aware of this and look into it. 

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                      BobLevine
                      Community Expert
                      BobLevineCommunity Expert
                      Community Expert
                      April 19, 2021

                      There is nothing to fix. This is normal behavior on touch devices to make you aware of its existence. Choose another workspace and you shouldn't see it again.

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                      Léonard Roussel
                      Léonard RousselAuthor
                      Participant
                      April 19, 2021

                      No it cannot be normal behavior: Like I said, the interface is fully unresponsive in that initial view, I am therefore unable to exit Touch workspace.

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