Issue: InDesign 2026 (v21.0.0.192) Crashes Repeatedly – EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION in CoolType.dll

A crash in CoolType.dll almost always points to font corruption, font conflicts, or a damaged text frame in the document. CoolType is Adobe’s font and text-rendering engine when it goes, it's nearly always because something in the document is triggering it.

Opening files from InDesign 2025 is normally fine (InDesign is forward–compatible with .idml), but if the source file has a damaged object or a corrupt font style applied, InDesign 2026 may choke on it.

1. Test if InDesign crashes with a blank document

• Open InDesign

• Create a new file

• Add a few text frames, draw some shapes
  If that does not crash, your installation is fine the issue is with fonts or the file you're opening.

If even a blank file crashes  skip to 7.

2. Check the problem document using IDML

Since you're dealing with a 2025-origin file:

• Open the .indd if possible

• Save As .idml

• Reopen the IDML in 2026

If the crash happens on opening the IDML the corruption is inside the document.

3. Identify corrupt fonts (most common cause)

CoolType.dll crashes are overwhelmingly caused by fonts.

Try:

• Open Creative Cloud Desktop > Fonts > Validate / Remove problematic fonts

• Temporarily move all non-system fonts out of:

   

  C:\Windows\Fonts C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts

• Restart InDesign

If it stops crashing one of your fonts is broken.
Use the half-split method:

• Add back half the fonts

• Test

• Narrow down the culprit

4. Turn off GPU Performance

Sometimes corrupt objects or large vector shapes cause GPU-triggered CoolType crashes.

Edit > Preferences > GPU Performance > Untick “GPU Performance”
Restart InDesign and reopen the file.

5. Reset InDesign Preferences

Corrupt preferences can trigger drawing engine crashes.

Hold Ctrl+Shift+Alt while launching InDesign > agree to reset.

(can be done through InDesign Preferences too)

6. Delete the InDesign cache

Fully quit InDesign, then delete:

Let InDesign rebuild them.

7. Reinstall or roll back

If the crash reports happen on a blank document:

• Uninstall InDesign 2026

• Restart PC

• Reinstall or roll back to InDesign 2025.3 (most stable recent build)

CoolType.dll is updated between major versions — sometimes new releases have regressions.

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

8. Quick workaround for opening 2025 files

If you absolutely must work on the file:

• Open it on a machine with InDesign 2025 (or reinstall 2025 through Creative Cloud),

• Export as IDML,

• Open the IDML on your Windows 11 machine.

(IDML strips out many problem objects.)

Likely Answer (what’s actually happening)

This is almost certainly a corrupt font or a corrupted style/text frame inside the 2025-era document. CoolType.dll usually crashes when something text-related breaks rendering. The GPU toggle and IDML round-trip will usually confirm it.

If it's still not working - attach the Crash Report as a text file and we can take a look.