Some Files Slow to React to Input

Question

We get files created by someone else, usually they are 300-400 pages all done in one InDesign file. Many times these files are very slow to react to user input. Planting the cursor or double clicking a word to select it can take 3-4 seconds for anything to happen. Once that's been done you can select text with no delay, but as soon as a change is made the to the file, the next time something is selected it again takes 3-4 seconds to respond.

I've Googled a bunch and tried clearing preferences and saving as IDML but to no avail. Recently we received one such file that was actually more than double the number of pages than usual at 926 pages, and again all in one InDesign file.

THAT humongous file does NOT have the slowness problem! I captured and compared all the preference settings from that file with another file that has the slowness problem but there wasn't anything different that seemed like it would affect things, just stuff like superscript size and unit differences.

Any ideas on what causes those maddeningly slow reactions?

James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted Answer

Check for any GREP or nested styles, probably in body or other frequently used styles. If, say, body text or frequently used list styles have a GREP style, any change to the document forces a re-check of all such content, which in large documents can take a noticeable amount of time.

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