The latest InDesign update wiped out my workspace settings - why?

What update did you install? Was it a minor update to your existing version of InDesign, or did you upgrade to a new major version?

I've always found it frustrating when installing a new version of InDesign and discovering my carefully arranged workspace hasn't carried over. You'd think maintaining a consistent look and feel between versions would be fairly straightforward.

To be fair, Adobe does provide an option to migrate preferences and settings during installation, but it doesn't always seem to work as expected as ​@Mike Witherell points to.

Another option is to back up your custom workspaces manually and copy them into the corresponding folder for the newer version.

I'd strongly recommend saving your preferred panel arrangement as a named workspace under Window > Workspace > New Workspace.

Windows> %APPDATA%\Adobe\InDesign\Version 21.0\en_US\Workspaces
Mac > ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe InDesign/Version 21.0/en_US/Workspaces 

If it was just a minor update and your workspace has suddenly reset, though, that's a different issue. Your existing workspace shouldn't normally disappear simply because you've installed an update.

I'd be interested to know which version you updated from and to.

Hi Robert,

Before patching or upgrading, be sure to File > User Settings > Export User Settings…

After, if something is missing or incomplete, try File > User Settings > Import User Settings...

Hi ​@Robert34601166t8pj,

Sorry to hear that your custom workspaces disappeared after updating InDesign. I understand how frustrating it can be to lose your personalized workspace settings.

Could you please confirm your operating system and InDesign version, including which version you updated from?

In the meantime, your custom workspaces may still be available in the previous version's preferences folder.

Please close InDesign and check the following locations:
Windows: %APPDATA%\Adobe\InDesign\

macOS: ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe InDesign/

Look inside the previous version's folder, then the language folder (such as en_US) and Workspaces.

If your custom workspace XML files are present, please back them up and try copying them into the corresponding Workspaces folder for your current InDesign version. Restart InDesign and check Window > Workspace.

You can refer to helpx documentation here:

InDesign preferences and support file locations

Please let us know whether you can locate the workspace files and if they reappear after copying them.

Abhishek