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Inspiring
Jul 29, 2025 10:09 AM UTC
Answered

WHAT ARE THESE LOCKED FILESALL ABOUT?

What are these locked files all about?

 

 

Abhishek Rao
Abhishek RaoCorrect answer
Community Manager
Jul 29, 2025 10:54 AM UTC

Hi @hendy_5450,

 

Those are InDesign's temporary lock files. They get created every time you open an INDD file to prevent two people from editing the same file at once. Normally, they disappear automatically when you close the document.

If they stick around, it usually means InDesign didn't close properly or the file was on a shared/network drive and didn't release the lock. You can go ahead and delete the leftover .idlk files after making sure the actual INDD file isn't open anywhere. It won't harm your document.

Once you do that, everything should be back to normal.

 

If they keep showing up even after that, let me know.

Abhishek 

 

1 reply

Abhishek Rao
Community Manager
Abhishek RaoCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
Community Manager
Jul 29, 2025 10:54 AM UTC

Hi @hendy_5450,

 

Those are InDesign's temporary lock files. They get created every time you open an INDD file to prevent two people from editing the same file at once. Normally, they disappear automatically when you close the document.

If they stick around, it usually means InDesign didn't close properly or the file was on a shared/network drive and didn't release the lock. You can go ahead and delete the leftover .idlk files after making sure the actual INDD file isn't open anywhere. It won't harm your document.

Once you do that, everything should be back to normal.

 

If they keep showing up even after that, let me know.

Abhishek 

 

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