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Participating Frequently
Jun 10, 2026 8:35 PM UTC
Question

When is HEIC going to be viable inside Indesign files?

I just embedded twenty HEIC files in an INDD file and the file rapidly became extremely sluggish. The color wheel of death spun regularly for almost every 5th action step. Even simple adjustments into the file, caused the color wheel to spin. Its time to get this bug fixed from Indesign.

    5 replies

    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    Jun 16, 2026 5:49 PM UTC

    Hi ​@Arnie25177844ow85,

     

    Thanks for reaching out, and sorry to hear you're experiencing this. Could you please confirm the exact InDesign version you're using (for example, 21.4 or another build)?

    Also, please restart your machine, launch InDesign before opening any other applications, and test the workflow again. While testing, could you also disable the Generative AI options under InDesign Preferences > Generative AI and let us know if that makes any difference?

    If the issue persists, please share a short screen recording, let us know whether it happens only with a specific document or also in a new document after placing the HEIC files, and include a screenshot of the Links panel so we can confirm whether the images are linked or embedded.

     

    Looking forward to your update.

    Abhishek 

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    rob day
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    Jun 10, 2026 10:33 PM UTC

    Hi ​@Arnie25177844ow85 , Just to clarify (you did use the term embedded}, but if you check the Links panel and Link Info, the Status is listed as OK and not Embedded as in this examble?

     

     

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    Mike Witherell
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    Jun 10, 2026 10:29 PM UTC

    Hi Arnie,

    It isn’t clear whether you are placing them or embedding them. Those are two different things to InDesign.

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    Mike Witherell
    leo.r
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    Jun 10, 2026 9:24 PM UTC

    Does this happen when you embed specifically HEIC files or any images? Do you have any issues if you don’t embed the images but simply link them (which is recommended)? Do you have any particular reasons to embed images instead of linking? Also, what are your InDesign and operating system versions?

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    Participating Frequently
    Jun 10, 2026 9:49 PM UTC

    embed = placed images into document on hard drive. I have seen this before. Only happens with HEIC images
    Newest INDD version
    OS 26.5
    IMAC 27 ©2021 with 32 GB ram

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