Whenever I paste in a file, whether it's a pdf or a picture, InDesign freezes up and I have to force quit out and restart. Sometimes that helps the issue for awhile and other times it just keeps freezing up over and over again.

Forum|Forum|10 hours ago
August 18, 2026
3 replies
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My InDesign has been acting up for the past six months or so when I try pasting in a separate file into the InDesign document. Whenever I paste in a file, whether it's a pdf or a picture, InDesign freezes up and I have to force quit out and restart. Sometimes that helps the issue for awhile and other times it just keeps freezing up over and over again.

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

File > Place is a better workflow than paste.

Also, the Generative AI feature is known to slow down InDesign. Go to Preferences > Generative AI to turn it off. I made a script to put into Startup Scripts in order to block this feature whenever you start InDesign.

https://trainingonsite.com/235-indesign-generative-ai-blocker.html

Mike Witherell