Adobe background tasks stuck and will not clear

This has been happening for me when attempting to export to PDF. The PDF doesn't export until I go to Task Manager to abort the .indd application. Just installed latest update (4/30/25) and the problem is not fixed.

@TaffyM 

In order to disable Background Tasks and see what is going on:

To disable InDesign's background tasks, you can create a blank text file named DisableAsyncExports.txt and place it in the appropriate InDesign directory.

For macOS -  /Applications/Adobe InDesign 2021/Adobe InDesign 2021.app/Contents/MacOS/

For Windows - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign 2021\ 

It's also possible that your file is corrupted - if you can still open it:

1) you can try IDMLing - export as IDML, open, save with a new name - DO NOT overwrite your original file,

or

2) create a new, blank document - best would be if you make it the same page size and with the same margins - then move ALL pages from your document to the beginning of this new document - save it with a new name - more details here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/error-when-exporting-indd-to-pdf/m-p/15283647#M621836

Hello @TaffyM,

Could you share more details, like the version of the OS/InDesign installed, and a small screen recording of your exact workflow and the problem, so I can check this with the team?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav