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Question

Adobe Indesign 2025 Version 20.5 x64

Forum|Forum|5 months ago
October 14, 2025
5 replies
1058 views

Just today, on 2 seperate computers, both with the latest version of Indesign installed, have when I edit a file in anyway, gives me a message as follows:

"Indesign is unable to save this file. We tried, but it appears to be damaged"

The programme thengives me a message as follows when I try to close the file:

"Could not complete your request becuase of a database error. The file "Indesign Defaults" is damaged (Error code:1).

I have sent all the error reports to Adobe but that doesn't help me get my work done in the meantime.

So, I thought I'd uninstalled Indesign and reinstalled it, but I still get the same messages on every indesign file I have, which is nuts!!

I have tried with files on the computer's own hard drive, files stored in the cloud, files on a USB stick, and it makes absolutely no difference.

I can open files and save them using 'save as' provided I haven't made any changes, but as soon as I make any changes, even to replacing a single letter, I get the above messages!

I had no issyes yesterdaqy on either workstation, but today has been a nightmare.

Can anyone offer a solution or experiencing the same issue or know what is causing it?

Peter Spier

Community Expert

I asked earlier about the use of a font manager and didn't get a reply. Just want to point out that font managers are, indeed, plugins, and they are notorious for not playing nice with InDesin updates until the vendor issues their own updates.

S

sc92458557

Participating Frequently

I have been having these same exact issues on two different computers. I held off on installing ID 20 because I knew it would be a wreck, and now that I've done it I've been proven right.

Absolutely unacceptable, my workflow has ground to a halt because I've spent all week troubleshooting instead of working. I should bill Adobe for my time.

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @williams66774346,

Thanks for sharing the details, and I'm really sorry to hear about the trouble you're facing with InDesign 2025. Adding to the great suggestions from our experts, could you please try the steps mentioned in this article to troubleshoot file-related issues: https://adobe.ly/43hyeFy.

You can also check these similar community threads for reference, as a few users reported comparable database-related errors:
Error code 6 in InDesign CC
Unable to complete request due to database error

If the problem continues after trying those, please share one of the affected files for testing. You can upload it to a cloud service like Google Drive or Dropbox. If the file is confidential, feel free to share it privately via DM on the community.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

W

williams66774346Author

Participating Frequently

Hi Abhishek,

I had tried the sugguestions on your first link but to no avail unfortunately. I haven't had an error code 6 but will look at that and the database error as well. I have sent aa number of crash report to Adove already today, as the software askes me to send it when it has produced the errors above, but happy to share on here as well, as long as you promise not to tell anyone, because I'm busy doing promotional material for 'Santa' re him having breakfast with kids, etc, so shhhhh, don't tell!! 😉

leo.r

Community Expert

Try these general troubleshooting steps:

https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-indesign-rebuilding-preferences-cache/

Also, what's your Windows version and how much RAM do you have?

W

williams66774346Author

Participating Frequently

One computer has 16Gb of RAM and is running Windows 10. The other computer is running window 11 and has 64Gb or RAM. I will have a look at the link you kindly posted.

Thank you

leo.r

Community Expert

also, try to revert to an earlier version of InDesign 2025 (20.4, 20.3, etc.) Creative Cloud app > InDesign > Other Versions menu. will it make a difference?

W

williams66774346Author

Participating Frequently

Apologies for the typo errors above, but wanted to add that when I go to close Indesign I now get a message stating:

"Could not complete your request because of a database error. The file "DBTmp3990829460604640734" is damaged (error code: 2).

I could possibly understand this on 1 computer, but not on 2 separate desktops - this has got me really puzzled

Peter Spier

Community Expert

This kind of error can be associated with synching to cloud storage.

You might als try a selective startup without anti-virus, and another good test would be to try creating a new user account and see if the error persists, which will tell you if the problem is user-related or in the system someplace.

W

williams66774346Author

Participating Frequently

Hi Peter, I moved the files from the cloud and placed them on the hard drive of the computers, just to eliminate that particular scenario as I had read on here that could be the issue based on what some other posts were stating, but it didn't make any difference.

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