Inspiring

Answered

Adobe InDesign 2026, full screen toggle change - BUG

Forum|Forum|3 months ago
October 28, 2025
32 replies
5675 views

I use Adobe inDesign in pallet mode, so not 'Application Frame' mode, with toolbars at the top and left docked and pallets docked to the right.

Click the the expand traffic light button in the top left used to just expand the window so that it still showed the dock at the bottom and the pallets to the right, if they inadvertently went behind the pallets or dock.

Now it just goes full screen mode which I don't use and is useless for a pallet rich application like InDesign, and is impossible to get out of, unless you move & undock the toolbars out of the way so that when you move your mouse to the top, the window buttons reappear.

This is so broken it's unbelivable you've shipped it like this.

The only fix for this is to go into Application Frame mode which doesn't work for me because I need to see the Finder desktop when there's no documents open.

It's a bug because holding down the option key and hovering over the expand button, changes it into a + sign but it does nothing when you click it.

Adobe Photoshop 2026 behaves the same, but Adobe Illustrator works as InDesign used to..

So the fix is to just make it work like Illustrator.

Bug

Correct answer Coldd

Agreed, I don't normally do that in my work but I can confirm that is still a bug.

Also noticed these bugs as well:

1: InDesign does not save document window size between saves. If you make the document sizes smaller and save then re-open, it opens to the full size document.

2: The document occasionally goes behind the dock (although this has been the case for a while).

3: Adobe Photoshop 2026 has the bug that InDesign has just fixed - I've mentioned this before in this thread, if an Adobe Employee could confirm this is being fixed also, or do I have to raise this in the Photoshop forum?

Just to confirm on point 3, where Photoshop had the same bug as InDesign, this has now been fixed this monring with update 27.1.

Points 1 and 2 remain, where InDesign doesn't save document sizes between saves and documents occasionally go behind the dock.

Plus points made by Ben_P & TracyBien still remain - but we are making progress.

Show previous replies

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laubaz

Participant

Après avoir passé quelques heures à chercher, je crois avoir trouvé la solution. Il faut activer le cadre de l'application, puis le désactiver. Pour moi, la fenêtre se place bien à gauche avec les outils, mais pas bien à droite avec les fenêtres. Alors je ferme mon fichier et je l'ouvre à nouveau. Maintenant, ma fenêtre est bien calée à droite et à gauche.

leo.r

Community Expert

Après avoir passé quelques heures à chercher, je crois avoir trouvé la solution.

By @laubaz

It's just a shaky temporary workaround. Try to option-click the green button at any time and see what happens... Regardless, Adobe acknowledged this bug and, hopefully, will fix it soon

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laubaz

Participant

Indeed, it’s a temporary way to work around the bug until Adobe fixes it, so we can work under good conditions. Also, this solution works as long as you don’t quit the software.

J

JamieMcKee

Inspiring

Just chiming in to agree with Coldd. Working in InDesign before v21 was no problem if you chose not to use the Application Frame. I do not like the Application Frame and choose not to use it. Choosing not to use the Application Frame has never been a problem before and continues to not be a problem using the just-released Illustrator v30, but is totally broken in InDesign v21. This is under macOS Sequoia 15.7.1 and I imagine macOS Tahoe as well.

So please Adobe, whatever changed to the windowing in InDesign v21, change it back to how it worked in all the previous versions for those of us who don't use the Application Frame.

R

Rouge

Participant

😓 Tant que ce bug ne sera pas réglé, moi je reste à InDesign 2025 !

H

heavenrider

Participant

I agree, that this bug in InDesign and Photoshop is annoying. I use InDesign on different machines. Currently I test the new version on an iMac 2019 with Sequoia 15.7.1. This behaviour is the first thing I saw after I started the 2026 InDesign. How can Adobe ship something buggy like this? Where are the Beta-testers?

Please, Adobe, fix this bug asap!!! We don't wanna work in this application frame! Until the bug is not fixed, I'll not update our working machines. Thank Gos I saw this bug quickly on a test machine.

Derek Holiman

Known Participant

Yes, me too! (maybe that's the movement they'll act on)

Seems like the Mac way of handling windows is the ugly step-child and Adobe couldn't care less about any behavior outside the Application Frame workflow. All window behavior in Adobe products on Mac is fncked up one way or another. (been dealing with an Illustrator window problem since 2019)

It may ultimately be because of changes to macOS, but they are the operationg system. The apps need to get on board.

Outside of the Windows-centric Application Frame way of doing things... it's broken, it's wrong, it's defective, whatever.

Fully agree with Diguru-Studio and Coldd.

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Damian5FE4

Inspiring

Have you "upgraded" to Tahoe yet? I'm still on the latest sequoia here, because Tahoe is pretty broken still. I wonder if this bug persists there too. Do you know?

leo.r

Community Expert

Have you "upgraded" to Tahoe yet? I'm still on the latest sequoia here, because Tahoe is pretty broken still. I wonder if this bug persists there too. Do you know?

By @Damian5FE4

Yes, it's on all systems.

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Ben__P

Known Participant

On Mac OS 26.0.1 using Indesign 20. I like to use Indesign without the application frame so I can see and click to my desktop when needed. With the previous version of Indesign clicking the green button on the window would maximize it to fit without the tool frames. Now when I click the green button it goes complete full screen and I can only undo this by moving toolbars out of the way to get to the green button again to click it. Anyway to get this to behave like it did in the previous version?

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Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @Ben__P,

Thanks for reaching out. Could you try resetting your current workspace or using one of the default workspaces to see if it helps? Also, try enabling the Application Frame and share your observations.

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Anubhav

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Damian5FE4

Inspiring

Here is a video of one of the bugs in action.
For whatever reason, many of my documents open with the bottom of the window juuuuust out of view. In previous versions, clicking the green traffic light button in the upper left resized the window so the bottom of the window was now in view. In 2026, this is no longer the case. Now, it jumps around. Watch!

Screen_Recording_2025-10-31_at_10-54-38 AM.zip

Dave the 1st

Participant

I'd just like to bump this to show my support for this too as I use this ALL the time as per @Coldd . I also hate the full screen option. It has always annoyed me in Photoshop and now you bring it to InDesign. At least Illustrator is safe for now.

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Since this is probably a new macOS bug:

In the meantime, consider running in Application Frame (which has many benefits) and consider pressing Cmd-Tab to go to Finder quickly.

Mike Witherell

Diguru-Studio

Participating Frequently

running in Application Frame (which has many benefits)

By @Mike Witherell

I can confirm IT DOES NOT!

its very un maclike and claustraphobic

someting i turn off immedetly on adobe apps

it no longer works as expected, holding etc is irrelevant, the window should not wander under the palettes

C

ColddAuthor

Inspiring

Not to turn this post into a rant (as I just want this bug repaired), but I agree.

I jump from the Mac to the Windows versions on occasion and it seems that the 'Windows way' (Application Frame) is certainly tested (and is pushed by Adobe) more than the 'Mac way' (document window and floating pallets).

The non-Application Frame is completely broken (the completely redundant UI bar with the Home button which cannot be removed for instance), and now this full-screen bug on top of that just compounds it.

Having said that, the Finder exhibits this same beahviour now so i don't know if Adobe is just following Apple's lead here.

leo.r

Community Expert

Now it just goes full screen mode which I don't use and is useless for a pallet rich application like InDesign, and is impossible to get out of, unless you move & undock the toolbars out of the way

By @Coldd

Yes, it's quite infuriating that there's no way to get out of the full-screen mode (which is undesirable for the overwhelming majority of users anyway).

An easier way than moving panels is to press Tab (just make sure you're not in text-editing mode), which will hide all panels. Then you can reveal the green button by moving the cursor to the top of the screen, click it to exit the full-screen mode, and then press Tab again to bring back the panels.

Diguru-Studio

Participating Frequently

yeah if you click the green button accidently then the 'full screen' mode its got into is broken anyway

leo.r

Community Expert

Yes, a known bug in InDesign 2026:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/workspace-problem-since-the-v20-update/m-p/15567980#M639853

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/new-document-window-opens-bellow-pannels/m-p/15568324#M639876

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ColddAuthor

Inspiring

No, this is different.

I've been option clicking to override the full screen for a while now.

This bug is where option clicking no longer works.

Pressing option whilst hovering over the full screen button changes it to a +, but clicking it does nothing to the window.

leo.r

Community Expert

No, this is different.

I've been option clicking to override the full screen for a while now.

This bug is where option clicking no longer works.

Pressing option whilst hovering over the full screen button changes it to a +, but clicking it does nothing to the window.

By @Coldd

Prior to InDesign 2026, InDesign didn't have a full-screen mode, so it didn't make any difference whether you hold Option when clicking the green button or not - it behaved as expected anyway.

If I understand you correctly, then I can't reproduce what you describe - that is that option-clicking the green button does nothing. To me, this simply always does the wrong thing (that is, expands the window behind the panels and the Dock).

Regardless, it's clear that window positioning functionality is totally broken, and it doesn't look like this has ever been tested while Application Frame is disabled.

Diguru-Studio

Participating Frequently

agreed.
it expands under the palettes and all new windows open up full width under the paletts too
cant be fixed soon enough

A

Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @Coldd, @Diguru-Studio,

Thanks for reaching out and sharing your observations. While I check this with the team could you try resetting your workspace or switching to one of the default workspaces to see if the problem persists?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

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ColddAuthor

Inspiring

Yeah tried that before, it doesn't change the behaviour.

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