Awesome New Adobe Creative Break Initiative!

[00rhodiad]

I'd like to thank Adobe for it's hugely successful creative break initiative! At first I was annoyed and perplexed, but I think I get it now. I'm often tempted to work productively in Indesign for way too long without a break, and I'm thankful to Adobe for helping me avoid this. Two hours of productive work, or even one, can be unhealthful without breaks, so Adobe has brilliantly programmed Indesign to occasionally disappear, helping me to notice that I have been getting actual work done for probably way too long.

These breaks seldom result in lost work, thanks to Indesign's excellent auto-saving functionality, and the specially designed extended application launch and file recovery process takes just long enough that I don't want to sit and wait, so I get up and walk nervously around the room until I can confirm that I've only lost the last ten minutes or so of work. (But it's been an hour or so since my last break—that those final 10 minutes were probably getting slightly less efficient anyway.)

My only question is why be so secretive? I can't find any documentation on this new feature. I would think an idea like this would be used in marketing!

Also, I'd like to adjust the settings slightly so that I could get a small warning. Or maybe a dialog confirming that it wasn't just a standard, usual, normal, regular old Adobe application crash. I do understand that it wouldn't be a good idea to let users opt out of the feature, considering that it's in the best interest of our health, but I might like to adjust the timing slightly, or maybe have the option of keeping that last 10 minutes' work for those occasional days when I'm trying to make deadlines.

Does anyone know if this feature has any settings that can be adjusted? Or does that added functionality only come with the upgraded $80/month subscription?

[MW Design · Accepted solution]

I came here to read the forum on what else, but a break. I'm sorry for your pain, but your post made me laugh.

Thanks, Mike

[BobLevine]

Like Mike, I got a chuckle out of this but there’s a lot of people here that would be happy to try and help you out.

But you’ll need to post full details including ID version, O/S and what exactly is going on.

[00rhodiad]

Thanks Bob. It really was meant as just a snarky way to blow off steam while I waited for Indesign to restart. Gratified to see it bring lukewarm comfort to others—you know what they say about misery and company.

That said, here are my deets and a few examples of things that seem to trigger Creative Breaks:

Late 2013 27" iMac 3.4 GHz Core i5 with 16GB memory and plenty of disk space running current OS and CC versions: OS10.12.5 (16F73) and Indesign CC 2017 (12.0.0.81)

Things that sometimes help me to remember to take a break from productivity:

• deleting a large table from a flowed text block
• exporting a PDF again right after having exported a PDF (or doing nothing or anything after PDF export)
• working on files over a network, you know, like you do if you're at any agency with more than one employee
• InCopy—doing much of anything for more than an hour or so in a file with multiple icml links, sorry I can't be more specific here

I'll add to the list during my next break!

(But seriously and sincerely, thanks for the encouragement and support.)

[BobLevine]

First things first, CC2017.1 had a number of bug fixes and you should definitely install that.

[00rhodiad]

Oh. OH! ... But CC says it's all up to date. Any tips? I'm about to feel sheepish, aren't I.

[Steve Werner]

There are a number of ways to "kickstart" you Creative Cloud Desktop app so it shows the updates. Read about them here:

https://creativepro.com/troubleshooting-adobe-creative-cloud-desktop-app/?utm_campaign=coschedule&ut...

Go down to the section called "What If the CC Desktop App Doesn't Show Updates"

Also, try logging out and logging in with the CC desktop app.

[00rhodiad]

Thanks Steve!

And uh-oh, now I'm stumped. Tried: relaunching CC desktop app, logging out/in of/to CC, re-installing the CC desktop app from downloaded Adobe installer... no change (still says all my apps are up to date when I ask it to check for app updates.)

CC Desktop App looks right, seems to be working, current version ... Any suggestion how to give it a solid nudge in the posterior? I sure don't relish the idea of having to set up all my Indesign prefs from scratch—hope it doesn't come to that.

[00rhodiad]

Update: SUCCESS! Chatted with Adobe tech support this morning and we un-stuck the CC Desktop App through a 173-step process involving digging into the bowels of my library and manually deleting various cryptically named Adobe files, followed by a cleansing ritual with three dead chickens and a Macromedia (!!) Cleanup tool, and another reinstall of CC Desktop App. ... And viola! App updates galore!

I now have a fancy oddly buttonless Indesign interface and look forward to an unhealthfully long break-free work day.

Thanks again to Bob and Steve (and Rajesh who skillfully guided my mouse for 12 minutes or so.)

[00rhodiad]

Additional follow-up: There really are a TON of bug fixes in this release. Several things that previously would regularly lead to crashes no longer do! And a handful of annoying glitches are also fixed (like how changing a text attribute/setting field would instead delete the selected text, or how you could only see the first 10% or so of a background process progress bar or characters in the Glyphs pallet). Yay!

Not a fan of the exasperatingly slow new document window, but I should have seen that coming, just to match the other CC apps' exasperatingly slow new document windows. (Update to my update: I just found that I can opt for the previous "legacy" new doc dialog in preference under General. And it's available in PS and AI prefs, too!)

But yes! Thanks Adobe for the bug fixes, and again to Bob and Steve (and Adobe support chat) for helping me get them. And for anyone out there who finds this topic while on a "break," do make sure you have the current bevy o' bug fixes!

[BobLevine]

You can use the legacy new document window by choosing it in your preferences.