Colors display issue while working on a catalog in InDesign 18.2 on windows 11 machine

Report · Mar 23, 2023

I have been experiencing strange display and performance bugs, and can't seem to figure out why this is happening.

In the middle of working on a catalog, a few of my pages suddenly have strange coloring to them, like the Hue/Saturation and Contrast have been majorly messed with. It only affects a few pages, not the entire document, and it eventually goes away either on it's own volition, or if I save and exit then re-enter the document.

Small screenshot of the document when behaving normally:

Aaaaand when it's not behaving normally:

Not sure if this is related or not, but the app also will not retain my Display Performance settings. I tried adjusting this in the Preferences dialog box hoping it would make the entire document high quality, but it has absolutely no affect. The only way it works is if I select the individual photo and choose High Quality. Even then, every time i exit and re-enter the document, everything is low quality again.

Screenshot of my preferences setting below:

Thanks in advance for any suggestions. It's obviously not affecting the final document, it's just really annoying and I'm wondering if this is a known issue or something I have going on?

-------------------------My Specs-------------------------

INDESIGN

Version 18.2.1 64 bit

COMPUTER SPECS

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10700 CPU @ 2.90GHz

Installed RAM: 32 GB (31.7 usable)

64 bit operating system

Windows 11 Pro

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti & Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630

Report · Mar 25, 2023

Computer specs are good.

InDesign is very resource intensive - ultimately what you see in the images in InDesign is only a proxy image in place to show placement. It's not the actual image itself.

I wouldn't be concerned by this behaviour - it's probably because of InDesign being heavy handed with your computer resources and not displaying the image proxy correctly.

The image itself is linked right? As long as the image is correct in your files - and when you output the final file,whether that's print/PDF etc. then it should be ok.

Ultimately, when I see this behaviour, or if I'm not working on the placing of the images, I tend to turn on the most basic display and grey out the images, it speeds up InDesign and allows me to concentrate on the content.

If I need to see the images I can change the display performance again.

What can you do? Try shutting down apps you're not using in the background.

Or open Task Manager and quit a load of processes running in the background that you don't need - and that will free up some resources for InDesign.

Report · Mar 25, 2023

In the middle of working on a catalog

Hi @Marley C. , Does it happen when you have Overprint Preview turned on?

Report · Mar 27, 2023

No, I rarely use Overprint Preview.

Report · Mar 27, 2023

I rarely use Overprint Preview

Is the catalog going to be printed? If it is, Overprint Preview gives you a soft proof in the document’s CMYK space, so assuming you will output or export to document CMYK, Overprint gives the most accurate preview

Report · Mar 27, 2023

Hi @Marley C.,

We are sorry to hear you're having using InDesign. Is it possible for you to share the Packaged InDesign file with me so that we can check on our end? Please upload the file to a shared location such as CC or Dropbox and share the URL with me.

We will try our best to investigate the issue and help you.

Thanks,

Harshika

Report · Jan 07, 2025

I have a somewhat related problem. Every once in a while, random blocks of color appear on the document I am working on. What causes this behavior?

Report · Jan 07, 2025

Turn off the GPU Performance in the InDesign Preferences.