Control bar goes missing and my tools every time I restart indesign

[Humphrey Democrat]

Recently, every time I restart indesign, my control bar is missing and my tools bar. How do I  make this open with all of my tools and controls the way I  left them.

[Bill Silbert]

Try resetting your InDesign preferences.

To do so:

For Macintosh Users: With InDesign closed Launch a Finder Window in column view and click on your home folder. With the Option Key pressed choose Library from the Finder Go Menu. Within the Library folder find the folder called Preferences and within it find the following two files and delete them: “Adobe InDesign” and “com.adobe.InDesign.plist”. When InDesign is next launched it will create new preference files and the program will be restored to its defaults.

After you’ve reset up the program (make sure that no document window is open) to your liking, it is a really good idea to create copies of your personalized “mint” preference files (make sure that you quit the program before copying them—that finalizes your customization) and use them in the future to replace any corrupt versions you may need to delete.

For Windows Users: Hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift when launching InDesign and respond affirmatively when asked if you want to reset.

[Lily1993 · Accepted solution]

This happened to me. What also happened was that if I opened, for example, 'Pages', then 'Swatches' would disappear. I could only have 1 floating panel at a time.

It ALL fixed itself when I happened to change WINDOW > WORKSPACE to ADVANCED.

Even after closing and re-opening InDesign, I find that my control panel is there and docked, as are my tools. And I can have multiple floating panels.

Hope this helps you, too.

[Sorontar]

None of the solutions work. Every time I launch Indesign through double click, it gives me no workspace and I have to go and choose one. Reinstall does not work either.

[Laubender]

Hi @Sorontar ,

double-click on what exactly? An InDesign document?

The InDesign application file?

If the latter, check your Preferences and disable

Preferences > General >

[   ] Show Homescreen When No Documents Are Open

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )

[Sorontar]

It was only when double clicking on indesign document.
Resetting preferences helped for now. I guess I accidentally kept preferences when uninstalling and reinstalling.

[Rishabh_Tiwari]

Hi @Sorontar ,

Sorry to hear about the trouble. In addition to the suggestions shared above you can also try the steps shared in this similar discussion https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/indesign-files-won-t-open-until-i-select-a-works... and let us know if this helps or if you need any further assistance.

Regards

Rishabh

[Sorontar]

Resetting preferences helped for now. I guess I accidentally kept preferences when uninstalling and reinstalling.

[Sorontar]

And the problem is back again.

[Joel25609898v2bp]

This problem still occurs in the last version of InDesign (19.2) on OSX. After many years, I have understood where is the bug: the control bar disappears as soon as you close your documents and it displays the "Home screen".
The solution is to deactivate it.
Go to "Preferences" > "General" > "Show Home Screen When No Documents Are Open".

[Rishabh_Tiwari]

Hi,

Thank you for reaching out and sharing the solution that worked for you. The design preferences should be set without any document. For information on setting preferences, please check this article. 

Thanks

Rishabh