Unable to launch all Creative Cloud apps like Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign

[Jan0D4E]

Hi, same problem here all day. All other apps work except PS, AI, ID. 

<Title renamed by moderator>

[Steve Werner]

Sonoma is perfectly fine if you are using InDesign 19.4 if you've updated to the latest version of Sonoma. That is currently 14.5.

[ZWTSR]

I'm running Sonoma 14.5 and InDesign 19.5.0.84 but InDesign is still not launching.
I tried reinstalling different versions but nothing is working.. 

[Bennett F]

^ Same here.

I have never had issues booting Adobe apps like this before (think I was on Sonoma 14.3) until today. I have tried restart, reverting to older versions, full uninstall/reinstall, still can't get InDesign open.

I also just tried after updating to Sonoma 14.5, unsuccessfully. This is also happening across all Adobe apps too. Yesterday, I was using both InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator just fine.

[Ashlee34385509mutw]

Exact same issues here. Was even working fine this morning and now all my apps are no longer working

[amanthos5EA7]

I've been having the same issue since yesterday afternoon with the Mac Studio. Suddenly, InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop stopped working, which are the programs I use the most. Funny enough, the other Adobe programs seem to work just fine. Also It works perfectly fine on my MacBook Pro.

[mattmacphoto]

I got this same issue yesterday around the same time. I prepared 2 different presentations for work then went to do a third one and it wouldn't open at all. Macbook pro m2 max. 

[leo.r]

I got this same issue yesterday around the same time. I prepared 2 different presentations for work then went to do a third one and it wouldn't open at all. Macbook pro m2 max. 

By @mattmacphoto

You may experience this issue acknowledged by Adobe - solutions are also offered here:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/unable-to-launch-all-creative-cloud-apps-like-ph...

[Bennett F]

I finally resolved this issue after a few hours of trying different approaches yesterday, after unsuccessful attempts that I mentioned earlier. Hope I can help some others out from this pain. 

More: Clearing app caches and uninstalling / reinstalling individual Adobe apps did not resolve.

Here is how I was able to get working, by doing the following:

1. Uninstall ALL Adobe applications from Creative Cloud on the desktop app. 
2. Uninstall Creative Cloud by downloading the official uninstaller.
3. After following all uninstall instructions, redownload the Creative Cloud installer
4. Reinstall Creative cloud and then sign back in to your Adobe account. 
5. Reinstall the Adobe apps you had before the issues.

Note: you may be able to keep preferences when you uninstall individual Adobe apps, but I deleted everything, in hopes that it would resolve the issue. 

[luk63620532]

I had exactly the same problem. It started with Indesign crashing (again). Since yesterday evening, the following apps could no longer be opened:

Photoshop 2024, Illustrator 2023/2024, Indesign 2023/2024

I spent several hours trying various things:

• Starting the apps in safe mode
• Updating macOS to 14.6.1
• Deleting the affected apps using the Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool as instructed on the Adobe website
• As a precaution, always restarting the computer after deleting the apps
  
  

Unfortunately, I had no success with this. I then tried Bennett F's solution method. Unfortunately, it didn't work either. Maybe it was because I had forgotten to uninstall Bridge.

I then deleted EVERYTHING using the Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool - I had kept my prefs, plugins, etc. from After Effects during the previous deletion. The tool didn't find these prefs, plugins, etc. and Substance Painter. Nevertheless, it has now worked.

Great job once again Adobe, thanks!

[Michael5ED9]

I've got the latest Sonoma on my iMac 24 M1 and it's fine in regards to InDesign. Do InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop hang up on launch with the spinning beachball of death. This may be a known Adobe Creative Cloud outage which began earlier this week affecting both Mac OS and Windows OS. If so, call Adobe and speak to technical support. They resolved the issue for me.

[smasondesign]

After updating to the lastest Indesign a few days ago, it keeps crashing on launch.

I have followed all sugestions with no luck.

•Reinstalled App

•Logged in and out of CC

•Deleted Preferences and Plugins

•Ran Disk Utility

•Start up Holding Shift-Control-Option-command (Startup Alert  - Delete InDesign Preference files): Yes, this works, but then when I close the app and re open, it's the same issue, crashing on launch.

{Renamed By MOD}

[smasondesign]

Ok, so I have narrowed it down to the file called (PluginLoadStartup_Data)

Caches - Adobe InDesign - Version 18.0 - en_US - PluginLoadStartup_Data

If I delete this, the app will open normally, but then it automatically generates this file again and same issue, is back to crashing on launch 😞

[Laubender]

Hi @smasondesign ,

what's your operating system's version?

What's the machine? Perhaps one with the new M2 chip?

I'd report the issue at InDesign UserVoice:

https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[smasondesign]

I'm running macOS Ventura 13.5.

My Machine is a MacBook Pro with an Apple M1 Pro chip.

The problem has seemed to be resolved now... I updated my operating system, that may have been the fix?

[Mary-Beth Lambert]

Me too... same thing. Tried all that you said at the top several times. Went back to 18.4 and it opens fine. 

[smasondesign]

If you're on a  Mac, try updating your operating system, that may work?

[Mary-Beth Lambert]

Thanks! My MacOS Ventura was at 13.0 and saying it was up to date. After turning on a bunch of auto update stuff, I was able to go to 13.5. Now the InDesign 18.5 will open. 

[jpghl]

I have performed the system update and the program still has the same problem. I have the new Sonoma system

[Rishabh_Tiwari]

Hi @jpghl,

I am so sorry to hear about the trouble. This discussion is from August and at that time macOS Ventura was the latest version, so the issue was resolved after updating to the newest version of macOS Ventura. For Sonoma, we're currently in the process of testing and optimizing our latest apps to run on macOS 14 Sonoma. For more details check this discussion. I'd recommend rolling back to the latest build of macOS Ventura and see if that solves the issue. 

Thanks

Rishabh

[SandyGoodwin]

I guess the issue has not yet been resolved? i am running the latest version of Ventura (13.2.1) and InDesign 18.5 will not launch.

[BobLevine]

That is NOT the latest version of Ventura.

[Driver265]

I've done most of the things here (multiple reboots, installing previous versions, etc.) with little success. BUT--I found something that worked for me! I work off of iCloud (on my mac, not online) and have found that sometimes a file (source files, linked files) just will not sync properly and will cause ID to freeze when opening. My solution was to control-click on the project folder and select "Download Now" from the pop-up menu. Do the same if your linked files are in a different folder. Make sure all files complete downloading. Now everything works fine. (I'm fortunate in keeping a daily backup of all documents on an external drive, so sometimes I will open the backup copy and then "Save As" to my iMac and overwrite the file there.) Hope this helps.

[Kristina2723424032as]

I am also having the same issue. I am on a PC and it doesnt come up with any error message just will not load once i double click or press run as administrator.

So frustrating! Does anyone have any steps to fix it for a PC?

[Laubender]

Hi @Kristina2723424032as ,

had no issues with updating to InDesign 18.5.0 on my Windows 10 laptop.

You could try a clean install. I always do that when a new update is visible at the Creative Cloud Desktop App.

Disable automatic updates in the Creative Cloud Desktop App.

Backup InDesign Cache and Preferences. For all versions of InDesign that were ever installed on your machine.

Then rename or remove them. Uninstall InDesign 2023. Restart your machine. Install InDesign 2023 version 18.5.0. InDesign will build new cache and preferences folders.

Preferences on a Windows 10 or 11 PC:

User > [Your User Name] > AppData > Roaming > Adobe > InDesign > Version 18.0

Cache on a Windows 10 or 11 PC:
User > [Your User Name] > AppData > Local > Adobe > InDesign > Version 18.0

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/setting-preferences.html

Do not migrate settings.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Laubender]

Hi @Kristina2723424032as ,

also read into:

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/crash-on-launch.html

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )