InDesign 19.4 keeps crashing on MacOS Sonoma 14.4.1

[Jake31240521nz7q]

The issue:

• I open an existing InDesign file or create a brand new one.
• Everything looks normal and objects load fine in existing files.
• As soon as I click on any object to edit it, InDesign freezes for a few seconds.
• InDesign crashes completely and an error page comes up.
• Adobe cannot find any solutions to the error.

I have done the following:

• Restarted InDesign. Restarted my Mac. Issue persisted.
• Uninstalled InDesign, discharding all preferences. Restarted my Mac. Reinstalled InDesign. Opened InDesign with Cmd+Opt+Ctrl+Shift to ensure preferences are trashed. Issue persisted.
• Ran Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner tool. InDesign behaved for about half an hour. I could edit and save existing files. I could create, edit, and save new files. Then, when I double-clicked on a text box to edit the text, it crashed.

Info about my Mac:

• Free space: Over 1 TB.
• Memory: 16 GB 2667 MHz DDR4.
• OS: Sonoma 14.4.1. Updated in early April.
• No other application is lagging or crashing.

Further info:

• I am not using any third-party plug-ins for InDesign, or for any other Adobe program.
• I save my files on my Mac, not on the Cloud.
• I don't remember exactly when this issue started, but it was late last week.
• I have not recently installed any new applications on my Mac.

I need InDesign for my work, and this is incredibly frustrating. I really need some assistance to figure out how to prevent the crashing. Please let me know if I can provide any more information to assist you in providing advice. I've tried to be thorough but I'm not very tech savvy.

[Eugene Tyson]

Try starting your Mac in safe mode and see if InDesign works normally.

If it does - then there's a third-party app interfering.

For me WebRoot causes havoc with InDesign (only).

Starting in safe mode will let you know if it's InDesign or something else.

I run InDesign on 14.4.1 like lots of others here on similar specs without issues - so it has to be something local for you.

[Jake31240521nz7q]

Hey @Eugene Tyson, thank you for the advice. I'm facing some tech access issues (unrelated to Adobe), so once I have access to my Mac again I will be testing the solutions that people are posting.

[Druen Design]

I have the exact same problem! And I have tried the same solutions as you did (expect Cleaner Tool). But I updated to Sonoma 14.4.1 recently, and I thin the problem started after that. I have tried to degrade to older Indesing versions, but that ddidn.'t help. No issues with other CC-software.

[Eugene Tyson]

Did you try starting in safe mode? 

I have MacBook M3 processor with 32gb RAM and it works fine.

[Druen Design]

Yes, I tried safe mode. I have an Macbook Pro 16, M3 2023, 512 gb. It's only Indesign that crashes. I have no new fonts, no plug-ins. I'm really lost here. Thankfully, I also have an iMac, so that I´m able to get my work done. Still frustrating,  though.

[HARSHIKA_VERMA]

Hi All,

We are sorry to hear you're experiencing crashes on the current version of InDesign. In addition to what our expert has suggested, please share the file that is crashing over a private message with me so we can test it on our end.  

We will try our best to investigate the issue.

Thanks,

Harshika

[Druen Design]

Thanks for your reply, Harshika, but it's not a spesific file that makes Indesign crash. Even if I try to make a new document, it will crash within 30 sec or so, just leaving the spinning wheel until I force quit the program. This also happens when I installed the former version of Indesign. Can it all be due to the latest OS update?

[Eugene Tyson]

Can you confirm if you what @leo.r  suggested worked?

[Jake31240521nz7q]

Hey @HARSHIKA_VERMA, thank you for your response. I'm curious, when I submit error reports to Adobe, there is an option to leave written context, and a box I can tick if I want Adobe to contact me via email with a follow-up. Does anyone actually see those error reports and communications? I don't think it's ever led to anyone from Adobe contacting me. Which has been really bizarre when it concerns a bug/issue which makes an Adobe program completely unusable. It's a pretty bad customer experience.

As @Druen Design said, this is not a file-specific issue. As I specified in my post, this issue occurs with blank, brand new files and existing files.

Anyway, I am having some unexpected tech access issues (not Adobe related), so I will be investigating folks' solutions when I have access to my Mac again. So, thank you for the offer of support.

[leo.r]

In addition to Eugene's suggestions, try to create a clean new user account in System Settings and work from there - will it make a difference?

[Jake31240521nz7q]

Hey @leo.r, thank you for the advice. I will be testing this solution (and the others recommended in this thread) when I next have access to my Mac.

[Jake31240521nz7q]

So, since using the Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner tool, I have experienced one crash which occurred in the same day, shortly before I made my original post. Since then I have used InDesign many times and never experienced a crash. I waited for one to occur, thinking I'd need to try some more solutions and investigate as advised by folks in the comments, but it's looking stable.

I think the cleaner tool is what fixed it, combined with shutting off my Mac? Or something else has changed that I'm not aware of and didn't deliberately cause. I didn't delete any other applications. I honestly can't think what else fixed it. I'm really hoping that InDesign stays non-awful for the forseeable, as the crashing was truly enraging.

If others are having this issue, I guess I'd recommend using the cleaner tool and then shutting off your Mac. Beyond that I still have no idea why the crashing happened.

[bryann6425430]

I'm having the exact same problem. 2 days ago, InDesign only (Illustrator and Photoshop work fine) decides not to work (InDesign 19.4 with MacOS Sonoma 14.5). I've done all the things listed but when I try to open an .indd file it freezes with the spinning wheel of death. If I try to create a new file, InDesign again freezes with the spinning wheel of death. I really need this program to work for my job. I'm looking at Affinity Publisher 2 if I can't get it to work soon.

Question on the Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaning tool - What choices did you make to clean? Just InDesign, multiple programs/scripts, or everything?

[Jake31240521nz7q]

Hey @bryann6425430, sorry to hear you're facing the issue too, it really does suck.

I used the cleaner to get rid of everything, from memory. I definitely got rid of every single application and all associated files, after backing up all of my stuff externally. I also got rid of Creative Cloud. So, I guess I'd recommend doing that, restarting your Mac, and then re-installing everything?

As I said in the answer though, I'm kinda guessing. Without a more direct answer from Adobe about why this bug is happening, and what specifically causes it, I'm not completely sure what fixed things on my end. And I'm really hopeful that things stay fixed.

I wish you luck 🤞

[bryann6425430]

Thanks @Jake31240521nz7q - I'll give it go tomorrow and let you know if it works for me as well. I'm too exhasted from designing layouts in Illustrator today (hahaha).

[Jake31240521nz7q]

Hey @bryann6425430, I hope you're having a good one! How did you go?

Just so you're aware, the crashing issue has come back for me today. So, if the cleaner tool fixed the issue for me, it only did so temporarily. This is clearly an unresolved thing with InDesign specifically. Have you found any solutions?

[Jake31240521nz7q]

Today, the crashing issue has come back, when I opened a file (which had been fine yesterday) and double-clicked on a text box to edit it. I have no idea why. I haven't done anything different to what I've been doing since it was "fixed" by the cleaner tool. I once again submitted an error report to Adobe, and Adobe could not find any solutions. I really don't want to run the cleaner tool again. Will I have to do this every few weeks, when InDesign decides to stop working?

One thing I have noticed, which I didn't mention in my original post, is that after a file crashes, a blank .idlk file remains visible in Finder. For example, when the file test.indd crashed, ~test~0kjyv(.idlk was left in the Finder window, even after InDesign closed itself. I don't know if that helps anyone diagnose what the heck is going on?

[Jake31240521nz7q]

I'm curious @bryann6425430, do .idlk files stick around for you as well, after InDesign crashes? Until this issue I'd only ever had .idlk files appear as temporary files while I was actively using InDesign.

[leo.r]

Try to revert to 19.3 - it fixed certain issues for some users:

Also, I noticed that there were several threads recently where InDesign crashed on attempt to edit text. Just an observation at this point...

[Eugene Tyson]

An IDLK is a hidden file generated by InDesign when you open a file - it serves point InDesign to a recovery file in case of a crash. If you have an IDLK file and InDesign is giving you a dialog to restore a file.

It also stops others opening the file that you're working on, if you're working across a network etc. 
Discussion here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/indesign-lock-file/td-p/9384663

You can delete this file - but then the recovery option will be gone, and maybe it's recovering a damaged file. 

Who knows.

-----------------------------------

As per @Leo try to roll back 

Rollback to a previous InDesign version
https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/using/install-previous-version.html#:~:text=Open%20the%20Cr....

As a side note ---> A lot of users don't update to a new version immediately, in fact, I have auto updates turned off. 

If the issue is gone then don't update. 

You can submit a bug report

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

------------------------------------------

I don't know why it's happening for you.

But submitting the bug report and reverting to a previous version of Indesign seems to be the way for now.

Please share your bug report here - you can link to the forum post in the bug report. 

@HARSHIKA_VERMA is there anything else we can do here? 

[courtney5C4A]

Hi All, 

I am haveing the same problem as @Eguene. I have event revert back to 2023 but now this is crashing again, making me do a force quit. I have a super machine right now (Apple M3 Mx, 128GB Memory, and 8 TB storage amd Running Soma 14.4.1 as my last update.  Has anyone figured tis out? This is a huge problem. I am not evening working on a super heavy presentation. Also, in 19.4 InDesign the menu dropdown bars for Font, Line Type, Line Weight, ect under the Advance menue toolbar are not allowing me to selext change color, size, font. 

[Jake31240521nz7q]

@courtney5C4A Sorry to hear you're experiencing this issue as well, and other issues that I'm not experiencing on my end. I hope an Adobe staff member engages with you to fix these problems. We haven't had a reponse from them on this thread since May 8, and I've never had any contact from submitting bug reports.

I used the cleaner tool and reverted back to the previous version of InDesign, as recently advised by @leo.r and @Eugene Tyson. Currently, I can use InDesign without the crashing issue occurring.

However... previously, when I used the cleaner tool without reverting to a previous version, InDesign fixed itself for a period of time, then the crashing issue started again (I have no idea why). So, only time will tell whether the cleaner tool has just temporarily fixed things again, or whether the crashing issue has been properly fixed by using a different version of InDesign.

I'd definitely recommend running the cleaner tool, regardless.

You could also try the tests recommended earlier in this thread, such as starting your Mac in safe mode and creating a brand new user account.

[Eugene Tyson]

This is why it's so important to report bugs - as this is the formal place that Adobe staff will look at bugs and priortise them

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

[courtney5C4A]

Thank for your Reply @Jake31240521nz7q 

What is the name of the cleaner tool you have used?  I have also reverted back to 2023, since it seems less buggy with font styles, line definitions, ect..... but the crashing is still happening. Maybe if I can use the cleaner tool it will at least solve this temporaily until Adobe team can properly respondond. 

My laptop is way too new to have to start in safe mode, that doesn't seem like a good solution from apple. I will try and reach out to the support line over the weekend when I have some more time. In ther interim, I just need to finish this presentation. 

@Eugene Tyson - Yes, I will also be taking this up with Adobe. At the moment however, I need a quick fix as this is really slowing me down.