InDesign (19.x) freezes when not in focus

[Inélsòre]

On macOS 14.x, InDesign 19.x freezes when not in focus. 

It is clear when I have two apps next to each other, of which one is InDesign, or when InDesign is on a different display. 

Moving the cursor over the not-in-focus InDesign window, the spinning ball appears and it is also stuttering.

I am aware the InDesign is not officially compatible with Sonoma, but if that's all one has... 

[Steve Werner]

You need to tell us exactly which version of Sonoma you are running. The latest version 14.3 seems to solve the display problems seen in earlier versions of Sonoma and otherwise work OK. If you don't have the latest version, please update to it.

[Inélsòre]

I have 14.3; will try to update later to 14.3.1 to see if it improves. 

I have definitely seen improvements from 14.0-2: that is, 1-2 seconds after switching to InDesign, it awakes fine, but the issue is still there for me. 

I have not seen the freezes after start that others reported, FWIW.

[Steve Werner]

Have you tried restoring your preferences and caches. Here's how:

https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-indesign-rebuilding-preferences-cache/

[Inélsòre]

Ok, I've tried renaming and the freezing didn't occur in the short time I've been able to test.

I needed to restore my Preferences, though, because I do not have time to set it everything back as it was. 

What can I remove without losing anything about the way I'm working? 

What else can I do to solve this without losing anything?

I honestly believe it is not normal that a program should become corrupted so quickly and so easily (this Mac is 2 months old and InDesign is not the most used app on it)...

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

How much RAM do you have?

[Inélsòre]

36 GB... M3 Max...

[HARSHIKA_VERMA]

Hi there, 

We would like to follow up on the issue. Are you still experiencing the issue, or has it been resolved? Please feel free to update the discussion if you need further assistance from us?

We would be happy to help.

Thanks,

Harshika

[Inélsòre]

Renaming the SavedData file and then relaunching InDesign seems to have solved it.

Bringing the old file back restored the issue, so I guess my saved data is gone for good, sigh...

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Inélsòre 

You need to start doing backups - at least daily.

[Inélsòre]

Well, I do Time Machine backup daily, and CCC backup once every 3 days.

But if when I put back the SavedData file the problem comes back, what point is there? 

Are you suggesting me to go back into every backup, and restore different versions of the file until it works? 

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Inélsòre 

SavedData is for "internal use only". You are only interested in your INDD file. 

But if you have daily backups - you've only lost one day - fortunately. 

[Inélsòre]

Today it started happening again. 

As soon as the app is not in focus, bringing the cursor over its window shows the spinning wheel. 

Right-clicking on the app's icon in Dock also shows the "Application is not responding". 

I suppose one should not be expected to reset SavedData, Preferences, and what else every few weeks! 

[HARSHIKA_VERMA]

Hi @Inélsòre,

Sorry to hear you've started experiencing the issue again. Would you mind telling us the exact version of InDesign? Is it 19.2 or 19.3? Is it possible for you to record a video of the issue and share it with us for investigation purposes? 

We will try our best to investigate it further with the team.

Thanks,

Harshika

[Inélsòre · Accepted solution]

I believe I owe everyone an apology, since it seems not to be InDesign at fault here, but an app I used to rely upon back on my Intel Mac, AppTamer. 

This app slows or stop apps not being used actively to optimise energy consumption. It's a great app for Intel Macs and it helped my ageing beast survive a few hours more on battery. On Apple Silicon, though, this is close to useless and, discovery!, I've found that it had set InDesign to be stopped completely when not in front, instead of just slowing it down if—when not in front—it's consuming too much energy. 

I have turned all this off for now, and it seems that InDesign is back to working as expected.

[HARSHIKA_VERMA]

Awesome. Glad to hear you're back on track. Please feel free to reach out to us in the future for any further assistance.

We would be happy to help.

Thanks,

Harshika