InDesign 2023 makes a read only file

[Christina228449123bw0]

I have just updated to the 2023 InDesign, and now suddently my documents are read-only and I cannot save the file, but have to make a save as version and give the document a new name everytime I have to save my work.

Do you know why this is happening? And how to avoid this?

[sbiscardi]

After a year of this, I was really hoping it was fixed. I see that it is not just me. It doesn't happen to my co workers at all, so I am really frustrated. It has caused so many errors and so many duplicate files. Such chaos. Really expected more from Adobe.  ugh, so frustrating. Infuriating that Adobe no longr repsonds.

[Nikola33562194qn9u]

I have the same problem in my environment. I have Synology NAS as a small server and 3 computers that are connected. On two it appears non stop read only file.
I have tried all possible options that exist. And everyone has rights to everything. A passerby can wink and smile now but it still doesn't work.
This is very unserious that things like this are not announced or published so that people know they have a problem and not spend my time like this and hire people to solve this and the problem is in the program.
Really rude.

And when do you think this will be resolved??? I pay for a package to use it and now I can only watch......

[jeffl77404959]

This problem has not been fixed or addressed in any way. I'm making mistakes making edits against deadlines in the wrong file because I have to keep saving versions. Adobe is costing me money at this point. Thanks for nothing. 

[jonnymonty]

WHEN WILL THIS BE FIXED???? This is not a small bug it is a fundamental issue for 1000's of users worldwide. Adobe??????????????

[pifath67]

I am absolutely with you...
It's the same in our company.
I wrote a personal message about this a week ago to an Adobe employee - who has posted a meaningless message here every few months. Unfortunately, no response to date.
I guess that says it all...
Sad, sad.

[Kevin at Hearts]

I seem to be able to bypass the "Read Only" by opening the file through the Windows Explorer (PC). If I open the file in InDesign, I get the "Read Only" message. All the other "fixes" have not helped. I'm currently on v19.1

[karend23069192]

I have the same problem with InDesign files opening as Read Only files. None of the "tips" resolve the issue. It's very disruptive to my workflow and frustrating. Not sure why Adobe isn't putting more effort into resolving the issue as it's clearly a widespread problem for many users. I remember when Quark, who once was the industry standard, didn't put the effort into their software that customers expected and eventually something else came along (InDesign) and everyone jumped shipped. Waiting for either Adobe to fix the problem or something better to come along...whichever one comes first.

[adrih24445711]

@ adobe
as long as this issue isn't solved, the share for review functionality in indesign is useless. fix it asap. it is destructive to workflow and collaboration

[davidt12412601]

Here's a small suggestion to help deal with this ongoing problem. We recently just added an 'AFTER_OPEN' eventlistener that just throws an alert when a document is opened read only. It's only purpose is to make sure the user is aware immediately, before starting to work on the document. Often, just closing and reopening is enough to get the document open without the read only status. It's a silly workaround, but it may help a little.

[porkozone]

I'm curious how you detected it as read only? I tried to do something similar using InDesign's applescript library, and could not "see" it as read only. What is in your eventlistener that detects this?

[davidt12412601]

@porkozone Here's what I'm using. Bear in mind that I know almost nothing about event listeners, but this is working for me.

//@targetengine CheckReadOnlyOpenEvent

(function(){
if ( !app.eventListeners.itemByName( 'readOnlyCheckOnOpen' ).isValid ) {
    var a = app.addEventListener( 'afterOpen', readOnlyCheckOnOpen );
    a.name = 'readOnlyCheckOnOpen';
    
    function readOnlyCheckOnOpen( myEvent ){
        
        if( myEvent.target instanceof Document ){
            if( myEvent.target.readOnly ) {
                alert( "Document opened READ ONLY!\nIf this isn't intended, try \nclosing and opening the file again." );
            }
        }
    }
} else {
    alert( 'EventListener is already installed.' );
}

})();

[pifath67]

Today, almost EVERY Indesign file I open is read-only and almost EVERY PDF I try to overwrite is supposedly already open.
All the workarounds discussed here have already been tested and don't work.
This is no way to work!
WHEN WILL THIS FINALLY BE FIXED, ADOBE?

[adrih24445711]

I haven't had the issue anymore since I unchecked the windows preview panel in my windows folders. it has to do something with that. So make sure the preview panel is off, and then it should be ok. it's not a solution, but it helps.

[pifath67]

I use a Mac and all preview functions are deactivated.
Even if I close all folder windows, it does not work.

[porkozone]

On our end, we may have tracked it down in our situations, at least partially, to a conflict with Bitdefender, our company's anti-maware software. If we disable Bitdefender entirely we do not get the error. We worked with Bitdefender and they put an exclusion for InDesign in our settings, and it has made a huge difference. We still get it occasionally now, which is still odd, but it is massevly less that it had been.

[pifath67]

We have just updated to 19.3.
The first file I open is - what a surprise - read-only.
Almost a month ago, I wrote a message to an Adobe employee for the second time asking for information about the problem. No response so far.
The arrogance and ignorance with which Adobe treats us users leaves me speechless...

[madeleineo33109031]

This same problem when I updated to the 2024 InDesign! Fix not fixed!

[pifath67]

Another ‘write-protected working day’ comes to an end and I'm glad that for the rest of the day I don't have to have anything more to do with this sloppily programmed software from this ignorant, arrogant and customer-unfriendly manufacturer, for whom we customers are just paying people.

By the way: a week ago, I wrote another (the third) message to an Adobe employee and - surprise - have not yet received a reply.

Have a nice evening everyone.

[BriGuyOSC]

Sorry so many of you are still having issues. I'm not sure what the issue is, but I'm still of the opinion that it's a user/environment thing, considering InDesign works fine on this end, both on Mac and PC -- I'm on a Windows PC here (Windows 10 Home - 22H2 - OS Version 19045.4291) and a 2018 MacBook Pro (Sonoma) at home (freelance). I did have this issue a year or so ago, but it resolved for me after one of the updates a month or two later, IIRC. No issues since then, except for (just started recently) PDFs thinking they're open on the Windows PC when I try to export PDFs (can't just click off the file in Windows Explorer to hide the preview -- previously that would work; as long as the preview for *that file* wasn't showing, it would work); now I have to close the window altogether (and I know no one else on our network has it open, because I had just finished creating it). Annoying, but it works.

FWIW, we use SentinelOne as our security suite at work. IDK if that has any bearing whatsoever on anything. I know different people use different antivirus/security solutions.

[pifath67]

Sorry, i don't think it's a user/environmental thing because at our company the user and the environment didn't change but there was made an update on Indesign and the problem then just begun.

And the environment in our company is absolutely standard which thousands of users worldwide use. (Network with Windows Server 2019 and Mac with Ventura.)

[BriGuyOSC]

OK, not sure what to tell you. We just don't have the issue here in our office (only two of us use InDesign, but neither of us has the read only issue) and I don't have the issue on my Mac. So *something* is different between our setups/environments.

[davidt12412601]

We have a team of 10 users, in a Windows environment and always opening and saving files across a network. The problem pops up very rarely, and seemingly randomly, so we speculate that it may have something to do with the response time of the network file system when InDesign opens a file. Machines that have had the problem may go many weeks without it, even accessing the same files.

[frazzlesnap]

We have 8 users in a mixed Mac/Windows environment and open and save most files on an ioSafe 218. While I try to keep myself saving things locally while they're being worked on, and then moving to the file server when finished, most of us just work directly from the ioSafe. We've never encountered the read-only problem. Our machines aren't the newest or fastest, and the network isn't especially fast, either, so I don't know why we haven't encountered this. I'm just grateful that we haven't.

[pifath67]

We updated to 19.4 yesterday.
What can I say? It's got even worse...
Now practically every file is opened read-only and it often happens that a non-read-only file is suddenly read-only immediately after saving.
Efficient working is hardly possible any more.
It's no longer fun anyway...
What a pity, because Indesign was always a great programme.

WHEN WILL THIS FINALLY BE SOLVED, ADOBE?

[mhvz2019]

I am now not able to save my document to the latest changes, even with Save As.
It's a new document, so no issues with it being corrupt. I'd only created one page just with text before I decided to hit Save. I get the standard (now) Save As dialogue box appear asking me if I want to replace my existing file. Click OK and get the "Cannot save the document. It may be open by other applications..." message, except it isn't as it's a brand new file and I'm the only person that uses InDesign in my company. So I try and save it again but this time as a new file name. I now get a message telling me "InDesign is unable to save this file. We tried, but it appears to be damaged." I click OK, and it appears to save it anyway (astericks is removed on the file window). I test by closing down and reopening, only to find it hasn't saved anything from the first save with the time stamp being from an hour ago. 

I'm running InDesign 19.0.1, on Mac OS Monterey (12.6), at home and not on any network.