InDesign 2025 (Korean version) Freezes When Opening Pages Panel — Works Fine in English Version

[egnisys]

My computer specs:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D

GPU: Nvidia RTX 4080 Super

RAM: 64GB DDR5

Issue summary:
When I open InDesign (version 2025, 20.3.1), the application freezes as soon as I open the Pages panel. It happens regardless of whether I’m working with an existing document or creating a new one.
In Windows Resource Monitor, InDesign shows as “Not Responding” (red highlight).

Steps to reproduce:

1. Launch InDesign.

2. Open any document (even a new blank one).

3. Open the Pages panel.

4. The program freezes completely and becomes unresponsive.

I’ve tried several things:

-Restarting the computer

-Reinstalling InDesign (including cleaning with CC Cleaner)

-Installing older versions

-Resetting preferences

-Testing both the Korean and English versions of InDesign

-Forcing the GPU (NVIDIA) to be used for InDesign in Windows Graphics Settings

In the English version, InDesign works fine — no freezing at all.
In the Korean version, opening the Pages panel consistently freezes the program.

This suggests the issue is specific to the Korean UI or localization.

Note:

-Other Adobe apps (Photoshop, Illustrator) work fine.

-Fonts don’t seem to be the issue since everything works in the English version.

-No third-party plugins are involved.

Request:
Could this be a UI localization bug in the Korean version? I’d appreciate any insights or help from the community.

Thank you!

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @egnisys,

Thanks again for sharing the details. I tested the issue on my end using the Korean version of InDesign 2025 (20.3.1) on Windows 11, but I wasn't able to reproduce the freeze when opening the Pages panel. Everything worked as expected.

Could you try switching your system locale or display language temporarily to English if possible and see if that makes any difference when using the Korean version of InDesign? This might help us understand if the issue is linked to certain system-level language settings.

Also, just to confirm, are you using any OS-level language packs or third-party input method editors (IMEs) that interact with Korean text? Even though fonts may not be causing the issue, text rendering can sometimes be affected by those settings. Please try testing inDesign in Safe mode to isolate it from any third-party system-level processes and applications. Reference: https://adobe.ly/4dKzbdN

It would also be really helpful if you could share a short screen recording of the freeze happening, along with your exact Windows version and current display language settings, so we can take a closer look and share it with the team if needed.

Looking forward to your update!

Abhishek

[egnisys · Accepted solution]

I spent a lot of time today trying to solve this issue, and eventually found the cause. It wasn’t a problem related to language settings at all. It turned out to be a font that I recently installed yesterday.
Out of frustration, I decided to remove that font, suspecting that it might be the only significant change I made to my system recently. After deleting the font, InDesign’s Pages panel loaded normally, and the freezing issue was completely resolved.
This confirms that it was not an InDesign application issue, but rather a problem caused by the font itself. The name of this font is "Mapo Bbaenang Yeohaeng (Mapo Backpack Travel)", a font distributed by a Korean local government as a free resource.

I am attaching the font file in question for your review.

https://www.mapo.go.kr/site/main/file/download/uu/f0ac51e967c340ed96007baf366795da 

I suspect that this font, when used in Korean language pages, somehow causes problems specifically when the Pages panel is loaded. I sincerely hope that this minor but critical issue can be resolved, as others may encounter similar problems in the future.