InDesign 2025 very slow saving documents

[Chrome-Dome]

I am having an issue with the latest version of InDesign (currently running 20.0.1) where hitting 'save' results in anywhere between 5-15 seconds of spinning beachball of death. I've tried with and without font management software, tried on a clean Mac user account, completely uninstalled and reinstalled InDesign, but nothing works. I also tried saving as IDML but to no avail. I am saving to my iMac HD, not the cloud, although it is no better if I do save to the cloud.

A new document with nothing in it saves instantly, and adding images and non-text items has no impact. I imported a large chunk of 'Lorem Ipsum' text in the Minion Pro regular font, and that also had no effect, but as soon as I start adding different font styles and weights, let alone other fonts, saving gets really slow.

For example, just changing three words to Minion Pro Semibold Subhead means the document takes a full second to save (with a brief flash of the spinning ball), and once I have added 4 other versions of Minion Pro to a few words, it takes a full 5-6 seconds to save. Existing documents with a full set of styled text over 30 pages take 10-15 seconds to save.

The previous version of InDesign works fine with the same documents, so I may have to switch back; either that or break the habit of hitting save quite so often!

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @Chrome-Dome,

Thank you for providing detailed information about the issue you’re facing with slow saving times in InDesign 2025 (v20.0.1). Here are a few steps you can try to potentially improve save performance:

1. Go to Window > Utilities > Background Tasks and ensure there are no running tasks when you save.

2. Resetting the preferences can resolve unexpected behavior. (https://adobe.ly/3ARs58d)

3. While you’ve already tried with and without font management software, ensure there are no duplicate or corrupted fonts in your system. Use a tool like Font Book on Mac to validate font & clear font cache (https://adobe.ly/3Zey14y)

4. Unnecessary plugins or extensions can sometimes slow down performance. Disable any non-essential plugins or extensions and test saving again.

5. Use Activity Monitor on Mac to check if high CPU or memory usage correlates with saving.

Let us know how it goes or if you need further assistance!

Best,

Anshul Saini

[Frans v.d. Geest]

What is it with 2025 that it is sooooo slow? Hiding that useless annoying Context bar helps (showing it makes every click take seconds, so slow) but not enough... Terrible. First time ever I experienced this myself now with a new version, 2025 is definitely a problem here (Macbook M4 Mac 64/2TB).

[Chrome-Dome]

Hi Anshul

Thanks for the swift response. I have tried all the suggested solutions (some before my original post), but no joy. As far as processor load in Activity Monitor goes, it all looks normal. Just for reference I have 80GB RAM installed.

One further point to note, even if the document has finished saving, if I then close it it takes a similar amount of time to close. 

My current status is that I have completely removed all elements of Adobe CS (including any preference files), I've removed the font management software (FontAgent) and preferences. I am about to clear all the caches again, run disk first aid, and then doe a clean install of Adobe CS. Here's hoping...

[leo.r]

Many users experience various types of slowness in InDesign 2025 on Mac (there are several recent threads on the subject). If nothing helps, you may indeed need to revert to InDesign 2024 until the issue is solved.