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InDesign Undo history clears itself without user action

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Undo steps disappear automatically while working.
Undo history resets to ~3 entries without any undo action being triggered.

This happens reproducibly every ~10 seconds.

Preflight is disabled.

Reproducible in:
- new documents
- local files (no cloud documents)
- fresh installs
- multiple machines

Windows 11.
Photoshop is not affected.

please help : (

Bug

Harshika VermaCorrect answer

Community Manager

How can you say you don't understand?
We pay for programs that must be tested as stable BEFORE being released. We don't care about constant little innovations; we want STABLE programs that work.
Try to speak like professionals, as you should be.
Please review this and other threads, as we've been working with a program that contains bugs.
We're not grumbling, we're angry.

Hi All,

Thank you for your patience. The team has released a Fix for this issue is now available in the latest InDesign Prerelease build - 21.2.0.27

Please try out this Prerelease build and let us know if it resolves the issue.

If you are not already part of InDesign's Prerelease program and would like to join and try out the latest Prerelease build, please do the following:

* Go to https://adobe.ly/4qUXgUv

* Sign in with your Adobe ID (the Email ID associated with your Adobe account)

* Select ‘Available Programs’

* Find ‘InDesign Prerelease’ and click ‘Join’

* Once you’ve joined, go to the Creative Cloud Desktop Application on your machine, click on 'Apps' in the section on the left

* Select the 'Pre-release' tab – there you will find the InDesign (Prerelease) build

* To check the Build number of the Prerelease build, hover the cursor over the name – you will see the Build number 'v_________'

* Select ‘Install’

Thanks,

Harshika

Show previous replies

E

Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

Option 1 Reset InDesign Preferences

InDesign 19.3 and newer go to Preferences > General > and click on "Reset Preferences on Quit" and then quit and restart.
Or
Windows: Start InDesign, and then press Shift+Ctrl+Alt. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.
macOS: While pressing Shift+Option+Command+Control, start InDesign. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.
A dialog will appear asking to delete the InDesign Preferences, select 'Yes' on this dialog.
More in-depth cleanse of preferences
https://helpx.adobe.com/in/indesign/kb/indesign-preferences-support-file-locations.html

Option 2 Clear InDesign Caches

A corrupted cache can trigger background resets.
Quit InDesign
Go to: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Adobe\InDesign\Version 21.0\
Mac go to: ~/Library/Caches/Adobe InDesign/
Delete the Caches folder
Relaunch InDesign
(Preferences are left intact with this method.)

Option 3 Clean Reinstall (Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool)

If the issue persists across machines, a deeper cleanup is worth trying.
Uninstall InDesign from Creative Cloud
Download and run Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool
Remove all InDesign entries
Reboot
Reinstall InDesign

Additional Things Worth Checking

If none of the above help:

Disable third-party plugins (even old ones you don’t actively use)

Turn off background services temporarily:

Windows antivirus / ransomware protection

Cloud sync tools (OneDrive, Dropbox)

If this started recently, roll back via Creative Cloud > Previous Versions

If it survives fresh installs and multiple machines, that points away from user error and toward a software or system-level conflict.

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B

bernd_9382Author

thank you for your answer!

my specs:

desktop pc:

intel i7-12700kf (3.6ghz)

16 gb ram

rtx 3060ti

laptop:

intel i7-1165G7 (2.8ghz)

16 gb ram

intel iris xe graphics

heres a list of what has been done:

InDesign-Specific Tests

GPU acceleration disabled
Preferences reset (Ctrl+Alt+Shift on startup)
AppData / cache folders manually deleted
Live Preflight disabled
Preflight profile set to [None]
Dynamic spelling / background text features disabled
Auto-recovery settings checked (only path available in current versions)
CC Libraries closed
No plugins installed
No scripts or startup scripts present
CEP / Extensions folders removed or renamed
Tested with minimal documents (single page, single frame)
Happens with text and non-text workflows
Happens regardless of tool used

Creative Cloud / Adobe Tests

All Adobe applications uninstalled
Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool used
Creative Cloud reinstalled fresh
InDesign installed as the only Adobe app
No Creative Cloud sync options available to disable
Issue persists after clean CC reinstall

Windows / System Tests

New local Windows user account created
Windows In-Place Repair performed
Graphics drivers updated
Tested with different Windows update states
Touch / handwriting / text services investigated
No clipboard managers, keyboard tools, or automation tools running
Issue persists across systems

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Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

What is the exact version of Windows 11 are you using?

Are you GPU drivers up to date?

I'm not having any problem with undos.

I'm running Win 11 25H2 KB5072033

i9-13900K (3.00 GHz)

InDesign 21.0.2

NVIDIA Studio driver 591.44 for RTX 4080

128 GB RAM

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David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

G

Giuseppe26594520b6d7

Participant

Hi, I have a problem with InDesign 2026. As you can see from the screenshots, at a certain point the history is reduced or deleted without me doing anything, or it doesn't allow me to go back more than 5/6 times. I have verified that the problem is not with the file but with InDesign: the problem occurs with several files. Is there a bug in InDesign 2026? My operating system is Windows 11 Pro. Could you kindly help me?

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BobLevine

Community Expert

Is InDesign fully updated to 21.0.2? Do you have enough RAM? Have you tried the identical step in InDesign 2025?

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G

Giuseppe26594520b6d7

Participant

Hi, yes, the version of InDesign is up to date, and I tried with InDesign 2025, but the problem was the same. I don't think it's a RAM issue: even though my PC is limited, the data shows that it is using 65% of the memory. I am attaching a screenshot with the InDesign file open. What do you suggest?

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S

sandrac57029201

Participant

I used to have the option for multiple undos in InDesign but since updating to v21.0.2 last week, that function has seemingly disappaeread and I can now only go back one or two undos which is increasingly frustrating. Can anyone help please?

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E

Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

Try resetting your preferences:

InDesign 19.3 and newer go to Preferences > General > and click on "Reset Preferences on Quit" and then quit and restart.

Or
Windows: Start InDesign, and then press Shift+Ctrl+Alt. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.
macOS: While pressing Shift+Option+Command+Control, start InDesign. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.
A dialog will appear asking to delete the InDesign Preferences, select 'Yes' on this dialog.

More in-depth cleanse of preferences

https://helpx.adobe.com/in/indesign/kb/indesign-preferences-support-file-locations.html

Reinstalling rarely fixes everything - you can do a complete reinstall using the
Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

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