InDesign 2026 typing text in text box makes some text disappear

[keithconover]

In a somewhat-related thread (https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/text-disappears-when-typing-in-text-box/m-p/1559...), respected InDesign guru Eugene Tyson wrote:

If you're experiencing a current issue, please start a new post with:

• A clear description of the problem: For many months/maybe a year or two, I will be typing into a text box; not the main text box on a page, but a subsidiary sidebar text box, and some of the text will disappear and at least part of the text box looks like it is blank. The example below is on a big file, currently 18.2 MB. It is publically available for anyone to download from http://www.conovers.org/ftp/AppSAR-Source-Files/, it is Chapter 9. Before I start typing I see:

 After I start typing I see:

           I have to go to InDesign > Edit > Preferences > GPU performance > [uncheck] to prevent it from happening. If I have GPU performance checked, and the problem occurs, I can exit InDesign and start InDesign again; this stops it temporarily, but after a while the problem comes back. To emphasize: this never occurs in the main text box on a page, only in one of the sidebar subsidiary text boxes on a page. 

• Your InDesign version: 2026 (21.0 x64) but happened with a least the previous version, maybe one or two versions prior to that 
• Operating system + version: Windows 11 
• Hardware details (GPU, monitor setup, etc.): 
  • 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-12900 (2.40 GHz)
  • 128 GB (128 GB usable)
  • Windows 11 Pro 25H2 26200.7171
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050. 8 GB
• Screenshots if possible: see above

Thanks for any help. This is really slowing down my work on this textbook. 

[Eugene Tyson]

It looks like the link in your post isn’t working for me, but the behaviour you’re describing is something that pops up now and again with certain combinations of GPU hardware and redraw behaviour in InDesign.

Trying is Recompose All Stories. It forces InDesign to rebuild every text thread from scratch which can clear odd display hiccups in individual frames. I find quickest way to get there is to go to the Lightening Bolt icon on the top right - then open that - it's called Quick Apply - then type in Recompose All Stories and hit enter. See if it fixes it. 

What you’re seeing isn’t the text actually disappearing. It’s a redraw glitch in the GPU accelerated view. InDesign sometimes struggles with smaller threaded text frames or frames sitting on top of more complex pages, especially when the GPU is nudging it along. You type a few characters and suddenly half the text frame looks empty. It’s unsettling but it’s only the display, not the content.

A few things worth trying:

• You’ve already discovered the quick fix which is to turn off GPU Performance. That’s the most reliable workaround and usually points to the graphic card or driver being the root cause rather than the document itself.
• Make sure the NVIDIA drivers are fully up to date. Sometimes a minor update settles these redraw issues for months.
• Try toggling between Preview and Normal after the glitch happens. That forces a full redraw and often clears it without restarting the app.
• If the document is long lived and has been around a while, it might be worth exporting it as IDML, reopening the IDML and saving a fresh INDD. It clears out internal junk that grows over years of editing.

Your system is powerful enough so it isn’t an under spec situation. It’s more likely a quirky combination of the GPU and how InDesign handles partial redraws inside nested frames. Turning off GPU Performance during heavy editing is the safest bet and then you can always switch it back on when you want the smoother zooming.

Hope that helps keep you moving without having to restart InDesign every ten minutes.

[keithconover]

Thanks Eugene! I just did Recompose All Stores. Of interest, I wasn't able to find this from the menu so it seems it's a well-hidden secret.

[Eugene Tyson]

It is indeed - let us know if it's fixing it and we mark it as correct and close out the case 🙂 

[keithconover]

Well, it seemed to work fine. Until… I copied one of those sidebars and pasted in a new place. (Easier than creating a new one from scratch.) As soon as I clicked in it, the text became invisible. (I was going to say disappeared, but it's just invisible. I can click in it and even edit it. Don't know about you, but my edits of invisible text don't tend to work too well.). However, the Recompose… trick fixed it again. But as I started editing it, the text on the lefhand column became invisible and then quickly reappeared. Almost all of my sidebars were created by copying and pasting. I wonder if that's part of the problem?

[rob day]

Still can't get your file--maybe try saving as an IDML and reopening? Also did you try the regular troubleshooting, trashing your caches, if that doesn't help trashing prefs?

[keithconover]

Had already cleared caches and trashed prefs, multiple times. The problem wth downloading the file is that I'm over my allotment for that particular URL. The real solution is as I get ready to start publishing this textbook on its own URL I'm going to move some files to that URL's hosting allotment so my quits complaining but that'll take a while to get going. However, I just deleted a few files and so was able to download. The chapter I'm currently having issues with is chapter 4, here is a picture of the text frame sidebar on page 14 that is giving me fits this morning.

[rob day]

Had already cleared caches and trashed prefs, multiple times.

Did you try Saving As an IDML and reopening?

[keithconover]

I just saved as .idml and then saved over the .indd file, and the problem still recurs. I hadn't trashed my preferences with version 2026, so tried the old Ctrl-Shift-Alt on startup which is still advised on the forum as a "correct answer" but seems not to work, so instead did it with the menu  Edit > Preferences > General > Reset Preferences on Quit. I keep a list of all my preferred prefences in a Microsoft Word file which made it a matter of 5 minutes or less to recreate them. This didn't help the problem either. I'm guessing that using this new method to trash preferences also clears the cache, like the old version, please correct me if I need to manually clear the cache. The problem still occurred after trashing the prefs. Sigh. 

[rob day]

The example below is on a big file, currently 18.2 MB. It is publically available for anyone to download from http://www.conovers.org/ftp/AppSAR-Source-Files

Hi @keithconover I’m getting a server error when I try to download your file. You should be able to attach it to a reply—the size limit for attachments is 47MB