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Michael382280199icf
Participating Frequently
April 30, 2025
Question

InDesign and Adobe Font activation as background task during PDF export

  • April 30, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 1227 views

Anyone else have this issue when trying to export a PDF--

The PDF export will not complete and is stuck in queued because InDesign is trying to activate a font that is already installed or added, and sometimes this font it is trying to add is not even from the open document?

This happens to me often, and opening and closing InDesign helps but it is a pain to do all the time. Also, sometimes toggling off and back on Adobe fonts temporarily resolves the issue.

2 replies

Bill Silbert
Community Expert
Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 30, 2025

Are you on a Mac using a font manager for your non-adobe fonts? Specifically, are you using the Typeface font manager? This particular font manager has been known to cause conflicts in the latest versions of InDesign. If this is the case try disabling it and see if the problem persists.

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    Michael382280199icfAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    May 1, 2025

    Yes, on a Mac using a font manager (not Typeface). Will try.

    leo.r
    Community Expert
    leo.rCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 30, 2025

    Check these threads that discuss this issue, see if any solution there helps: 

     

    https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/quot-activating-font-quot-background-task-won-t-stop/m-p/13833105#M528829

    https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/background-task-activating-fonts-queuing-error/m-p/13737984#M524138

    https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/indesign-background-task-never-completes-activating-adobe-fonts/m-p/12993059#M480208

    https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/background-tasks-activating-font-spinning-endlessly/m-p/14249862#M551618

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      Michael382280199icfAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      April 30, 2025

      Thank you for these discussion links. I was hoping that since these were older discussions, Adobe had addressed this issue and has devised a better solution than turning off auto-activation or rebooting. As a professional handling 100's of documents a month, constantly needing to quit InDesign/reboot machine is tedious. And turning off auto-activation is not an option as I have several colleagues who need to work on the same files.

      Robert at ID-Tasker
      Robert at ID-Tasker
      Legend
      April 30, 2025

      @Michael382280199icf

       

      Try turning off background Tasks - article by @BobLevine: 

       

      https://creativepro.com/a-new-workaround-for-that-pesky-background-export-issue/ 

       

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