Skip to main content
jamalm61503040
Inspiring
September 17, 2018
Answered

InDesign copy paste is not working and often crashes

  • September 17, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 854 views

Only days after giving up my laptop to remote tech support (during work hours) and Adobe tech support kindly re-installing four apps, I am not happy that InDesign has not fully worked.

Any copy paste function does not work with nothing happening and/or the app often crashing.

Please help resolve this issue.

Furthermore, with the money paid for these services and given it's a completely new install, why should such technical problems exist and why should I have to get help via a forum and fix them myself?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer jamalm61503040

    Not knowing what the problem was with your laptop in the first place makes it difficult to assess what is going on. It may be best to get back with customer support since they will at least have the history of the laptop's problems recorded. In case that is too frustrating for you then you can try uninstalling and reinstalling InDesign yourself in the following manner:

    In the app section of your Creative Cloud desktop app click on the “V” next to the app’s (InDesign) name and choose the “Uninstall” option from the pull-down menu that appears. After you’ve run the uninstall then use the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool Use the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems  . Then reinstall the program through the Desktop app. Before you reinstall, once again trash all preference files to make sure that your install is completely clean. Then launch InDesign and see if the problem persists.

    Using the Creative Cloud cleaner as directed has been known to clear up problems that linger from previous installs.


    Bill, you're very helpful thanks!

    I tried following your advice above but maybe I renamed the wrong (language) folder rather than the parent folder one level up - which i did - and this didn't have any effect.

    I gave up and had a very helpful guy at tech support named Chetan who solved the problem, who was thinking and acting along the same lines as you in terms of the preferences issues needed resetting/deleting.

    I'm not sure whether he did something else also.

    1 reply

    Bill Silbert
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    September 17, 2018

    First of all please understand that unless the person responding to a question in the forum has "Staff" next to their name they do not work for Adobe and are only answering questions on a volunteer basis in their spare time. That being said it seems possible that even with a fresh install that there may be old preference files still on your machine so I would suggest trashing them in the following manner:

    For Macintosh Users: The User Library folder in which InDesign’s preferences are stored is hidden by default on most Macintoshes. To access it make sure that InDesign is closed and click on the desktop to launch a Finder Window (Command-N). With this window in column view follow the path User>Home folder (it’s the folder with an icon that looks like a house—it may have the user’s name rather than “Home”) and click on the Home folder. With the Option Key pressed choose Library from the Finder Go Menu. “Library” will now appear within the Home folder. Within the Library folder find the folder called Preferences and within it find the folder called “Adobe InDesign” and the file called “com.adobe.InDesign.plist” and delete both that folder and that file. When InDesign is next launched it will create new preference files and the program will be restored to its defaults.

    For Windows Users: You can try the quick way of resetting on a PC which is to hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift when launching InDesign and respond affirmatively when asked if you want to reset. There have been some recent reports that the window asking if you want to reset is not popping up but that the prefs are being reset anyway. If this works great but if it doesn’t you may have to manually delete them.

    To do so:

    On Windows 7 and above the preference files are hidden. To find them go to the Control Panel and open Folder Options and then click the View tab. Then select “Show hidden files and folders” or “Show hidden files, folders or drive options” in Advanced Settings. Then delete (or rename) the folder at the end of this path: C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\<Version #>\<Language>. Make sure that InDesign is closed when you do this. When you relaunch the program it will create  new preference files and the program will be at its default settings.

    The advantage of manually deleting preference files is that after you’ve reset up the program (make sure that no document window is open) to your liking, you can create copies of your personalized “mint” preference files (make sure that you quit the program before copying them—that finalizes your customization) and use them in the future to replace any corrupt versions you may need to delete.

    jamalm61503040
    Inspiring
    September 17, 2018

    Thanks for your advice. I've tried the renaming that folder you mentioned. It's sadly not worked.

    Bill Silbert
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    September 17, 2018

    Not knowing what the problem was with your laptop in the first place makes it difficult to assess what is going on. It may be best to get back with customer support since they will at least have the history of the laptop's problems recorded. In case that is too frustrating for you then you can try uninstalling and reinstalling InDesign yourself in the following manner:

    In the app section of your Creative Cloud desktop app click on the “V” next to the app’s (InDesign) name and choose the “Uninstall” option from the pull-down menu that appears. After you’ve run the uninstall then use the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool Use the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems  . Then reinstall the program through the Desktop app. Before you reinstall, once again trash all preference files to make sure that your install is completely clean. Then launch InDesign and see if the problem persists.

    Using the Creative Cloud cleaner as directed has been known to clear up problems that linger from previous installs.