InDesign CS5 Crashes with Warning Dialog Box

[arminvit]

Hello,

Facts:

InDesign CS5, v7.0.4

OS X 10.7.4

No third-party font-management application running.

Macbook Pro (June, 2012)

InDesign crashes in these two instances:

1. Trying to delete a page that has content. Right as the warning box comes up, it shows up without content (just the "Warning" title) and crashes.

2. When packaging a file, as it's about to warn you about the perils of archiving fonts it does the same thing as above, and crashes.

Tried the alt-opt-cmd-shift trick to reboot preferences and nothing.

Tried deleting the two preference files directly so that they would rebuild and nothing.

Interestingly, I have another computer running OS 10.7.3 (as opposed to 10.7.4 on the crashy one) and the same InDesign CS5 7.0.4 and that one works perfectly.

Ideas? Leads?

Thanks

Armin

[Peter Spier]

I'm sorry you feel insulted. That was not my intent. My intent was to point out that anger and ranting directed toward Adobe is misplaced. I know that doesn't get your work done.

As far as inside information, no, I don't know anything for sure beyond what Scott has posted, but I know the ID team, and they don't take this stuff lightly, at all, and if after three weeks of work they say "it appears" to be a problem with a removed api, I'd lay odds that they've ammased a good bit of evidence to point in that direction and there is near-zero probablilty that, except in some isolated special cases which might also be showing the same symptoms, there is any other cause. I would say from past experience that the time frame from finding the source of the problem to designing a fix, and then testing that so it can be released is a few weeks.

I mention the special cases because it is possible that some docments might have other issues that look like they are the same, but are in fact something else. This happened with PDF export problems in CS5. Most issues were fixed with the patch intended to correct the problems, but we still see a small number of reports of failure that look the same. It often turns out that there is some internal problem in these files -- bad link or font, for example, which can be corrected, but I would be lying if I said I didn't belive there are still possible bugs. Adobe is pretty up-front about admitting when they've screwed up the code themselves, and when a bug is as serious as this they put a lot of effort into fixing it. They care about their customers quite a bit, actually, and InDesign is a core product, not some sideline.

Most bug fixes don't get ported back to versions before the current release becasue the cost to test on non-current versions is too high and the risk of breaking something else on an older version is too great to warrant it if an upgrade will solve the problem (I know, that's money out of your pocket, but that's corporate reality). I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if an exception to that norm happens in this case and that if they can port a fix back to CS5 and 5.5 they will, but it's hardly guaranteed.

Adobe is always looking for beta testers. I would encourage anyone who thinks they can help to find bugs before a product goes public to apply to the prerelease program: https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=prerelease_interest

[Peter Spier]

And for those considering going back to CS4, .idml files exported from any version of ID from CS4 to CS6 SHOULD open in CS4, but there will most likely not be a perfect translation. Any features used inthe file that are newer than CS4 will be lost entirely (span/split columns, for example, or alternate layouts), and differnces inthe text engines from version to version make it very likely that ther will be differnces in how the text flows, withteh potential for diffent line endings and overset text in long docs, particularly.

The big exception to successful back-porting to CS4 is if you've placed pages from a newer file in the document. Those don't get converted during the export, so will need to have their own conmversions, and will prevent the file from opening when checking links. If you are currently suffering from crashes, I don't know if you will be able to successfully do your own exports.

I've pretty much said what I though needed to be said, so I'll probably not post in this thread again.

[Guest]

Hi all,

Just to let everybody know, CS4 HAS EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM.

I have a new MacBook Pro (non-retina) running 10.7.4 and I'm using CS4

and exactly the same thing is happening for me. I'm getting round it by

using one of the other PDF presets to export from InDesign (High Quality

Print seems to work fine), then converting to the spec I want directly

in Acrobat.

Can I respectfully suggest that we all move on from insulting and

shouting at each other please? Adobe are obviously aware of this and

working on it. We have no choice but to sit tight and see what they come

up with. I would suggest that we let them get on with it, then ask

questions and point fingers later.

I am hopeful they will sort it out soon enough.

And then of course there is Mountain Lion to worry about... Lets hope

this doesn't happen again then...

[Guest]

hi peter, i only want to let you know:

i tested id on a mac book pro retina with osx 10.7.4 with following versions:

cs3: works

cs4: works

cs5: crashes

cs5.5: crashes

cs6: crashes

the crash is infected by the described pop up...

please dont use "you are using an old version" as an excuse!!! because also cs6 crashes!!!!!!

i just checked the spec info from id: there is no warning that the software doesnt work with mac os x 10.7.4 . thats ridiculous!!!

and who is paying my loss of profit?

a new mb pro retina: $3.000 + cs6 master: $2.600

5 employes: $ 28.000 and you cant do the work for you customer.

im very very very upset!

[camzaman]

Anxious to hear any updates ASAP. This is a huge issue, and I'm weary of re-installing because it seems that breaks other things and I have bootcamp and other complex setups it might mess up.

[Subi Omu]

This is only temporary fix but it works to some extent:

- Work with other MacBook OS 10.7.3 or older

- Show warning dialog boxes (delete page, relink, overflow text, etc) on purpose and check "Don't show again"

- Copy InDesign preference file to New Macbook OS 10.7.4

[Guest]

Adobe!

Is ist possible to give such a modified Preference-File for all Costumers having problems?

[camzaman]

Yeah, if this preference thing were valid, why hasn't it been implemented already? And I'm not switching to an older version of Lion if it has the same drawbacks described earlier.

[gvit1896]

Does anyone have a modified indesign preference file they are willing to share?

[alexdauchez]

Hi again. I also have a MacBook Pro early 2011 with 10.7.4 and CS6 and everything is fine. So the problem only appears with the 2012 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Retina.

I made a new InDesign preferences file reset to default on my 2011 MacBook Pro . Then I checked the "don't show again" box in alert dialogs that cause problems in exporting, packaging, deleting pages and synchronizing a book.

You can download it here :

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/8980230/InDesign_Defaults.zip

Then install it on your mac here (sorry, I don't know the path for windows) :

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/

Search for a file named "Indesign Defaults" and replace it with this one.

Don't forget that your preferences are back to defaults, except for these dialogs boxes, so you'll have to restore your preferences !!

Let me know if it works and if you get other crashes.

I can make a new "Indesign Defaults" file if you explain me in which menu you get a crash.

[muthafusco]

This is great!  Except, I'm running CS5 and the preference file resets when installing a preference file from a different version.  Can someone do this for CS5?  And CS5.5 for the 5.5 people?

Seems hilarious that this would be the fix and Adobe has been dragging their heels all this time without even offering this patch.

[lindsaymurray]

@pure&simple, Thanks for letting me know - I won't waste time trying that solution, then!

@alexdauchez, I still experienced a crash even after using the new InDesign Defaults file. It happened when I was relinking a missing image. It also happened when I attempted to create a package, but as has been mentioned in this thread previously, if I don't include fonts, the crash doesn't happen. The good news is, I was able to successfully export a PDF with the "smallest file size" settings! So, that is certainly an improvement, and I thank you very much for the assistance.

[muthafusco]

AHHHH!!!  ADOBE HAS TO FIX THIS!!!!

I'm happy to be able to export a small PDF, but if I can't relink files, it's impossible to do anything.  Come on Adobe.  It's been three weeks!

[lindsaymurray]

I just read muthafusco's post - I am running 5.5 and didn't realize the preferences file was for another version! I don't know why the "smallest file size" PDF export suddenly worked, then.

[muthafusco]

Yes, the smallest PDF export worked for me too for the first time.  But, I crashed when I tried to package a file which made me think it had to do with the version.  I guess not!

[alexdauchez]

It happened when I was relinking a missing image.

Hey UnstrungHarp,

I couldn't get any alert dialog and so reproduce the crash your experimented.

If I relink a file that is missing using the "Links" panel, no alert dialog appear.

Are you on CS6 and can you tell me how you get the crash (which actions, menus…) ?

[lindsaymurray]

Hi alexdauchez,

Unfortunately, I'm using 5.5 so that may have something to do with it. I was relinking a file from the Links panel (clicking the "chain" button), and that's when the crash occurred (the blank "warning" box appeared momentarily followed by the crash).

For anyone else experiencing crashes in this situation, at least there is one basic workaround. I'm sure it's blindingly obvious, but just select the image you want to relink and choose File/Place (or command-D), making sure the option to "Replace Selected Item" is checked. That isn't very efficient when you need to relink a ton of images that would normally happen automatically when using the Links panel, but at least it gets us working again.

[Peter Spier]

The InDesign Defaults file is usually pretty stable going from version to version (thought I'm not certain what happens when there are prefs that existin in one version but not another). I've had no trouble using the same file here on CS5, 5.5 and 6. I think the packaging crash is probably due to the default warning about font licensing, and perhaps someone would make a copy of the prefs after checking the "don't show this warning again" box for that.

[alexdauchez]

Peter Spier wrote:

[...] and perhaps someone would make a copy of the prefs after checking the "don't show this warning again" box for that.

Hi Peter,

that's actually what I made in the file above. I remember I checked that box when I got the warning about font licensing.

So there may be another problem…

[Stephanie_USF]

It seems to me that most of the crashing, regardless of CS level, is occurring on newer laptops and Air machines.

We purchased two brand new 27" Desktop machines last December and installed CS 5.5. Everything ran like a dream! Then in May, both machines were updated with CS6. On one machine (mine), InDesign crashes several times per day (lost several hours of work yesterday), even though by habit I turn off all dialogue boxes (via checkboxes). I'm lucky if I can export to PDF and have Acrobat not crash more than 80% of the time upon PDF creation or opening PDFs. Both machines are running the Lion software.

My question is if both machines are virtually identical (and both designers are similar in program usage), why so many problems on my machine & not the other?

[alexdauchez]

Hi again. I also have a MacBook Pro early 2011 with 10.7.4 and CS6 and everything is fine. So the problem only appears with the 2012 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro Retina.

I made a new InDesign preferences file reset to default on my 2011 MacBook Pro . Then I checked the "don't show again" box in alertdialogs that cause problems in exporting, packaging, deleting pages and synchronizing a book.

You can download it here :

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/8980230/InDesign_Defaults.zip

Then install it on your mac here (sorry, I don't know the path for windows) :

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/

Search for a file named "Indesign Defaults" and replace it with this one.

Don't forget that your preferences are back to defaults, except for these dialogs boxes, so you'll have to restore your preferences !!

Let me know if it works and if you get other crashes.

I can make a new "Indesign Defaults" file if you explain me in which menu you get a crash.

I updated the "Indesign Defaults" file to download (see above). You can know ungroup a group on which effects are applied to.

When ungroupping objects, the warning box appears and let you know that ungroupping "breaks" the effects applied.

[margvt]

Thanks, Alex, for all your helpfulness. I have more issues though. First, on my week-old RMBP, with Lion, the system is not set up as previously. I have no  /Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/

I have only the computer name/Library/Prefernces and in there are no Adobe prefs whatsoever. I have searched for them using all manner of combinations, but i can't find the damn things.

In addition, i still cannot even Launch inDesign (5.5 btw) - crashes on start-up. I would LOVE to replace the prefs and see if that will fix it (sounds like it might... hoping). BUt where are they?? Can anyone help?

If this doesn't do it, i wiil try reinstalling InDesign... does anyone know if i can just reinstall one part of CS5.5?

this whole thing is killing me. thanks, all, for thoughts, ideas, suggestions. And Adobe?? I'd sure love to thank you, too... when will I be able to?

[MargaretAMartin]

margvt, I suspect you do have a Library folder in your user account -- it's just hidden by default in Lion.

To view the folder, open Finder. Then hold down the Option key when you select the Go menu; Library should now appear as one of the options. If you select Library, a new Finder window will open showing you the Library folder, and from there you should be able to navigate as usual.

Macworld has a good overview of this situation, including instructions on how to make it permanently visible (if you want to do that).

[Peter Spier]

another discussion of unhiding is here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3204685?start=0&tstart=0

[Stephanie_USF]

Thanks Peter, for the other discussion. 

Alex - is this the file I need to replace?  "com.adobe.InDesign.7.5.plist"   It's the only one I can find that has anything to do with InDesign.