InDesign Freezing Entire Computer, MacBook Pro with M1 Chip

[herzworks]

Every document I'm working in ultimately freezes my entire computer. The force quit keyboard commands are unresponsive and all I can do is force a restart. 5 minutes later, the same thing happens. At first I would wait in the hopes it would unfreeze. But 10 minutes and nothing would change. The fan doesn't run. The computer doesn't seem like it's working hard at all. There's no mouse, no spinning wheel of death. Nothing. Just everything completely frozen.I've tried to notice patterns but I can't seem to find any. Sometimes it's typing a semicolon. Sometimes it's scrolling to a different page. Other times it's working, I go to my Google doc where I have my text, come back to InDesign and everything freezes. I'm assuming this is the new chip!? When will Adobe come out with software updates specific to this new chip like everyone else has done? InDesign is literally unusable for me.

[Ian Sayers]

This was posted on another post and relates exactly to what you are experiencing.

When someone on the InDesign forum asked about InDesign and the new M1 Mac, Adobe’s Dov Issacs replied:

Wait until the M1 (ARM) -native version of InDesign is released. We are making progress on creating these versions. The Photoshop version was released a few days ago. The other applications (including InDesign) will follow when the are both completed and tested and deemed to be ready for production use by Adobe customers. Check at https://helpx.adobe.com/dow.../kb/apple-silicon-m1-chip.html for latest status updates on each application!

[herzworks]

Thanks! I searched the support community with no luck. Everyone else had M1 apps at the ready months ago. Seems like a real missed opportunity when the design community primarily uses Apple products. 

[Eugene Tyson]

Apple M1 chip use a different architecture than the Intel and AMD chips, which use the x86 architecture.

As such any computer running the M1 chip has to emulate the architecture through Apple's Rosetta 2. 

Adobe is updating its software to run natively on the M1 Chip, but it's not done yet. As of today only Photoshop and Lightroom are updated to run natively on the M1 Chip. 

Apple went against the world and decided to create their own - and now other software around the world are not compatible with its chip.

[herzworks]

Totally understand why it's not working but I think it's a real shame it's taking this long when designers and users of Adobe products are Apple fanbois. Almost all of the other regular apps I use had M1 specific builds rolling months ago. Apple surely went against the world but they told the world they were going to do this years ago. So I'm pretty shocked it's taking this long for such a massive beast like Adobe.

[Eugene Tyson]

Take it up with Apple. Adobe is only a software company.

Apple are the ones that went against what the rest of the world are doing - now their customer base are suffering. 

Maybe Apple fanbots shouldn't jump to the latest tech until they know it works - I certainly never upgrade OS or even Adobe software on a work computer. Not worth the hassle if it's not working. 

I genuinely don't know the timeline - but this is coming up more and more often and I'll just point you to this thread. 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/indesign-unusable-with-macbook-m1-chip/m-p/11887182#M417646

Dov Isaacs

Adobe Employee , 

Mar 11, 2021

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It isn't a matter of playing "catchup" in any way. Apple released new, incompatible hardware (not just the CPU, by the way), totally new program development tools, a problematic Intel instruction emulator, and very few prototype systems for application developers to work with prior to releasing all of this. Oh, and by the way it was accompanied by a major new incompatible OS release.

Contrary to the religious beliefs of some of the fanboys, no application developer is sitting on their tuchas and holding back on developing ARM-chip native versions of their applications. We have no incentive to do such foolishness.

On the other hand, based on the 38 year history of the Macintosh and the continual dramatic, incompatible hardware and software changes made by Apple over that time, it should be apparent that being “the first on the block” to acquire the latest shiny new toy from the Cathedral of St. Steve-the-Infallible and trying to use same for production work is just not prudent.

FWIW, today, March 10, 2021, Apple did release an ARM-native version of Photoshop for MacOS. Other applications such as InDesign will follow when they are ready!

[Eugene Tyson]

It isn't a matter of playing "catchup" in any way. Apple released new, incompatible hardware (not just the CPU, by the way), totally new program development tools, a problematic Intel instruction emulator, and very few prototype systems for application developers to work with prior to releasing all of this. Oh, and by the way it was accompanied by a major new incompatible OS release.

Contrary to the religious beliefs of some of the fanboys, no application developer is sitting on their tuchas and holding back on developing ARM-chip native versions of their applications. We have no incentive to do such foolishness.

On the other hand, based on the 38 year history of the Macintosh and the continual dramatic, incompatible hardware and software changes made by Apple over that time, it should be apparent that being “the first on the block” to acquire the latest shiny new toy from the Cathedral of St. Steve-the-Infallible and trying to use same for production work is just not prudent.

FWIW, today, March 10, 2021, Apple did release an ARM-native version of Photoshop for MacOS. Other applications such as InDesign will follow when they are ready!

[herzworks]

Hm. It seems like maybe the truth is... Adobe is an absolutely enormous company and moves at a glacial pace on everything and gets away with it because they're unmatched. They will complain about the way the future is trending, and throw their hands up. I would buy this, however, I have multiple apps on my computer that are specific M1 builds. So the "it's Apple's fault not ours" doesn't really hold true when everyone else seems to responding preemptively and promptly to the changes of an equally unmatched, enormous company.

[Eugene Tyson]

Your gripe is pointed in the wrong direction.

Software engineers all over the world are not sitting around while Mac launched a new chip.

As Dov said, that would be foolish.

I know other software I use the manufacturers of the software say they aren't bothered rewriting for the m1 chip at all.

At the end of the day the forums are not the correct platform to vent.

Look over on the Adobe User Voice. 

[Ian Sayers]

Your last line of your post states " InDesign is literally unusable for me."

I personally think it should be "why did apple bring out a new chip without first working with software companies to get their programs ready in time for the new launch."  It takes time to re-develop entire applications for a new machine chip set. It's not just a click a button and it's done setup...
As an Apple fan boy I am not purchasing the new M1 chip machine until it is ready for Adobe software. Or i would loose too much production time. This is not Adobe's fault - they are working to ensure you don't have any further problems when it is released and updated for the M1 chip.

I run a training company filled with Apple computers and will be upgrading them once this is resolved but not before.

[Ashutosh_Mishra · Accepted solution]

Hi all,

Sorry about the inconvenience caused. The first Beta release of InDesign for Apple silicon M1 is now available to download. Please try installing by following the instructions on this page and share your observations with us.

Regards,

Ashutosh