Indesign Gradient window elements not working

[jeremy01760]

I can draw a shape and fill with a gradient. 

• Using the Gradient window I am unable to select the color swatches on the gradient
• I can't adjust the gradient slider.
• I can't add colors to the gradient.
• Additionally, the top part of the gradient window is cut off (see screenshot).
• The button to toggle the gradient direction does work.

I've tried restarting INDD, restarting the mac, same result. Tried closing that window, nesting the window in the sidebar, pulling it free from the sidebar, hiding./showing options in the window - no difference. I am probably going to reinstall INDD if there's not a known fix.

Just started happening, everything is updated (Mac Studio, MacOS, INDD).

Thank you

[Steve Werner]

You're trying to do it like in Illustrator. It's different in InDesign. InDesign requries you create a Gradient swatch.

To edit, select the Gradient swatch in the Swatches panel. Then choose Swatch Options from the Swatches panel menu:

Then edit the swatch:

[Steve Werner]

PS: You create a Gradient swatch in InDesign by choosing New Gradient swatch from the Swatches panel menu.

[Bill Silbert]

In addition to what Steve has said about the way that gradients are created in InDesign I notice that in your Gradient Panel there is indeed something amiss. As you pointed out the top of the Panel is getting cut off. You should be able to fix this by deleting your InDesign cache files. This is different than trashing preferences. This process is mostly used for problems in Panels and interface issues in general. Doing this should make the Panel display correctly.

To delete caches:

For Macintosh Users: The User Library folder in which InDesign’s cache files 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 “Caches” folder. Within the Caches folder find and delete the entire folder “Adobe InDesign”. I find that deleting the InDesign cache folder completely leads to a lasting change.

For Windows Users: On Windows 7 and above the caches 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 Name]\AppData\Local\Adobe\InDesign\Version [#]\<Language>\Cache.

[jeremy01760 · Accepted solution]

Thank you for the cache deletion remedy, that fixed it!

You can control/create gradients by using the gradient floating menu, you don't need to create a new gradient swatch in swatches first. 

- window - color - gradient to open the gradient panel and toggle the the "show options" selection in the small sidebar menu

- draw an object, with object selected, click the gradient swatch in the gradient panel. this will color the object with a gradient (usually it's default black and white gradient). 

- with object selcted, you can control the gradation, drag swatches from the swatch panel onto the slider, etc. 

- Then you can add it to your swatches if you want 

Thanks again!

[Bill Silbert]

Happy to help.