Indesign not responding after export PDF - it freezes for a long time

[NetPixel Studio]

This is a problem that existed in Indesign in the last years and I don't know how to overcome.

I have a 150 page price list. Every product has an image and there are 2x7 cells on a page, totalling 740 cells. I have 21 layers, each layer representing different currencies and different languages.

When exporting I turn on-off some layers to generate the correct PDF's.

After the first export is finished, Indesign hangs (not responding) for a half minute. After consecutive exports are finished, the hang time is gradually increased, reaching several minutes. Therefore an export session is a painfully slow and annoying task.

I am experiencing the same with all big documents (I am making product catalogues of 150+ pages).

I think, Indesign has serious memory leaks and bugs related to export PDF. These "reset settings" and "save to idml" things aren't working. Should I send my indd files to Adobe to reproduce the trouble for the developers? If I foresee correctly, next year, when we will have 300+ products in a catalogue, the export will take much more longer time.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

What platform, OS and InDesign versions? 

Do your files are stored locally - or on a server / cloud? 

Hardware configuration? 

Unfortunately, we are not mind readers... 

[NetPixel Studio]

Sorry, totally forgot the environment specs...
OS: Windows 10, everything latest (auto updates).
Indesign version: latest (auto updates, currently 20.2).
PC: Intel i9, 13th gen. 64 GB RAM; NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, 12 GB RAM
Storage (where indd and the linked files sit): fast local SSD

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Great, thanks - now we can start brainstorming 😉 

I'll start from the basics - how do you save your files? Just by using Save - or do you do Save As with a new name - every day or a few days - depends on the number of changes? 

[Eugene Tyson]

Hello - I'd start by exporting half the pages, 50% to see if it hangs on each side or just 1 side. 

If it's only hanging on 1 side then keep halving your document output until you find the culprit page(s) 

If it hangs page 1-50 out of 100 try exporting 1-25 the 26-50 for example - see if it's any faster or still getting the lag.

You might track something down

Could you also try doing File>Package and package the file to another folder locally on your SSD.

Here's some other ideas

Clear InDesign's Recovery Data & Cache

Close InDesign

Go to similar to this: C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Local\Adobe\InDesign\Version 20.0\en_US\Caches

Delete everything inside the Caches folder

Restart InDesign and try again

As a Test create a new PDF preset to test with

Adjust the PDF Export Settings
Try using PDF/X-4 instead of High-Quality Print.

Disable Optimise for Fast Web View in the export settings

If using Acrobat Layers, turn that off

Reduce Downsampling settings (change images to 225 ppi (should be fine for most commercial printing - you can increase this to higher later on to see if it's causing issues for now set it a bit lower maybe).

If using Transparency Flattening, set it to Medium or High

Disable Background Export
Instead of exporting in the background, try disabling it:

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

Try resetting your preferences:
Windows: Start InDesign, and then press Shift+Ctrl+Alt. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.
macOS: While pressing Shift+Option+Command+Control, start InDesign. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.
A dialog will appear asking to delete the InDesign Preferences, select 'Yes' on this dialog.
Further info and instructions here if needed:
https://helpx.adobe.com/in/indesign/kb/indesign-preferences-support-file-locations.html

[User2819]

Have you found any fixes? I have this issue too but on files with way fewer pages. For me it just hangs and never finishes. I have to force quit, get rid of the temp file and the PDF it was trying to create as it's just an empty shell. Then I have to export the PDF to a different folder altogether to get it to work. Not 100% sure what's causing it but I have my suspicions that it might be related to that export to Adobe express dialog box that pops up every time I make my PDFs.

[Barb Binder]

Hi User2819:

Are you saying that in Adobe InDesign, choosing File > Export to Adobe PDF (Print) or Adobe PDF (Interactive) is bringing up an Adobe Express dialog box?

If yes, can you please share screenshots of the process?

~Barb

[User2819]

No not a dialog box to create the PDF. It's a bar at the bottom similar to the one we were getting for the AI stuff that we were able to get rid of. This happens every time I generate any PDF.

[Barb Binder]

Ok, well those blue alert boxes need to go away, forever and disabling all of them is a popular feature request. In the meantime, clicking the X doesn't close it for good? It keeps coming back?

That said, I don't think that is the issue. What version of InDesign are you on (20.5 is the current version) and what operating system? If everything is current, and if you are using File > Export to Adobe PDF (Print) or Adobe PDF (Interactive) to create your PDFs, then I'm going to suspect a preferences issue.

You can work through this post: https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-indesign-rebuilding-preferences-cache/ –or– download the Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner tool (https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/apps/troubleshoot/download-failure/cc-cleaner-tool-installa...) to completely remove InDesign before reinstalling it. I have to tell you though that all the blue alert boxes will return—you'll have to close them all again. I'm sorry.

~Barb

[User2819]

Yeah it doesn't matter how many times I click the X they come back the very next export.

I'm on macOS 15.6.1 and as far as the version I'm completely up to date but it's been happening for a few versions and OS updates now. I've already done all the troubleshooting with Adobe support over the phone and even let them control the app. It's one of those bugs that doesn't happen all the time but it happens enough to be annoying. 

I don't have any weird preferences set up for exporting PDFs it's a pretty standard export to send to a printing press. It's started happening right around the same time as Adobe starting pushing the AI stuff in Acrobat so it's been at least a year now. I was just hoping someone else having issues had better luck with support than I did. My open ticket was in limbo forever then I guess closed without resolution since I never heard back from them.

[Barb Binder]

I'm on macOS 15.6.1 and haven't experienced either problem, so it is intermittent. Are you able to return to InDesign 19.5.5 for now, since presumably it started after the update to v20? (That's when the Export to Adobe Express option was added that you are associating with the issue.)

As per that link I posted earlier, corrupt preferences/cache cause InDesign to behave erratically and I'll add that this is reported most frequently after a version update where the user migrates preferences further. If the tech support team didn't address this, then it remains a possibility. It has nothing to do with your specific preference settings and it manifests itself in a number of bizarre ways.

~Barb

[User2819]

Yeah I know it's intermittent, I mentioned that in the beginning. It's been going on for a few versions of InDesign now so I don't know how far back I'd have to go just to get it to stop. Plus that wouldn't be ideal workflow wise.