Indesign Preferences Reset

[Chris.Patterson]

When I opened the newest version of InDesign, a warning popped up:

"InDesign preferences were created with a different version of Adobe InDesign. Preferences will be reset to their default values.”

Why? Why were the old preferences not consulted for preferences we had already set?

Now, we have to go through every preference on every machine to determine what needs to be reset back to our intended preferences.

Since I didn’t have my preferences backed up, in the future, how can I make sure that any preferences I set aren’t overridden or that they can be restored?

Kind Regards,

-Chris

[Mike Witherell]

This seems to be a current bug everyone is complaining about. This may change with a next patch version. In the meantime, look for:

Adobe InDesign 2023 tour of 30 presets, styles, automations

this is a strategy guide for how to round up most all the 30 presets and preferences

[Jennifer28452693zrxb]

Hello, I was attempting to save my workspace to be compatiable with my daily workflow. However, in the process ID removed my "essentials classics" and "classics." I have thrice attempted reseting ID for preferences using "Ctrl"+Shift+Option+CMD. To no avail. Do you know how I can resolve this issue?

Thank you, in advance, for any guidance or support you're able to offer.

Jennifer

[Bill Silbert]

Actually, aside from the lack of choice, in my experience starting the use of a new version of a Creative Cloud program with clean preferences is a good thing. In all of the years that I have been answering questions here on the InDesign and Illustrator forums the most frequent problem that I have seen is that users who used the option to import previous settings and preferences during an upgrade have suffered for it. It's been my experience that instructing those users to trash the old preferences has solved the issue the great percentage of the time. It does make sense that trying to use a set of preferences that were compatible with an older version of a program may not be a good idea. New versions have different code within them that may or may not be welcome by old preferences.

I realize that many people have taken great pains to set up their programs in a way that is most convenient for them. Having to do that all over again really does seem painful but as far as I can see the pain is offset by the reward of a better running program. A suggestion that I might make is to keep a checklist of the customizations that you do for the programs that are vital for your particular workflow. Having this all organized does make a difference. I've been doing this for years and it never takes me more than ten minutes to get up and running after an upgrade. Also, I never upgrade until months have passed and there have been at least one or two (inevitable) bug fixes released.

[Chris.Patterson]

Hi Bill,

I realize there are a lot of people who only work on their own specific machine(s). Unfortunately, forcing people to upgrade with default prefs can create a bad user experience. While I realize there are issues where wiping preferences, especially on Macs, can fix a problem with a corrupted preference, if Adobe were to import in the preferences and then do something like saying, "We've updated some settings and have new recommendations based on your current configuration and existing preferences. Would you like to review preferences and make changes or reset preferences to default?" it would have the potential for a much better user experience. Also, having the ability to save the preferences in a format like JSON or XML for reimporting into a newer version would be a time saver as well, especially if you're working in a department with multiple machines that now all require preferences to be reset manually.

[Peter Spier · Accepted solution]

Screen caps of the prefs are a good resource if you can't remember what your custom settings should be. Copying presets and saved queries, etc., from a previouos version has never caused me any problem, so you can keep backup copies of all of that stuff anywhere that suits you.

Personally, I don't delete old versions when installing a new one. They are often useful, particularly for editing an older file without getting surprises, or for collaborationg wiht other users who have not yet updated, and of course the old personalizations are all there for examination/copying at the click of the mouse.

[Steve Werner]

Like Peter, I always keep the current version of InDesign and at least one version previous. It gives me something to back up to if bugs which get in the way. It lets me work with others on earlier version.