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scottmosher
scottmosher
Inspiring
May 18, 2018
Answered

InDesign running slow. Spinning ball constantly appearing.

  • May 18, 2018
  • 45 replies
  • 106278 views

Ok, I'm having CONSTANT slow drag with InDesign. The spinning beach ball appears while I"m doing almost ANYTHING, even after quitting/re-starting the program, and even re-starting the OS. I'm running High Sierra on Mac, with 40GB of memory, so that shouldn't be the issue, but almost anything I'm doing, I'm getting major lag. Any ideas? This is really ridiculous. Thanks!

    Correct answer Brad Kumar

    If you are still having issues with one of our Extensis products, please contact one of our Support Agents using the link below:

    https://help.extensis.com/hc/en-us/requests/new


    Hi Jeff. I actually did open a ticket with Extensis and a helpful person suggested I temporarily turn off FMCore to see if the problem persisted. Well, I didn't actually turn off the Type Core in preferences, but rather, I turned off the "Enable Document Tracking" option and after that I noticed a SIGNIFICANT improvement to my interruptions… the spinning beach was reduced by I would estimate 80%, so I'm quite happy with the result. Hope this helps some others on this thread. Thanks!

    45 replies

    Show previous replies
    A
    AlessandraKal
    Inspiring
    September 1, 2021

    me too, same problem. After upgrade 2021 version it is impossible work in InDesign with all file. Please fix it. There is'nt a problem for one user or setting.

      L
      Community Expert
      LaubenderCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      August 25, 2021

      Hi zoomdust,

      wouldn't it be more secure or stable, even faster, to run TimeMachine not on WiFi but with a LAN cable connected to the external storage device? My guess is that this would also resolve the issue…

       

      Regards,
      Uwe Laubender

      ( ACP )

      P
      PHM Technology Pty Ltd
      Participating Frequently
      August 25, 2021

      Hi Laubender, sure it maybe more reliable but it is not practical for me given my setup and mobility (If I could use an ethernet cable I would). That aside the issue is that if I am paying an expensive subscription fee why should I have to comprimise on standard functionality on a Mac (& convenience) becuase a software proivider cannot admit there 'could be an issue' and we will examine it, rather than waste an enoumous amount of a customers time exploring stragegies that have already shown not to solve the issue.

       

      Don't get me wrong about Adobe, I am frustrated with their approach and lack of 'quality' customer service nothing else.

       

       

       

      J
      Jewel H.
      Participant
      August 24, 2021

      I have a Late 2015 iMac with 4GHz Quad-Quore Intel Core i7 processor chip, 32GB of memory, and it is running MacOS 11.5.2. There is no reason I should be having the spinning ball constantly. I don't use any font software besides Fontbook. The onset of the problem was very sudden and I've tried everything to resolve it including reinstalling my system software and losing quite a bit of data in the process. When I open InDesign, the beach ball comes back and my computer slows to a crawl. Please help! I don't have time for this!

      N
      noneset
      Participating Frequently
      August 24, 2021

      Its due to time machine, backing up. Its been a constant problem for 7 years (only on indesign) each time time amchine prepares or starts backing up it will beachball. Its annoying and counter intuitive but i turn off automatic time machine and now have to remember to turn it on when im not using indesign (which is rare). 

        Marc Serre
        Marc Serre
        Participating Frequently
        August 24, 2021

        Stopping time machine bakcup reduces spinning ball here too.

         

        L
        lculver
        Participant
        July 30, 2021

        I've been an Indesign user for years without any issues. Now have the dreaded Spinning Beach Ball problem with every click. After reading this thread, it appears everyone has a different solution to the problem. I've tried several of them, but without a fix. Maybe the real issue is that Adobe has grown complacent with their products becoming bloatware. Perhaps the best solution is use Affinity -- or go back to Quark Express!

        Derek Cross
        Community Expert
        Derek CrossCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        July 30, 2021

        It would help if you gave us some details:

        Which version of InDesign and OS?

        How much RAM and spare hard disk capacity do you have?

        What action seems to cause the isssue?

        Are there any error mesages?

        Have you tried resetting the InDesign preferences?

         

        N
        noneset
        Participating Frequently
        July 17, 2021

        Ive found for me on all my machines that it is because of Time Machine... every time machine backs up it causes indesign to beachball.. constantly... i turn off time machine and its fine... 

        D
        default26uheh75i1gu
        Participant
        April 23, 2021

        I just bought a brand new 16gb RAM 1TB Macbook Pro with new M1 chip. I downloaded the newest version of Adobe Indesign and working on my first trip 8 page document I had horrible lagging, the spinning wheel every 6 seconds.  I tried everything listed.  I mean EVERYTHING! including dumping my preferences which didn't work at all.  But then I got off my network (the internet provided by my building *very low speeds*) and connected to my hotspot from my personal phone. and TA DA! it worked.  no issues at all. no spinning wheel of death and no lagging.  Unfortunately this new found evidence is going to cost a little more as I need to get a faster network connection.  Thank you to all the creatives out there putting our minds together to get this done! hope this helps! 🙂

        L
        lisab323
        Participant
        March 24, 2021

        I have just turned off Suitcase Fusion Font Auto-Activation in my InDesign Preferences, and all the freezing and lagging from InDesign disappeared completely. Oh, and I re-set my Preferences again, just to cross the 't's and dot the 'i's.

        O
        one-mouse
        Participant
        December 16, 2020

        Same problem here,  I'm having issues with both indesign and photoshop. If there was an new alternative I would dump Adobe. Maybe one day. 

          nickn43237267
          nickn43237267
          Participant
          February 8, 2021

          Please try the suggestion from trudyg66961491 above. Pause syncing in Creative Cloud – Creative Cloud > Settings > Syncing > Pause Syncing. It was a miracle for me.

            Benji-11
            Benji-11
            Inspiring
            February 24, 2021

            I did that, but it didn't solve my problem. Whatever I do Adobe Softwares are so slow. I'm so tired of using these apps. 😔

            J
            jvlookstudio
            Participant
            November 26, 2020

            I had this same problem in Indesign 2021, and since this is the only thread coming up on google: try unlocking your images. That fixed it for me.

            Srishti Bali
            Community Manager
            Srishti BaliCommunity Manager
            Community Manager
            October 18, 2020

            Hi all,

             

            Sorry about this trouble. We understand how frustrating performance issues can be. I am hopeful that it was fixed. If not, you may try the steps suggested on this page. We have consolidated the most popular solutions that help in fixing slow performance and unexpected behavior of InDesign. 

             

            If you still need help, feel free to reach out, we'd be happy to help.

             

            Regards,

            Srishti

            P
            PatrickG
            Known Participant
            November 6, 2020

            I'm having similar problems and none of the steps from the suggested page helped.

            My issue is that the spinning ball is appearing almost every other action I'm doing. I've had more complex documents to work with before but the issues since the last upgrades kept becoming worse and worse. 

             

            *rant on*

            The scrolling speed with Indesign becoming extremely slow with other screen profiles then Apple or sRGB is true for me, too. The "please delete your cache and pref" stuff is complete BS but of course a standard procedure to check for problems. As long as I'm not a Beta Tester, I do not want to have to deal with speed issues like this on clean systems. Indesign is supposed to be a tool for professionals, so I want a robust working package, when I'm using it. Maybe Indesign would works better in test scenarios, but on normal workstations this is a real issue! Since my last session with an Apple engineer who clearly narrowed down my overall macOS performance issues after a clean install of macOS and Adobe to the Adobe library trash it spawns, I'm really no fan of Adobe. I'm a University teacher and professional, and I definitely try to push all my students as far away from Adobe as I can. Sadly that's not always possible and Adobe clearly knows that. Please stop resting on your laurels and stop that tiny feature adding from version to version. Aim to get a robust tool working. This is just sad and annoying.

            *rant off*

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