InDesign running slow. Spinning ball constantly appearing.

[scottmosher]

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!

[Marc Serre]

Stopping time machine bakcup reduces spinning ball here too.

[zoomdust]

Thank you Nonset, other than being super frustrated twith adobe's solution this managed to solve the issue for me. What is confusing for me though is I just spent a total of 6 hours on the phone with Adobe (I am not exaggerating the hours here) and we went through everything to resolve this issue and no luck. When I mentioned turning off my WiFi solved the problem, it was largely ignored by Adobe. I still have an open case with them, and I will again inform them that the problem relates to something to do with the activtion of 'Time Machine' (My time machine relies on WiFi). I was begining to think it was 'something on my machine' however when solutions like this work, I start to have doubts about it being my issue. In fact I am convnced it is not.

[noneset]

Amazing, yeah report it to them that would be fantastic. I've tried but they dont seem to care, or they pass it off. It does not happen with any other software and happens on all apple devices no matter what the set up, its definitively an indesign problem and been a problem with Indesign for years... 

[zoomdust]

Well that is interesting becuase some one else in this community quite rudely pointed out that it was ONLY my issue and that I should have some respect for Adobe. And their basis for that claim was that if it was an Adobe issue the thread would be flooded with complaints of the same nature. I guess now atleast there is one other person who has the same issue and sees it as an Adobe issue. And I can guarantee by the time I finsih with Adobe they will have admitted that they will need to do an upgrade to fix what is a well documented and widely known issue with InDesign. I am yet to have the result be any other outcome with Adobe. Let's see if I am surprised this time around.

[noneset]

HA! yeah ive had that same rude response. There are quite a few threads all with people trying to work it out. So its quite diluted, if everyone was posting in one thread im sure it would be innundated. Good luck with getting them to admit it... Theyll make you do insane things like uninstall the OS, reinstall creative cloud before they admit they dont know what it is... yet will never admit you diagnosed something. 

[zoomdust]

I have had numerous issues with Adobe products and been through all those tactics without any real resolution, other than it may be our issue and we'll address it. I have already placed 10 hours of them directing me around my system on screen share trying to find any oissue other than their software without so much as a hint of an issue with my system. I have one other appointment with them, this time for 3 hours after which I will serve them a legal demand (family foull of lawyers makes this easier) to prove that the issue is related to my system (I have done 10 hours with them) and if they cannot, which I suspect they cannot then they need to disocunt the subscription fee for InDesign as it has not operated as promissed. I am thining that will at least get me a response.

[zoomdust]

Apologies about the misspellings.

[jeffhalmos]

Id seems to go deep into the system, why I don't know. But no other Adobe app for graphics causes so many MacOS issues.

For example, and for over a decade, when I force quite Id because of an issue, it will take minutes to get it to reboot, bouncing forever and ignoring force quits and clicks on the app icon in the dock. In the last 2 versions I've had to hard reboot my Mac mini M1 instead.

[Laubender]

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 )

[zoomdust]

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.

[noneset]

Since the invention of WIFI, lan networks for poeple at home have become redundant... people like to work; in the home office, kitchen, living room, even the bathroom if they want. What your proposing is that people go back to how they worked in 1998 needing new long ethernet cables, so they can have less mobility than they had before, to fix a problem Adobe could fix in a week. WIFI isnt going anywhere, adobe should meet us in the present not force us to live in the past. 

[AlessandraKal]

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.

[zoomdust]

Okay, after more phone calls from Adobe Support than I care to have I have finally found the problem, as confirmed by Adobe customer support who I just got off the phone from. I am staggered at the response, but maybe that is just me.

Adobe InDesign Does not work correctly when running TimeMachine when it is backing up to a network drive or cloud.

According to Adobe this makes it our problem. I am not sure about anyone else, but the idea of Tinme Machine is to protect my data and that cannot be effectively done if I move all my backups to the local machine I am working on. If I get a corruption or issue with the local machine I will not be able to access my Time machine backups and continue to work or protect my clients work.

Its an appauling admission by Adone that they know the fault and that they see this a user issue.

So the only solution that has worked for me is to turn Time Machine off when operating InDesign. I am not going to go into the discussion on how this is not a customer driven solution, if this is what Adobe thinks is okay behaviour for their software.

In my opinion it is not, however the silver linning here is as follows;

1. Despite a couple of people on this forum saying this must be my problem, I can now say with 100% assurity from Adobe that it is not 'my problme' it is infact Adobe InDesign who does not want to work with a standard, long standing function of MACs - Time Machine.
2. The solution is to turn off your Time Machine while working on InDesign, if you dare take that risk, given you should always have a current back up.
3. Adobe have confirmed in my eyes they are definetly not customer driven. Time Machine and its operation has been in existence long before InDesign. Using Time Machine locally on your local machine does not solve the problem, becuase it puts your data at risk.
4. We can all stop trying to define what the problem is (and its solution), as Adobe have admitted to me in this call that no one should do a back up to an external drive or cloud while using Adobe InDesign (that is plain stupid).
5. As they see this is a user problem, do not wait for a update to fix this known issue. Find other software is, I guess, your only other soution if what they are suggesting is not viable for you to do.
6. Finally and most importantly - To all those that suggested I waste copiuous amounts fo time going through Adobe Support guided tasks, again, to solve an obvious problem that was not user designated, you were absolutely 100% wrong according to Adobe support.

Best of luck everyone. Stay safe.

[noneset]

Well done for getting that admission, youve revealed that they know about it. It say seem small, but this is the first step to them quietly fixing it in a future update, even if they dont admit that its their problem, my bet is they fix it very quietly.

[AlessandraKal]

Grazie @zoomdust per il tuo intervento.

Uso Adobe da più di 20 anni e noto che ultimamente c'è una continua aggiunta di funzioni spesso stupide per chi produce e lavora.

Per esempio in Indesign ho notato proprio ieri (le ho provate tutte per riuscire a lavorare) che anche disabilitare la ricerca automatica di link ipertestuali nel pannello interattività > link ipertestuali ha migliorato un po' le prestazioni.

Ma il problema resta ed è in effetti un tentativo continuo di salvataggio (forse in conflitto con Time Machine in effetti non avevo pensato a questo) oggi provo a disabilitare momentaneamente il backup per provare.

Comunque concordo con te cge si tratti di una soluzione assurda.

Grazie

[nickn43237267]

I'm sorry to say this isn't going to be the answer for everyone. Look through all the emails and see the different solutions that have worked for some people. Having had this problem previously, I have now (fingers crossed) been beachball-free for a few months – and I run Time Machine on a network drive. For now, the problem seems to have sorted itself out – I didn't do anything. Maybe the latest update changed something. Hopefully, the next update won't bring it back again.

[AlessandraKal]

Anche a me sembrava risolto ma è ritornato all'improvviso da solo purtroppo 😩.

Speriamo ne tengano conto e risolvano con un nuovo aggiornamento perché è davvero impossibile lavorare in questo modo

[jeffhalmos]

It's Adobe's problem. Period. Time Machine has been around for over a decade. So has Id. But 6+ months ago, this issue. Big Sur has been out longer than that. Photoshop, Illustrator. Their fine. Id? Constant problems version after version.

Did Apple change something? Possibly. So Adobe is willing to have all of us hate them because they want to play the blame game? Nice.

[PACMAN7]

Been having the same spinning beachball issue for way too long in InDesign when Time Machine kicks in too. Apple blaim Adobe (and don't recommend network time capsules, just directly connected ones). And Adobe point me back to Apple or have me replacing prefences and trying older versions to no avail.

My Time Capsule is an RN626 Netgear ReadyNAS and I've upgraded the drives to server grade pro ones, the network to 10GbE with two aggregated cables into the NAS, the mac to a fully spec'ed 2020 iMac version, and upgraded to Big Sur in an attempt to eradicate this—to no joy. I'm just hoping that Adobe or Apple will fix this, or a machine becomes available on the market that will minimise the impact.

Until then, I've switched off automatic backups in Time Machine and use Time Machine Editor to automatically backup when I'm not using it. And I do manual Time Machine backups in between when I remeber. Its a pain (and a worry), but I no of no other solution that has worked for me.

[rpr]

I actually Have time Machine off on my work machine for few reasons that are irrelevant for this thread. 

However I can say I don't really notice much difference, Indesign still crashes on me most of the time, and is generally frustrating to use. I have also not noticed any performance difference if I'm using a file/folder through a cloud system or external drive, it just seems to be indesign running like indesign.

I actually have to look at my timelines expecting indesign to be a pain when considering deliverables, which are typically needed ASAP.

I suspect it isn't just time machine but Adobe CC just not playing nice with Icloud in general.

This would obviously be a pretty big flaw.

Turning one off over the other to use is a ridiculous expectation. 

Icloud seems to be having its own set of severe issues lately and I'm sure programing for cloud systems isn't fun but Adobe should be more invested in optimizing their programs to work with the Machines it's users most likely have and have always had windows or Mac OS.  

Indesign especially is not some revolutionary new concept that is pushing data transfer to its limits. one of Adobes few programs that actually seems to be going backwards in features and usability ever since moving to CC.

This issue has been long standing and every upgrade to indesign neither improves performance nor add any useful features.

I would abandon it completely for infinity were it not for what should be an uanessacry 3rd party plugin that adds features the program should do by now ( EasyCatalog) .  I've sort of lost track of these threads so if I haven't mentioned it before in this one having this plugin installed or not also creates no difference in performance.

[angrytattoo]

For me it seemed to be Google Drive. I turned that off and it solved the beach ball. 

Our firewall intermitently blocks my mac from contacting Google drive but it keeps trying and trying....

[rpr]

That's interesting, I imagine icloud can cause similiar issues.  creative cloud processes run really high in activity monitor when i gt the spinnig ball. Nevertheless, Google Drive, Icloud Drive, Windows OS, Mac OS.... these aren't obscure user needs and part of the contemproary professional environment, one these products are supposed to slide into.

If we were talking about any of the video editing apllications or intensive 3d processing i'd understand more the concept to isolate a workstation but those programs all work much better for me than indesign.

Bridge is useless but premiere and after effects hardly ever bring my production to a crashing halt and decent into madness.  

I would abandon Indesign completely if I wasnt using easyCatalog to accomplish what i need to ( if you are wondering, having that plugin installed or not has no noicable effect on stability on any of my machines, I have explored that).

[TomHolmes_G&I]

Just adding my voice to this too. Exact same problem – thought it was something to do with wi-fi, but the Time Machine issue checks out for me too. Turning off wi-fi or Time Machine while working is a handy temporary fix, but having this as the permanent 'solution' is not really acceptable on a subscription software that can theoretically instantly send out bug fixes with updates. Been having this problem for a while now and wasting a lot of time watching spinning beachballs when I should be working away on clients' jobs. Clearly a common problem that needs fixing ASAP, not just ignoring or pretending is an isolated issue.

[Marc Serre]

Following everyone comments and experiencing the lag myself, just wanted to say that, for me, the Extensis and timemachine workaround did not solve this issue. Recently, we've upgraded our router and our upload download speed was increased a lot. (from 30Mbit/s to 400 Mbit/s) This solved the running beachball indesign episodes. 

[Marc Serre]

This is my correct answer. I've been affected by this issue for a long time. Tried ajusting font mamnagement settings, toggling indd prefs and other prefs. Theses actions reduced inerty, but did not solve completly the problem.

The solution came while we upgraded significatly our bandwith. We are now on 400 Mg upload.
Since them, the beach ball is now in the closet.

Hope this help the community;