Indesign Spinning Ball from Hell

[joeysgirl90]

Well, I'm on multi print deadlines and have lost an entire day because of a random issue. Was not expecting this. Also, love the fact Adobe has no tech support till Sunday 6pm? Really. My Indesign CC suddenly for no reason, decided to stop working. Lovely. I've researched many tricks and tips, and nothing is working for either of the current versions I've tried. I can get Indesign to open and that is it. It locks up. On a rare try, I will let me click on something then it stops and the spinning ball from hell locks it all up again. I have uninstalled, reinstalled, used the cleaner tool, etc. Zip. I have multi print deadlines this week for clients and I'm a hot mess because I can't do anything. My hands are tied up and I'm just about ready to bawl. Any other suggestions? I am running Mac 11.6.1 Big Sur. Have not updated. All other CC apps like Photoshop, etc open and work fine. I need this fixed. Thanks! 

[Derek Cross]

Have you tried resetting the InDesign preferences?

is it just this one document that causes it to freeze or all documents?

Are you able to open a recent backup copy of this particular document?

[joeysgirl90]

No. How should I do that?

It's all random. Sometimes it will allow me to open a doc, then zip. The ball.

Sometimes it will just open, as in to make a new doc, then zip. The ball. 

[joeysgirl90]

Sorry, I did do this yesterday. Just tried again. Nothing still does not work. 😞

[Derek Cross]

To reset the preferences:

1) Close InDesign
2) Double click on Adobe InDesign's icon to launch it
3) QUICKLY hold down Ctrl+Alt+Shift. (for Windows) or CTL+OPT+CMD+Shift (for Mac OS X)
4) When a dialogue appears, asking you “Delete InDesign Preference Files?” Click Yes.

(If you don't see the question do it again.)

[joeysgirl90]

Sorry, yes, I did try this yesterday and just now. Still does not work. 😞 

[Derek Cross]

By the way, how much RAM and spare hard disk capacity do you have?

And which version of InDesign?

[joeysgirl90]

I have both the latest versions of ID installed - 17.0.1 and 16.4. Memory/Ram see attached screen shots.

[Creamer Training]

Are both InDesign versions locking up or just the new version?

[joeysgirl90]

Both. Sorry, I'm just a mess. I need this up and running and it's frustrating. Was workign just fine for many moons. Thanks for your help. 🙂 

[Derek Cross]

8GB of RAM isn't really enough you need at least 16GB.

[joeysgirl90]

That's fine, however I've run ID for years on CC w/o issue. Any other suggestions to get it running? 

[Derek Cross]

Save the document as an IDML document to clear out the crud that builds up and causes document corruption. Rename it and open it again in InDesign.

[joeysgirl90]

I can't even get to open a file to resave as IDML. Just spins.

[Derek Cross]

Try dividing the document in half and see if you can open one part of it, if you can, divide the other half and keep dividing it until (hopefully) you isolate the issue.

I would add:

– You may have run InDesign CC successfully for years, but you’ve upgraded to newer, more demanding versions, and they require more RAM.

– It’s important that you get into the habit of making back-up copies of your work so you can get to an earlier version should issues arise with the current version. Also keep copies of your documents off line so you can still access your them should something happen to your computer.

– If you are working on a document for a long time, save it occasionally as an IDML to clear out the crud that builds up.

[DaveJCummings]

8GB has been more than enough for me, especially on my M1 Macbook Air

[Derek Cross]

I understand Dave that 8GB on an M1 is different from the previous version – have you heard that?

[Creamer Training]

Try uninstalling your caches. If that doesn't work, try uninstalling with Adobe CC Cleaner and reinstall. 

https://www.ideastraining.com/TutorialsAndTips/TroubeshootInDesign.html

[joeysgirl90]

Did the caches step and also CC cleaner, and reinstall, again. I've reinstalled many times. This time I got to actually "open" a file and save an as IDML, but locked up again. Still a hot mess. Most currently, I got this screen and the lock. The spinning ball. Question, once Adobe tech opens at 3PM EST, can they log into my mac and fix this? 

[J E L]

@joeysgirl90 Just in case, if you are running Time Machine, turn it off and try again. Can Adobe support log in to your system and  fix it? Probably, but they will likely go through these steps again as a process of elimination. Maybe they can also help revert you to a version where you were last stable. Please come back to let us know what happens.

[joeysgirl90]

Tried that. Still won't work. Still locks up and spins. Thank you everyone for your kindness. I'm have such a hard time and just found out a close friend died, so this is making things very difficult at best.

[J E L]

Oh my. That is really tough all around. I'm very sorry for your loss. You've tried a lot of fixes already. We will do everything we can to help you. If it's possible/feasible, you may need to copy your files to the cloud or an external drive and find another computer system near you to finish the work by deadlines, or hand off the remaining work  to another designer with your oversight. But all that can be sorted out tomorrow, so do your best not to stress today. I know it's really frustrating.

[Creamer Training]

Do you want to package the file, zip it, put it in your Creative Cloud folder, then share the link when it is finished uploading?

[joeysgirl90]

Sadly, I can't package anything. I can't open any files. When I get ID open, it locks up and the death ball spins and spins. I have to keep force quiting. 😞 

[Creamer Training]

Just do the file, then.

Also, make sure you have deactivated or uninstalled any third-party plugins such as Suitcase. You can reinstall new versions later if the problem goes away.