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Silvia Galasso
Participating Frequently
November 20, 2024
Question

InDesign turned into useless crap

  • November 20, 2024
  • 3 replies
  • 1362 views

To Adobe Team:

Why the hell did you ruin software that was perfectly good and worked flawlessly? You turned it into useless crap. The best way to lose subscribers. Shame on you. Sincerely.

    3 replies

    R
    RadioPPPROF
    Participating Frequently
    October 20, 2025

    I completely agree with Silvia.  I used the original Aldus Pagemaker in the 1990s.  Then Adobe bought it and began to "Adobe-ize" it.  When they converted the program into InDesign, it became non-intuitive and junk.  I've used a number of of page design layout softwares through the years - Ventura, FrameMaker, Page Plus, Pagemaker. InDesign.  I've basically been without a page layout (we used to say desktop publishing) ever since Pagemaker went away.  It's really sad.  I worked in public relations and was a heavy user of Pagemaker and Photoshop LE, which came with the UMaxx scanner.  I put out numerous publications regularly, created complex documents and more.  I don't need the full version of Photoshop,  I don't want the unintuitive interface of InDesign.  You might as well use FrameMaker or (horrors!) Ventura.  In the meantime, I've utilized, with varying degrees of success, Apple Pages and I'm looking at Affinity.  W/hile I realize the InDesign software is more powerful (meaning more complicated), it is not what I need or want.  I say bring back PageMaker back for "the rest of us!"

     

      Mike Witherell
      Community Expert
      Mike WitherellCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      October 20, 2025

      R.I.P. Ventura Publisher, 1986-2002.

      Have you experimented with the relative simpliciity of Adobe Express?

      Mike Witherell
      R
      RadioPPPROF
      Participating Frequently
      October 20, 2025

      Yes, Ventura should have died years ago.  I used the DOS/GEM version on a PC.  It was maddening.  Didn't care much for Quark either.  I have not heard about Adobe Express.  It's it a page layout/desktop publishing software?  Everyone online and otherwise tells me to work with InDesign, which I have attempted several times.  Just not a fan.  Is Express similar to Pagemaker?  I'll give it a look and thank you!

      Mike Witherell
      Community Expert
      Mike WitherellCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      November 21, 2024

      You are still not conveying any information. "A mess right now" is not what most people are experiencing. Have you examined your OS and done basic maintenance on Windows? Have you emptied your temp folder lately? 

      What exactly are you seeing these softwares do or not do?

      Mike Witherell
      S
      Silvia GalassoAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      November 21, 2024

      No, I am a complete dumb and I did not do any of those things. I never ever found any good and useful advice on this forum from so-called experts and I just wanted to let the community and the Adobe team know what I and many people (yes, many people) think of the recent development of Adobe software. That's it. And when I chatted with Adobe customer assistance, they told me: "yes, we are aware of the bugs". That's it. Good job, really. That's why I am done. The bugs are too many, I don't really want to waste time writing an essay about it. There are plenty of complaints on the internet, collect them. And, to answer your question: "What exactly are you seeing these softwares do or not do?", they simply do not run and work. Big issue, don't you think?

      James Gifford—NitroPress
      James Gifford—NitroPress
      Legend
      November 21, 2024

      ...but you have time to search out this forum and keep posting content-free "it's all crap! crap I tell you!" entries.

       

      Just a few thoughts, from one of the many who do volunteer their time here to support other users, with greater scope and fewer limitations than technical support — and who sees about a 95%+ win rate in doing so, for users willing to explain their problem and listen to solutions.

       

      • InDesign is an extremely complex app. It takes considerable time to learn to use it correctly and well. Users who expect to sit down at a variation of Word and just start hacking and slashing away to get to a goal quickly end up frustrated and stymied. I am betting against you having made use of any reliable tutorials, help pages or other "learning" resources and thus battle out the mismatch between your expectations and actual methods every day.
      • InDesign most certainly has faults — across a spectrum of "avoid tripping over this option" to ones that are actually broken and do not work. The vast majority can be overcome by simply using a slightly different technique, setting, workaround, or method.
      • Tech support is a limited resource for resolving specific technical issues at great length. It's not a place to be tutored in either basics or in any of the little gotchas and workarounds.
      • Uncounted thousands of users, each of which has hir list of gripes, would completely disagree with your assessment.
      • This forum is user-to-user, intended specifically to get users of all levels — sometimes quite advanced — through a particular problem or goal or grasp a complex feature. You haven't made any use of it that I can see, and simply searching and browsing it is only a half-solution unless you stumble on an understandable, completed, current answer to your specific issue... which you may misundertand partly from not knowing and using the right terminology, which further blocks a self-serve solution.

       

      So you can again post a screed about how it's all crap and you've tried everything, or...

      • You could post a question about a feature or function you find particularly broken, and see if we can work you through a solution. or,
      • You can keep pounding your head against the keyboard with this "complete crap" until your subscription runs out. and then,
      • Switch to a much lower-tier app that absolutely, positively has its own list of faults and limitations.

       

      Really, all your choice. But if any of the latter, you may as well just write off your subscription to this "crap" and go download Affinity now.

        Mike Witherell
        Community Expert
        Mike WitherellCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        November 20, 2024

        Which software? What version? What operating system? What problem are you experiencing?

        Mike Witherell
          S
          Silvia GalassoAuthor
          Participating Frequently
          November 20, 2024

          InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Bridge - basically the Adobe Creative Suite core - are a mess right now. I haven't even tried the others. I attempted to install Premiere but gave up. I'm using Windows 11 with the latest versions of all these apps. I had to uninstall them, reinstall older versions, and block updates. It was unusable.

          I'm currently using an LG Gram laptop with 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD. I'm fed up. Every new update is a disaster. I'm not going to buy a new computer just to keep up with Adobe's constant changes. Everyone I know is having similar problems with Adobe.

          I much prefer Affinity by Serif. They're doing a much better job. I'll be switching to Affinity as soon as my Adobe subscription ends. Oh, and I tried a Mac Mini a few months ago, and InDesign was still a nightmare there. No thanks.

          James Gifford—NitroPress
          James Gifford—NitroPress
          Legend
          November 20, 2024

          Thanks for the detailed explanation of your issues. 

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