Indesign won't refresh the screen.

Report · Nov 30, 2024

"Ghost text" remains on the screen after being adjusted or moved, and the screen only refreshes if I scroll until the text is not visible and then back again. (See screenshots 1 of "the ghost text".) Often new and old text are placed on top of each other as well.

I had this problem on my old Macbook Pro too, but I thought it would disappear on my new Macbook Pro 2024 (M4) with Indesign 2025 (v. 20.0) and OS 15.1.1 Sequoia. But the problem is still there! It occurs on my Macbook Pro screen as well as my external Samsung 4K screen.

1. I have deleted old preference and cache files, but it didn't help.

2. I have tried setting Mac performance and energy usage to High Performance, but it didn't help.

3. I have read that some people recommend turning off the GPU in Indesign, but I see no good reason why it should be necessary on a brand new Macbook Pro. It didn't solve the problem either. (See screenshot 2.)

4. I don't have an app called Magnet, which some people thought could be causing the issue.

Is there a good solution to this problem?

Best regards,

Kapex from Norway

Screenshot 1: "Ghost text" - text I have forced to the next page (page break), but it is still showing until I scroll.

Screenshot 2: Here I have turned GPU off. It creates just another problem:

Report · Dec 01, 2024

Disabling GPU Perfomance takes care of this for me, but since you don't want to/didn't see a difference does the keyboard shortcut to recompose all stories take care of it?
Cmd+Opt+/

~Barb

Report · Dec 01, 2024

In some cases like this, it helps to force a redraw of the InDesign window by going in and out of View > Screen Mode > Preview mode (press the W key to quickly toggle in and out of Preview mode). But when that doesn’t work, then I have to close and open the document.

Report · Dec 02, 2024

@Barb Binder, @Conrad_C

Thanks a lot for the quick answers! Unfortunately, neither Recompose All Stories nor using W refreshes the screen. But I have made ChatGPT create a script to scroll away and back again without you seeing it, and I have put it on a shortcut. It seems to work fine!

I still wish I got to the bottom of the problem, and in the meantime I have tried several more things with the help of Chat GPT, but without success. I have:

5. I have turned off the fonts in Typeface, turned off Typeface itself, validated the fonts in Fontbook and deleted duplicates.

6. I have tried with and without an external display.

7. I have tried turning off True Tone and setting both displays to 60 hz.

8. I have moved the file I am working on to a folder that is not synchronized with iCloud, and also created a new document.

9. I have uninstalled Indesign through CC and reinstalled.

10. I have started the Mac in Safe Mode.

11. I have created a new user on my Mac and downloaded CC again.

12. I have run Indesign with Rosetta.

13. I have used Apple Diagnostics to see if there is something wrong with the new Mac's GPU.

Since I had the problem on my old Intel Mac as well, it's tempting to jump to conclusions, even if it's dangerous. To me, it seems like this is a bug in Indesign or that the GPU in Indesign is unable to work with the GPU in the Macbook Pro, on both Intel and M4.

Do you have any thoughts on that?

- Kapex