Issue with InDesign Files getting Greyed Out

[Caitrina5EBE]

Hi there,

I've been experiencing an issue for quite some time now, and with each update, I hope it gets resolved. It could be something on my end, but this problem always seems to occur unexpectedly, without any changes to my settings.

The issue mainly arises when I return to InDesign after working on something else on my laptop. When I revisit my designs, everything is greyed out, including other open files. Although I can still select individual items, that’s all I can do (I’ve attached a screenshot with everything selected). The only way to fix it is to save, close the file, and reopen it, which is quite frustrating as it disrupts my workflow.

Has anyone else encountered this? Does anyone have a solution?

Thanks so much!

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[Bill Silbert]

This sounds like it could be a computer-related issue. What version of the Mac OS are you on and what version of InDesign? Are you using any third party plug-ins that might need updating? If you are on Sonoma then there have been many incompatibility issues but I'm not sure that this is one of them. If updating both the OS and InDesign and turning off or updating third party plug-ins don't help then you might want to get your computer checked out.

[Caitrina5EBE]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for your reply! I personally think this issue is not incompatibility related since I have been running into this bug for over a year now, and I always update everything. I also don't use any third party plugins.

[Laubender]

@Caitrina5EBE said: "… The issue mainly arises when I return to InDesign after working on something else on my laptop. When I revisit my designs, everything is greyed out, including other open files. Although I can still select individual items, that’s all I can do (I’ve attached a screenshot with everything selected). The only way to fix it is to save, close the file, and reopen it …"

Hi @Caitrina5EBE ,

I'll repost your screenshot inline so all could see its contents at a glance:

It just looks like there is a spread without a page, but page contents remains.

That could be dangerous. We have seen samples over the years in this forum where this kind of issue lead to serious corruption of the InDesign document. You say: "… The only way to fix it is to save, close the file, and reopen it …"

That's interesting. Because there are others who could restore the page only by exporting the document to IDML and open the IDML file as new document. Or others copied the selected contents, added new spreads and pasted the contents in place.

I'm glad you found a solution that does not harm your contents.

Now for the cause. Can you describe version of InDesign, version of operationg system, system specs of your machine and perhaps, did you note, what other apps are open or how long it was that you did not access InDesign?

FWIW: I never had this issue. Not on macOS, not on Windows. But I see some cases on both operating systems during the last ten years where this happened to InDesign users.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Caitrina5EBE]

Hi Uwe,

Thanks for your reply! This bug does not seem to affect my InDesign files, so I'm not really afraid of my files getting corrupted. I think it's more of an overall bug in InDesign, that only resets itself if I restart InDesign. 

I am currently using InDesign version 19.3
My specs are: Macbook pro, 16-inch, 2021, Apple M1 Max, 64 GB, MacOS 14.5 (23F79), Sonoma

I mostly use Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator and Chrome. Not all simultaneously, but they are often in use. I don't know how long it was inbetween the use of InDesign and the bug, it happens really randomly. 

[Laubender]

Thanks for the specs!

Hm… Now I really wonder if something like a Chrome browser extension could be the cause.
Personally I do all with Firefox; never used Chrome on my MacBook Pro with Apple M1 processor, 32 GB and the older macOS 12.7 Monterey.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[leo.r · Accepted solution]

Try to toggle GPU Performance in Preferences.

Also, update to InDesign 19.5 (even though I doubt it makes a difference in your particular case).

[Caitrina5EBE]

I turned off GPU performance and that worked! Thank you so much @leo.r . Let's see if it will hold up.