Menus do not appear

[Grundoon Groundhog]

When I open InDesign the menu bar is there, but none of the menus respond—well, the "File" menu flashes on and then off, and never again. I have to force quit to leave the program. I have restarted the computer, I have repaired CC, and I have deleted and reinstalled InDesign many times today. Thinking it might be a connection problem, I tried to start up the program from my desktop. It won't respond. When it did briefly work, it quickly stopped responding. Could this be a hardware problem? I'm trying without much success to be patient with the software.

[Eugene Tyson]

Yeh sometimes programs stop working, I had wipe some other software off my computer the other day completely and reinstall it. It can happen.

For InDesign there are 2 options to try when the program is not responding. Firstly a soft way - resetting the preferences.

Secondly, the hard reset of the application. Both options below.

I opened your file (no idea why you shared this) and it opens fine. 

Try resetting your preferences:

Windows: Start InDesign, and then press Shift+Ctrl+Alt. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.
macOS: While pressing Shift+Option+Command+Control, start InDesign. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.
A dialog will appear asking to delete the InDesign Preferences, select 'Yes' on this dialog.
Further info and instructions here if needed:
https://helpx.adobe.com/in/indesign/kb/indesign-preferences-support-file-locations.html

-------------

Reinstalling rarely fixes everything - you can do a complete reinstall using the
Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

[Grundoon Groundhog]

I was curious to see if anyone could open it, since I can't. I have repeeatedly uninstalled and reinstalled the program, deleting the preferences every time. I've also tried to repair the entire Creative Cloud program. I'll try the Cloud Cleaner Tool. Thanks.

[Grundoon Groundhog]

I used the Creative Cloud Cleanrr Tool and reinstalled. Indesign still stops responding before it even opens. So I don't know if the other problem is solved or not.

[Peter Spier]

Sounds like there might be corrupt recovery data left over from a crash. The recovery folder is in your (hidden by default on Mac) User Library Caches folder. Directions for finding it were posted yesterday in https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/gremlins-have-moved-into-my-indesign/td-p/138347...

[Grundoon Groundhog]

Thanks, but how do I get to that hidden folder? "Caches" just takes me to Creative Cloud files. As I don't use the Cloud that doesn't help. I've tried the "go" feature on the desktop.

[Grundoon Groundhog]

Ah, I just saw your detailed instructions in a previous answer. But Google has now hidden them. Hope I can get back to them.

[Peter Spier]

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/gremlins-have-moved-into-my-indesign/td-p/138347...

[Grundoon Groundhog]

I have reinstalled yet  again and deleted all the preference files. Now InDesign opens, and the menus work, but it does not recognize activated fonts as active. They are all Adobe fonts.

I note with interest that the icon for the document is a blank page.

I have renamed the document.

I have also saved the document as an IDML document.

In neither case do the fonts activate.

[Peter Spier]

Log out of the Creative Cloud Desktop app and then back in (I'd re-boot the computer before logging in, myself) and see if that helps. Trashing the prefs again may also help.

[Grundoon Groundhog]

I have done that repeatedly. It does not help. All icons for InDesign documents appear as blanks, not with the ID icon. 

[Eugene Tyson]

That's just a glitch with the icon for Adobe 2023 - Adobe know about it and are working on it. 

If fonts aren't activating

1) Log out of Creative Cloud Online

2) InDesign go to Help menu and make sure you're logged out - close InDesign

3) Log out of Creative Cloud Desktop app

Reboot

1) Log in to Creative Cloud Desktop

2) Log in to Creative Cloud Online

3) Open InDesign and to Help menu and make sure you're logged in there

[Grundoon Groundhog]

Many thanks, that seems to have done the trick for most of the fonts. The remaining unopened fonts I handled with my font manager. I've turned on "auto activate" again; hopefully that will solve the problem completely.

[JTeis1]

Hello, Eugene. How do I say THANK YOU SO MUCH. I've had this problem with Mac InDesign 17.4.1 recently. I did workarounds like using the top menu bar, etc.

[Eugene Tyson]

You just did! No problem. Glad it helped and worked.