New M2 Macbook, Can't apply styles by clicking in panel.

[hevromero0]

This morning I got a new machine from my work and have encountered a problem I haven't been able to solve. Has anyone else encountered this? If I click on a text box and then click a paragraph style, the style highlights for a moment before deselecting and not changing the font at all. This happens in my templates or brand new files, after restarting InDesign, my computer, and even reinstalling different versions of InDesign. It appears I may be able to work around this with keyboard shortcuts or right clicking and applying the paragraph style through the menu, but this doesnt seem like something that should be breaking on a new machine and fresh install.

Also, this glitch seems to apply to all styles menus at the very least (ie. Table styles, Character styles).

[Barb Binder]

Was this a fresh install of InDesign or was it ported over from another computer?

~Barb

[hevromero0]

It was a fresh install of indesign, though I copied over some preferences from the old machine. I just tried deleting all of my creative cloud and all adobe files, sadly still seem to be having this issue.

[Barb Binder]

Poking around, the Design isn't yet supported on the M2, though many users report here that it's working just fine. 

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/system-requirements.html

~Barb

[hevromero0]

As another note, I think InDesign is trying to drag those menu items rather than select after a brief delay. Can't think of anything that would be causing that behaviour, though.

[Laubender]

Hi @hevromero0 ,

there is another discussion here in the forum:

Does anyone at Adobe know approx. when ID will run natively on MacBook Air M2?
Conquest, 19.07.2023
https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/does-anyone-at-adobe-know-approx-when-id-will-ru...

With no solution yet.

I would report the issues at InDesign UserVoice:

https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs

The issue with all this:
As far as I can see Apple does not offer laptops with the M1 chip anymore.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Laubender]

Also look into this:

https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/apple-silicon-m1-chip.html

Most of the listed apps have no asterisk, but a few do!

Production tools like InDesign or Acrobat Pro! Even the Creative Cloud desktop app!

Personally I would not care for ColdFusion, Acrobat XD or Dreamweaver, but all I marked in red below are essential for me.

Quoting from the help page:

• ColdFusion (2021 release) Update 5*
• ColdFusion (2018 release) Update 15*
• Creative Cloud desktop app*
• Acrobat*
• Acrobat Pro*
• InDesign*
• Adobe XD*
• Dreamweaver*
• InCopy

(*These apps run natively on Mac computers with the M1 chip but we're still testing and optimizing them for Mac computers with the M2 chip. We recommend using these apps on Mac computers with the M1 chip.)

Back from quoting:

InDesign has an asterisk, InCopy does not. Why is that?

Especiall this here is alarming:
"We recommend using these apps on Mac computers with the M1 chip."

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Laubender]

The issue for me personally is the following:

I desparately need a new machine. And at best it has to be a brand new Apple MacBook Pro 16" with the M2 chip.

Order should be out by the end of next week.

Even if Adobe will fix all the problems with the current code of InDesign, Acrobat Pro and the Creative Cloud Desktop App, I suppose that the fix will be in place only for the next main versions of InDesign and Acrobat Pro in October 2023. But for the next big projects my team cannot switch to e.g. InDesign 2024 version 19.0 in the midst of the project starting at the beginning of September. We have to rely on the upcomming InDesign 2023 version 18.5.0 that is currently only out in some regions of the world.

Or, I have to look for a refurbished MacBook Pro with the M1 chip.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[hevromero0]

I remembered I should probably update this as I think I found the problem (hopefully this helps someone else).

It's likely not Adobe causing the problem, but rather security software on the M2 Mac that isn't optimized for OS Ventura (and said software has a known issue that causes strange OS-wide lag to certain UI, notably system settings and adobe indesign for some reason). That's out of my hands unfortunately so will have to use my old machine until it's fixed or removed. 🙂

[Laubender]

Hi @hevromero0 ,

thank you for your update on the issue.

Did you update your macOS Ventura to version 13.5?

Maybe that will also help.

FWIW:

For now I continue to do my work on a refurbished MacBook Pro with the M1 chip.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[hevromero0]

I did, unfortunately the issue persisted even with going from 13.0 to 13.5. I was told that a reimaging of the machine might fix the problem, and that this problem is hitting Ventura-running machines at random,  but wasn't offered a reimaging at the time. So for now I continue to use my old 2018 machine that runs Monterey.