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dunelucy
Participating Frequently
October 6, 2023
Answered

"Cannot handle the request because a modal dialog or alert is active."

  • October 6, 2023
  • 4 replies
  • 6072 views

"Cannot handle the request because a modal dialog or alert is active." Can't open things, can't save things, can't use shortcuts, and it has gotten worse and worse to the point where now no tools or anything works. I am SO fed up with this issue. I have read the posts on here about it, but nothing has worked. I have thrown out and rebuilt my preferences over and over and over. Restarting does nothing. Is there ANY long-term fix for this issue? Adobe, are you doing anything to address this? This issue is killing my productivity and I am losing work. If there was an alternative, I would switch in a second.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer rob day

    Are you running any third party plugins or startup scripts? If so try disabling them. Startup scripts load from here:

     

    ⁨Applications⁩ ▸ ⁨Adobe InDesign 202X⁩ ▸ ⁨Scripts⁩ ▸ ⁨startup scripts⁩

     

    Or here:

     

    Users⁩ ▸ username ▸ ⁨Library⁩ ▸ ⁨Preferences⁩ ▸ ⁨Adobe InDesign⁩ ▸ ⁨Version XX.0⁩ ▸ ⁨en_US⁩ ▸ ⁨Scripts⁩ ▸ ⁨Scripts Panel⁩

    4 replies

    rob day
    Community Expert
    rob dayCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 10, 2023

    I have thrown out and rebuilt my preferences over and over and over.

     

    Can you tell us how you are resetting your Preferences? Have you also tried deleting your Caches folder?

     

     

      M
      Community Expert
      Manan JoshiCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      October 7, 2023

      If it's InDesign 18.5 on a MAC then this could be a bug. What I found that whenever InDesign was launched with the computer offline then InDesign showed this error, everything in the menu were disabled. Close InDesign, connect to the internet and then launch InDesign and voila everything worked again. I tried numerous things but nothing worked and I had to revert back to 18.4.

      -Manan

      -Manan
      Joel Cherney
      Community Expert
      Joel CherneyCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      October 6, 2023

      Another less likely possibility: I had this error, once, when I was running off of a laptop and was constantly switching between being on the road, and being at home with my external monitor. The JS alert window was hidden on the external monitor, when the external monitor wasn't plugged in. 

       

       

      D
      dunelucyAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      October 6, 2023

      I do go back and forth with a laptop between work and home, external monitor at work, but not home. I have searched the external monitor but not found a window.

      rob day
      Community Expert
      rob dayCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      October 6, 2023

      Are you running any third party plugins or startup scripts? If so try disabling them. Startup scripts load from here:

       

      ⁨Applications⁩ ▸ ⁨Adobe InDesign 202X⁩ ▸ ⁨Scripts⁩ ▸ ⁨startup scripts⁩

       

      Or here:

       

      Users⁩ ▸ username ▸ ⁨Library⁩ ▸ ⁨Preferences⁩ ▸ ⁨Adobe InDesign⁩ ▸ ⁨Version XX.0⁩ ▸ ⁨en_US⁩ ▸ ⁨Scripts⁩ ▸ ⁨Scripts Panel⁩

        D
        dunelucyAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        October 6, 2023

        I looked and only found one — ForceDirectory.txt. I deleted it, force quit again, restarted again, and so far so good. Could it really have been this simple? Fingers crossed. Thank you!

        D
        dunelucyAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        October 10, 2023

        Well, that didn't last too long. Shortcuts weren't working today so I restarted and now Indesign won't even open.

         

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