Slow performance on Indesign v16.3.2 on M1 Macbook Air on macOS v11.4 Big Sur - Spinning Beach ball

[guidobis]

Hi, from time to time the spinning wheel comes out in Indesign. New preferences and GPU on or off, it's the same. Very annoying.
Guido

Macbook Air 2020

M1

Big Sur 11.4

Indesign 16.3.2

{Renamed by MOD}

[John Mensinger]

There are a number of things inside and outside of InDesign that might cause slowdowns like that. For example, If you have Preflight active, when that "spinning wheel" seems to appear for no reason, look at the status bar (at the bottom of the editing window) for the Preflight status. If it indicates "Checking..." it could be the cause, especially if your document is particularly long or complex. For that reason, I prefer to work with active Preflight turned off (it's on by default), and run Preflight as a dedicated task when warranted.

[guidobis]

Thank you John, I'll give a try.

[Creamer Training]

That's a new feature--Adobe is trying to tell you are working too hard. You need to step away from the computer for a while and go out and smell the roses...

Seriously, what is the RAM on the system? How much available space do you have on the drive? How large is the document and does it have a lot of graphics? Is the document in high-quality or overprint preview?

[guidobis]

Many thanks to Adobe that take cares of my freetime! 😉

My mac has 8 gigabyte Ram, disk is an SSD with 300 free space, typical view is in use, documents (they are several) are normal documents, overprint is off. I never had this issue with Intel machines (also with lower specs), looks like if the the problem is M1 processor.

Anyway, it's getting better with "Preflight off", the spinning wheel shows up from time to time, but just for one second or two.

[Creamer Training]

Are you using the new M1 version of ID? 

If so, it's probably going to take a few updates to work out any "issues".

[guidobis]

Yes, but the intel version of indesign was even worse.

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi there,

Sorry about the trouble, and thanks for sharing the details.  Could you please share a few more details:

• Does it happen while working on a specific document? If yes, could you please share that document with us? You can upload it to the Creative Cloud (https://helpx.adobe.com/in/creative-cloud/help/share.html) and share the download link.
• Where are you saving the files (Network Drive/ System HDD/ Shared Folder on System / External HDD)?
• When did this start happening? Are there any recent changes made to your system? For example, any antivirus, system updates, or web extensions installed recently.

You may try the steps shared on this page (https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/resolve-slow-performance-and-unexpected-behavior-of-indesign... ) and share your observations with us.

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks & Regards,

Anshul Saini

[guidobis]

Its getting better with preflight-off option.

But it still appens from time to time, it comes out with different docs, all files are saved on Mac hard disk with a lot of free space, no changes made to the system, it was the same with previous version of indesign software (intel).

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi there,

I would like to know if you are still facing slow performance issues. If yes, Does turning off Automatic Graphics Switching from Macbook settings (Both Battery and Power adapter) helps to resolve the issue? (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202043)

Also, are you using TimeMachine? If yes, please try disabling it as multiple users have reported that TimeMachine has slowed down some apps while they were working.

I will be looking forward to your reply.

Thanks & Regards,

Anshul Saini

[guidobis · Accepted solution]

At the end I switched out the Creative Cloud App and everything got working correctly. After a few days of joy I'm going to switch it on again since I need fonts, shared projects etc.
I'll keep you informed.

[Anshul_Saini]

Glad to hear that you resolved the issue. Please feel free to reach out if you run into any other questions or issues in the future. We'd be happy to help.

Regards,

Anshul Saini

[kriskristferson]

Hi,

What did you switch it out for? What does switched out mean?

[Dan Rodney]

Are you using High Quality Display? Large images can cause slow downs in this view mode. In many cases you can work with Typical Display to work faster. You can change it in View > Display Performance. This only affects how things look on screen and does not affect output quality.

[guidobis]

No, I'm not using high quality dispaly option.

[David M. SoundsWrite]

I get the Beachball all the time in Indesign 16.4 

I am using a Mac Mini M1 

16 GB 

1 TB Drive with 170 GB Free 

(DropBox ON) 

High Quality Display 

Preflight ON 

Overprint Preview NOT on

My document is a storyboard so each page has an Illustrator Link with vector illustrations
And each page has threaded text boxes holding the script. 

Following advice here I have gone to typical display level and that seems to improve it so far. 
It's a pity as the main incentive for upgrading and maxing out my machine was to be able to work faster and handle these kind of simple scenarios more easily. 

Is what I am doing so much more complex that a multitrack music production or layers and layers of 6K video? 

[guidobis]

Hi David, these the options that worked for me:
1) switch off "preflight"

2) switch out the main Creative Cloud Application (from the finder bar), restart mac, re-enter the application.

Hope it helps

Guido

[TokYos]

Oh my god turning off the "Preflight" just saved me so much anguish w/ that damn spinning wheel of death.  Thank you!

[kriskristferson]

By switch out do you mean sign out, switch off? Re-enter - does that mean 'sign in again'?

[DTP-1984]

I upgraded to Monterey and my 2020 Mack book runs better than it ever did. No more beach balls. Also now using v 17.01 Indesign. I was going to return my Mac but it's been great now. 

[brabner]

Experiencing the same beach ball headache. Incredibly frustrating.

2020 iMac 1 TB SSD drive (400 GIGs free)

Mac OS Monterey 12.1

Indesign 17.0.1

[olivierb10194581]

I have this problem too and it's not because of the Creative Cloud App because I never have it running. When I last used InDesign in July 2021 with my M1 MacBook Pro, it was the smoothest experience ever. This was before v. 17.0.1 and before Monterey.

Now, in January 2022, I'm using InDesign again and I constantly get the beach ball. This is incredibly frustrating!

MacBook Pro M1

macOS Monterey 12.0.1

16GB RAM

500GB free disk space

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @brabner & @olivierb10194581,

Sorry to hear about the trouble you are facing. I would request you to share a few more details like:

• Does this happen while working on a specific document? If yes, could you please share the document with us? You can upload it to the Creative Cloud (https://helpx.adobe.com/in/creative-cloud/help/share.html) and share the download link.
• Where are the files and links saved (Network Drive/ System HDD/ Shared Folder on System/ External HDD)?
• When did this start happening? Are there any recent changes made to your system? For example, any antivirus, system updates, plugins, or web extensions installed recently.
• Please check if turning off the internet help resolve the issue?
• Are you using TimeMachine? If yes, please check if turning it off/ disabling it help resolve the issue?
• Please open the Creative Cloud Desktop app and sign out, then close it and check if that helps?
• Please check if turning off preflight  (Window > Output > Preflight > Deselect the checkbox) help resolve the issue?
       
• Please try different Display options (View > Display Performance) in InDesign. I recommended working on Typical Display.
• Please try turning off GPU performance from InDesign preferences (cmd + k > GPU Performance > uncheck GPU Performance and see if that helps?

I will be looking forward to your response.

Thanks & Regards,

Anshul Saini

[jojodoeslife]

It is really unsustainable to recommend "switching off internet access" inthis day and age when it is required to work. I use Google Drive linked daily for client projects and can't work with internet off. InDesign 2022 has been insanely slow for me - version 17.0.1 and I am on a Macbook Air M1 - Big Sur 11.6.2. It happens with every document, and happens ALL the time when trying to do anything, even if very simple. I have already tried:

- turning off Preflight

- uninstalling/reinstalling

- turning off GPU performance

- don't have any third party plugins

- on Typical Display ption

- Signed out of Creative Cloud app

- they are saved on an SSD

- no changes to my network

- no time machine

[Anshul_Saini]

Thanks for sharing the details. I totally agree with you that switching off the internet shouldn't even be suggested in this modern era. However, I asked you to do that for just testing's sake. As you mentioned above, you use Google Drive for the clients' projects. Could you please confirm whether you are using the links (Images/ PDF) stored in Goggle Drive in your InDesign document?

Regards,

Anshul Saini