Text disappears when typing in text box

[Elaine5E3A]

I'm getting this issue where when I make any changes to text within a text box, like typing within it, cutting/pasteing, editing, etc. the text disappears. Sometimes it'll come back if I click out of the text box. Sometimes it comes back if I switch between normal and preview mode.

It doesn't happen every time, but often enough to be incredibly annoying.

I'm running:

• Mac OS 11.4
• Macbook Air M1 2020
• InDesign 16.2.1

[default0hy2kt4frmrh]

OMG I hope this works for me. I'm working on a Mac Mini and I'm about to throw it across the street. 

[julies50418894]

I hear you! I almost threw mine across the street. No fix for this yet I
have found 😞 😞

[foxprintservices]

This worked for me. THANK YOU!

[jeffhalmos]

Toggle it off AND on. Mine was on, turned it off, closed the prefs, reopened the prefs, and turned it back on. THAT worked for me. Leaving it off is antithetical to the whole point of having a computer.

[jeffb85533299]

THIS WORKS! For old macbook pro running latest Adobe updates and Catalina.

[Humbleb33]

Similar thing happening to me - anyone have a solution yet?? Just have the text disappearing as im editing a text box constantly and only way to make it appear is to press a random key, or go off the page and back onto it.

[Emile Nowak]

Hi there,

Hoping someone can help FAST please as I'm working on a deadline but when I'm typing, all the content keeps dissapearing as soon as I stop typing and only the cursor is left flashing then I have to zoom in and my type appears again. It is very annoying as I am constantly having to stop and start / zoom in and out,

to see the text I am formatting.
Any help would be AMAZING!!! 🙂
Thank you

{Renamed by MOD}

[Diane Burns]

Standard troubleshooting:

- Quit InDesign, restart

- Restart your computer system

- Log out of Creative Cloud app, log back in

- Delete InDesign preferences: https://creativepro.com/rebuilding-indesign-preferences/

Also, please confirm this happens with all documents, not just the one.

[Laubender]

Hi Emma,

seems to be a new bug with InDesign 2021 and either a specific Mac OS version and/or Mac machine details.

There are a lot of discussions here in the forum about this. One example:

Text layer disappears every time I stop typing. Reappears when I start typing again.
akogan0716, Jul 02, 2021
https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/text-layer-disappears-every-time-i-stop-typing-reappears-whe...

What could help, at least temporarily: Recompose all stories.

There is no menu command for this, but a keyboard shortcut.

Read this one, it's from 2009, but the keyboard shortcut should still work:

Force Text Reflow When InDesign Forgets to Flow the Text
by David Blatner, January 3, 2009
https://creativepro.com/force-text-reflow-when-indesign-forgets-to-flow-the-text/

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[Laubender]

Read this one, it's from 2009, but the keyboard shortcut should still work:

Force Text Reflow When InDesign Forgets to Flow the Text
by David Blatner, January 3, 2009
https://creativepro.com/force-text-reflow-when-indesign-forgets-to-flow-the-text/

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi there,

Sorry about this trouble. I would like to know if the steps suggested above worked for you? If not, I would request you, please share a few more details like:

• OS and version of InDesign
• Is this happening while working on a specific file? 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.
• 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.
• Does turning off GPU performance from preferences (ctrl + k > GPU Performance > uncheck GPU performance) helps to resolve the issue?
• Is there any app running/ open in the background? If yes, does closing them resolve this issue?

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks & regards,

Anshul Saini

[Luke Jennings3]

This is just a guess, but have you tried changing the Live Screen Drawing preference?

Another guess- have you tried cleaning your font cache?

[Ashutosh_Mishra]

Hi All,

Sorry to hear about your experience. We have launched Adobe InDesign 16.4 recently with multiple bug fixes and performance improvement.

Please update your app to the latest version. Let us know if you still have any issues. We'll be happy to help.

Regards,

Ashutosh

[foxprintservices]

Hello,
I am having the same problem. Text dissapears while I'm typing and I have to zoom in and out to get it back. Supper annoying! I am on a brand new iMac with Apple M1 and 8GBs. I'm up to date on InDesign with 16.4 installed. What do I do to stop this? I'm working on a magazine and this is making my work day a nightmare.

[Racoon35]

Please help. I'm working on a 20 page brochure (amongst other things) and it's really slowing me down (and winding me up!). Every time I type my text disappears. I can make it come back if I go off the page for a second and come back or if I nudge the text box. I've even tried going back to the older version 16.3 as I thought it may be the update to 16.4 but I'm still getting the same issue. I noticed others have had this problem but it doesn't seem to be solved. Any suggestions? Thank you. 

[Laubender]

Hi Racoon35,

16.4 should still be a prerelease version…

Hm. You are not alone:

Text layer disappears every time I stop typing. Reappears when I start typing again.
akogan0716, Jul 02, 2021
https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/text-layer-disappears-every-time-i-stop-typing-reappears-whe...

Other workaround:

Do the keyboard shortcut for Recompose All Stories.

Note: There is no menu item for this.

Read this one, it's from 2009, but the keyboard shortcut should still work:

https://creativepro.com/force-text-reflow-when-indesign-forgets-to-flow-the-text/

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[Laubender]

Other workaround:

Do the keyboard shortcut for Recompose All Stories.

Note: There is no menu item for this.

Read this one, it's from 2009, but the keyboard shortcut should still work:

https://creativepro.com/force-text-reflow-when-indesign-forgets-to-flow-the-text/

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[Racoon35]

Thanks Laubender, I've tried the Beta version and it says it's expired! 

and I''m not sure the Recompose all stories worked either... 

My problem seems a little different from these. The text doesn't reappear unless I nudge the text box, come off and return to the page, show/hide guides etc. 

[Racoon35]

Perhaps I should also mention that the text often repeats eg.  'Messessages' 🤷🏼‍:female_sign:

[Laubender]

Racoon35 said: "Thanks Laubender, I've tried the Beta version and it says it's expired! "

Hm…

Well, there is no beta version, just one in the tab Prerelease with the CC Desktop App.

If you already installed a version from Prerelease do the following:

[1] Uninstall that version.

[2] Check for updates in the CC Desktop App.

[3] Restart your machine.

[4] Install the InDesign version that's available at the Prerelease tab in the CC Desktop App

Just checked. My 16.4.0.51 is still running. It did not expire.

Hold the Ctrl key (Windows) when invoking "About InDesign" and you'll see the exact version number:

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[ronaldg26596570]

PLEASE!! Is it possible to get this sorted out?! I have tried uninstalling, tried all kinds of settings, and tried to use the Beta test version (but it just said that the beta period was over... or something like that) ... This is seriously slowing down my work!! 

[Eugene Tyson]

Go to the Preferences and turn off the GPU performance and see if that helps.

[ronaldg26596570]

I tried this ...and for not it seems to have solved to problem 🙂 

[Derek Cross]

You can double-check that your text is still in place by selecting the text box and then choose Edit in Story Editor which is under the Edit menu. 

[Dominique5EEA]

J'ai exactement la même chose, mon texte disparait chaque fois que je corrige. J'ai essayé en décochant GPU, cela n'a rien fait ! 

[Ashutosh_Mishra]

Hi All,

Sorry to hear about your experience. We have launched Adobe InDesign 16.4 recently with multiple bug fixes and performance improvement.

Please update your app to the latest version. Let us know if you still have any issues. We'll be happy to help.

Regards,

Ashutosh

[conorb77588302]

After installing the latest update of indesign the window displaying the file artwork isn't viewable — the app is open and my desktop shows that the file is open within the app. This issue extends across all versions of 16.3 onwards, if I open 16.2 then it works as usual.

{Renamed by MOD}