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scotw74004221
Inspiring
July 17, 2023
Question

Time to scrap InDesign and rebuild it from scratch? Slow and bloated, buggy.

  • July 17, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 833 views

I'm using InDesign 18.3 on a 2-year old iMac with 32 gigs of RAM and I have to say that this software (along with Acrobat) is bloated and slow. I'm constantly getting the Mac color spinning wheel, waiting for this thing to simply load about 10 megs of files. That's it, about 10 megs. A couple JPEGs and some text for a letter. And there is no logic or reason or predicting when InDesign will just spin and spin as it tries to load a very small amount of files into the 32 gigs of RAM this Mac has. And you would think that after waiting for it to load, it would be in RAM and then it would be fast. But no, if you edit some text, you will get the spinning wheel again. And wait.

This software is garbage. Please burn it to the ground and build anew.

Thank you.

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2 replies

Peter Spier
Community Expert
Peter SpierCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 17, 2023

This kind of bwehavior can also be associated with working on files stoed remotely.

Joel Cherney
Community Expert
Joel CherneyCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 17, 2023

Yep. It can also happen sometimes if one of your linked images is stored at a network location, especially if the link is missing or updated. 

 

So, Scotw, I don't know how old Robert is, but I am pretty sure that the rest of us lived through the Pagemaker-to-InDesign transition. So we've already been through the senescence and decay of a flagship page layout app at least once in our careers. I occasionally have performance or stability issues with InDesign, but it's nothing like it was back in ye olde Pagemaker days. Can we maybe help you fix your performance issues before we get out the torches and pitchforks? I'd be willing to bet that your performance issues can be fixed with methods other than a Scorched Earth policy. 

 

 

 

 

    Robert at ID-Tasker
    Robert at ID-Tasker
    Legend
    July 17, 2023

    ??? Are you referring to my comment about 8GB of RAM not being enough for running InDesign?

     

    E
    Community Expert
    Eugene TysonCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 17, 2023

    This is not typical behaviour and if it was there would be a flood of complaints here.

    Regardless - I have a Windows 10 laptop with 8gb RAM and 7700HQ processor and runs InDesign very smoothly for my limited needs on this computer.

     

    If you're experiencing issues with InDesign it could be simple fixes to help you out

    If it's just this document

    If a document is not behaving well then try 

    File>Export 

    Choose IDML

    Open the IDML in InDesign
    Save the file as a new InDesign file with a new name
    See if the issue persists.

     

     

    If it's all documents

    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

     

    ---

    or drastically

    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

     

    ---

    If none of these things are working - it's likely a 3rd party application.

    I've seen crazy things here like one person trying to Copy and the screen would fill with confetti - turns out a 3rd party app Easter Egg.

     

    So to find out if it's a problem with InDesign or another app - you can Boot in Safe Mode.

    Launch InDesign and see if it behaves normally.

    If it does work fine then you know it's a 3rd party app.

     

    You can start normally then try to shut down apps that are running in the background. 

     

    But I suspect either a Rebuild of Preferences or CC Cleaner tool will likely fix your main issues.

     

     

      Robert at ID-Tasker
      Robert at ID-Tasker
      Legend
      July 17, 2023

      You should upgrade to at least 16GB asap - 8GB is enough - but for the Windows alone.

       

      E
      Community Expert
      Eugene TysonCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      July 17, 2023
      quote

      You should upgrade to at least 16GB asap - 8GB is enough - but for the Windows alone.

       


      By @Robert at ID-Tasker

      Meh I barely use it but it's fine for 2hat I need it for. 

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