URGENT ! InDesign CC won't save my files

[lseguinlutz]

Hello I saw this in an unanswered forum discussion from 2016-2018 but it seems closed for posts .

I need URGENT help please!

worked all day yesterday with clients on a book design. noticed the undo buttons weren't working but with them here i couldnt take time to figure it out, i thought it was just a keyboard shortcut problem.

When time to save comes along i cannot save, at all.

So i try to package the file in order to make a copy. IN DESIGN CRASHED AND I LOST EVERYHTING!!!!!!

My clients are due back this morning to continue but the file opens with none of the work we did yesterday. I was hitting control s throughout the day but no error message came up and so i thought all was ok.

Please please please, someone. Is there any hidden place indesign could have saved my work yesterday or some sort of recovery file?

I am really very close to tears! Its a 300 page book and i just cannot imagine having to do all of this again...

[Yoka Design]

Same issue here! going to email my file to the corrupt email address listed above

[pulauweh]

Same happend to me on my old iMac last year repetedly and today on my new iMac again. I'm working with InDesign 2021 on Mac Os Big Sur 11.5.2. I tried to solve this problem last year on endless chats with Adobe Support but other than deinstall and reinstall the app they couldn't help me. After deinstalling and restarting my computer its fine for about 15 min and then I can't save again. Its extremely annoying, I'm saving every minute now, totally paranoid to loose my work. If the problem occurs I can't undo, not save or save as, the only thing I can do is exporting a PDF. Last year suddenly the problem dissapeard without me changing anythin, and reappeared now on a different computer. Hard to understand whats going on but so annoying. Its when you realise how dependent you are from Adobe, not a nice feeling!

[iwc_webgoddess]

I too am having the same issue. I've tried force quitting and restarting my computer. I've shut down completely and restarted, I've done a complete uninstall and reinstall and no solution. I cannot save, I cannot save as nor can I export. So now, I'm dead in the water and cannot do my job. I've tried opening different files as well.  Any other things to try?

[ok_scarlet]

I am having a very similar issue. Using the most recent version of In Design, on Big Sur 11.6. When I go to save it takes me through the motions of saving everything as normal except it never actually saves the file. This is a horrifying as I am terrified that I am going to have to re-do all of my work again when I close the file. Exporting it as an .idml file side-steps the issue but the fact that it's an issue in the first place is absurd. Thankfully, I had exported the file as a PDF prior to originally closing it--this meant that I had a reference but for some ungodly reason there's no way to re-import a pdf back into InDesign? Seriously? Why on Earth am I paying so much for your software when you've dropped the ball so damn hard? It's been over two years and multiple updates but the problem still hasn't been fixed. 

[michaelu70939460]

Two years later. Bug still exists!!! Holy…  oO 

Cant safe nor undo steps. No error message at any point.

OS Big Sur 11.2

InDesign 16.1

Working on local drive, had no problems with InDesign. No updates done, no changes at anything. Bug came out of nowhere… Exporting .idml saved a lot of work and money.

Personal opinion: CC is a little to expensive for obviously ongoing errors like that.

[Bewaretonybruce]

Adobe, are you listening?? There ARE other options out there. If you are going to charge a FORTUNE for your software (especially considering most of us subscribe to the full package yet use a fraction of the applications included... stupid and wasteful), the least you can do is make it work flawlessly. At this point, you are a terrorist organization. I have been loyal to your products for 22 years and never considered straying... until now. These kinds of bugs are unacceptable. I ha e been having the same heart-stopping issues and am furious to read of others experiencing the same stressful problems. There are now actual, viable competitors to your products for either FREE or for a reasonable, one-time price. You can't remain the gold standard if you fail to maintain integrity. Get on it!

[Whisky]

Yes. May 2022 and today I noticed the Command Z (undo) wasn't working. Then I realized I had no save functions at all. No Save, no Save As. I ended up losing an hours work of work and will be redoing it all over again tomorrow. 

Love losing more money on jobs eh? 🙄

[michaelu70939460]

Use File – Export – .idml as a workaround!

[Michael_Mansfield]

I know this is 3 years late but I just had the same problem as you. 

Absolutely no menu buttons work, no quick keys work either and I tried the waiting for it to auto save but this was not happening. I work on InDesign almost every working day and this has never happend before in 20 years.

So the last resort was to open up Illustrator and drag the parts you are going to loose over to a document and save that document. Then you can drag them back to the InDesign document after closing restarting InDesign.

That's the best solution I could think of.

[michaelu70939460]

As a workaround use File – Export – .idml

[riverdesign]

That doesn’t work either. You can’t even export a pdf. When this issue occurs, no file actions will work at all. It’s a huge problem and should be priority #1 for adobe.

Fortunately it doesn’t happen often, but what’s so terrible about it is that you can hit save and nothing stalls; there’s no visual indication that it didn’t save other than that the Asterisk remains up by the file name. More than once I’ve lost several hours worth of work. I now watch that asterisk like a hawk.

--Ken

Sent from my iPhone, pardon any typos

[Michael_Mansfield]

When there is no menus working and no quick keys, then I found no other option than to drag what I was going to loose into an Illustrator document and save it. Then restart InDesign and you will be able to drag it back from Illustrator. It's a bit of a faff because things like fonts turn to paths etc, but I found it the only way to salvage some of the work I was about to loose.

[Adam5C0B]

Having the exact same issue. I was able to export an IDML as others have mentioned in this thread. After that, instead of quitting I force quit InDesign so the temporary autosave file was still there. Opened ID back up and the file was just as I left it and Save was actually working, so I ended up not needing the IDML.

Adobe, this issue is years old, quit screwing around with my money and developing half-baked new apps that nobody asked for. Fix the crap that you already know is broken.

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019) / macOS 12.4 / InDesign 17.3.0.61

[Rishabh_Tiwari]

Hi @Adam5C0B ,

We're so sorry to hear about the trouble, let me assure you, that I'll share your feedback with the team. Thanks for confirming that the issue stands resolved.
In addition to the troubleshooting mentioned in this discussion, I found an article that talks about how to recover an InDesign document just in case the file is not exported and the app quits.

Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions or issues.

Regards

Rishabh

[Abelragen]

I am having the save problem. I was trying to use the "Save As…" command. I was sure I had saved: why else would the "Save" command be dimmed? But I got a message saying the file couldn't be saved. Then tried to close the document, and got a message saving the file couldn't be saved by InDesign. Thanks to the advice below, I then "exported" it as an IDML file and quit InDesign. I found that the InDesign file I had been working on all day, thinking my work was being saved, said it had not been updated since 8:00 this morning. It's 4:00 PM now.  I had pressed Command-S regularly, and if I looked at the "File" menu, "Save" was dimmed. I restart the program, opened that IDML file, and found I had lost only half an hour's work. Still, this should not happen. I am using the latest version of InDesign (17.4) and of the MacOS (12.6).

[kated18837890]

This happened to me today. I'm on InDesign 2023 and Mac OS 11.7.1 Big Sur. Was working, saving along the way. Suddenly, I was unable to undo... When I went to close out it asked me to save but would not allow me to save it. Lost all my work. I closed out and opened the file again, made all my changes and it wouldn't save that time either! I finally found this page and did the Export > IDML and saved to a different location. I was able to open that file up and resave as INDD. 

[Mary Pat25688415mfkj]

Oh gosh!  This just happened to me today as well.  The "save" function does nothing but freeze everything...all my work gone.  I can't even export.  Running ID 2023 with Monterey 12.4 so everything updated.  Ugh.

[samw38462216]

15th May - 2023 - Exact same problem .. still not fixed.

[os87916702]

Just here to say the problem is persisting in 2023! I've had this problem on and off with InDesign since it became online/subscription based. It's an absolute joke – I've lost countless hours of productivity with this issue. How about fix it, Adobe?!

[Michelle5C98]

I am also haveing the same issue. When I hid cmnd Z and it doesn't work, I know it won't save when I close. I have lost 30 to 45 minutes of my work. The only way to save is if I have a layout of items, I copy and paste into another file and save as a idml. Or I go so far save and close. I cant do it when I am adding prices because we have different prices on different layers. Wish Adobe would have a fix!

[SaraUGP]

This issue is still persistent at my place of work here in November. Any extra advice, even with the updated incopy and indesign would be greatly appreciated. 

[BLySm]

Still this problem, February 2024... Both Alpha and Beta...
With all the subscription cash you guys are getting, pls hire a proper team and fix this.
Since 2019, are you kidding me...

[Michelle5C98]

I agree, I have been having this problem of loosing 30 to 45 minutes of work for a few years. If I don’t have several versions, I can copy what I have and save it as an idml. This is very frustrating.

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[robert35551273phii]

When Warnock was alive, this crap did not happen. I beta tested ID 1.0 and Acrobat 1.0 and both were much tighter than this. ID doesn't not work on my Mac Pro, period. Outrageous says it all.

[SaraUGP]

March 2024, Incopy still causing issues and removes changes between editorial and graphic arts departments.