When exporting a interactive PDF, InDesign does not show the progress window

[igoroliveiragg]

Title says it all.

It used to show a progress window before, but now the app just "freezes" until the PDF is fully exported.

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @igoroliveira1,

I tried reproducing the issue and noticed that while the progress bar did not appear, InDesign successfully exported the file without any issues. I'll check with the product team to confirm whether the progress bar is expected in this scenario.

In the meantime, could you share the following details to help with the investigation?

 - Which version of InDesign are you currently using? Also, please specify your OS and its version.

 - Does the delay occur with all interactive PDF exports or only specific files? Also, is the issue linked to a particular file storage location?

If possible, sharing a screen recording of the workflow and a sample file would be helpful.

Additionally, you might find this discussion helpful: InDesign taking forever to export PDF.

I’ll update you once I hear back from the product team. Looking forward to your response!

^

Abhishek

[igoroliveiragg]

@Abhishek RaoYes, it used to show a progress bar before. Now it does not and the app just freezes. After some time the file is sucessfully exported, the thing is we never know the progress. The issue happens with all files exported to interactive PDFs. Indesign version: 20.1

I will attach a video. 

[igoroliveiragg]

Forgot to mention I am running Sequoia 15.3.1

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@igoroliveiragg 

Check this location:

There will be a spinning circle - if you click there - you will see a Background Tasks window.

Or you can open it in advance:

[igoroliveiragg]

The app does not show the spinning circle when exporting Interactive PDFs. It only shows when exporting Print PDFs.

When I export the interactive PDF, the app freezes and only one thing shows: the macOS cursor with that colorful spin wheel.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@igoroliveiragg 

Sorry, not a mac user.

[leo.r]

I can confirm that Interactive PDF export doesn't seem to use background tasks (at least it doesn't appear in the Background Tasks panel unlike the print PDF export).

I guess export to Interactive PDF is still a foreground process.

It does show the standard export dialog for me though:

Try these general troubleshooting steps, especially clearing caches:

https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-indesign-rebuilding-preferences-cache/

[igoroliveiragg]

Already reinstalled the app multiple times and this dialog does not show up.

[leo.r]

Already reinstalled the app multiple times and this dialog does not show up.

By igoroliveiragg

Reinstalling is, in most cases, pointless. Please follow the steps from my previous post.

[igoroliveiragg]

Did that, still wont show.

[Laubender]

@leo.r said: "… Reinstalling is, in most cases, pointless. Please follow the steps from my previous post."

Hi together,

well, recently I had the case where replacing preferences and cache did not help with a specific bug with my InDesign 2025 version 20.2.0 where clicking the View menu suddenly crashed InDesign.

What I did to resolve the problem was a clean install of InDesign 2025.

If other versions of InDesign were installed just like in my case that means to hide any version of InDesign cache and preference folders. I even moved all previous version folders of InDesign out of the application folder.

And then I installed InDesign 2025 again.

Without migrating preferences (there is a checkbox to uncheck when you trigger the installation process from the Creative Cloud Desktop App) and without removing older versions of InDesign (another checkbox to uncheck).

That process finally removed the bug.

Of course I had to setup my menus and other things like workspaces anew.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @igoroliveiragg,

I checked with the product team, and they also suspect that InDesign is simply freezing for a while. They suggested using the CC Cleaner Tool to completely uninstall InDesign before reinstalling and testing again. Ref: https://adobe.ly/41Aq9dI
You can also try the clean install method Laubender mentioned to hide older version folders and disabling preference migration.

Let us the know the update. 

^
Abhishek