Why am I unable to edit a file when I first open it?

[Chris WH]

When I open a file, that I have already created and worked on previously, does it not bring any of my task bars up and does not allow me to edit the file, no matter what I do.

If I then close the file and reopen it, it works. This happens practically every other time I open a file

[Derek Cross]

Which version of InDesign and OS?

How much RAM and spare hard disk capacity do you have?

Have you tried resetting the InDesign preferences?

Try saving your document as an IDML renaming it and reopening it in InDesign to see if that helps.

[Chris WH]

Running previous version to 17.4 (updating to 17.4 now) on Windows PC

32gb Ram, 2Tb hard drive space. 

I have not reset preferences, but others who open the file also have this periodic issue

[Laubender]

Hi @Chris WH ,

how did you open the file? With a double-click in the file system?

Is InDesign already running when you try to open the file?

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )

[Chris WH]

Sometimes it InDesign is open, sometimes not. It can fail in both scenarios 

[Rishabh_Tiwari]

Hi @Chris WH ,

Sorry to hear about the trouble. In addition to the questions asked above, could you also confirm if the file is saved locally on your hard drive or on any network folder, or on drives like OneDrive? 

Regards

Rishabh

[Willi Adelberger · Accepted solution]

1. Do you work on a cloud server like Dropbox?
2. If this is the case, are the files local available? Those servers delete files on the local computer and only copy used files localy. In the Finder or Explorer is a small symbol which indicates the state of the file. With right mouse click you can make files and whole folders available locally.