InDesign 2019 – Launch Error(do not have sufficient permissions to access the preferences folders)

[Sideways Design]

After installing InDesign 2019, I get the following message when trying to launch the app:

"Unable to launch Adobe InDesign as you do not have sufficient permissions to access the preferences folders. Ensure that you have appropriate permissions and then restart Adobe InDesign."

I've followed older threads on similar problems and tried the suggested solutions:

-- deleting the preferences file ("com.adobe.InDesign.plist")

-- fully uninstalling InDesign (all versions) via Creative Cloud, including removing preferences, then reinstalling

Now, even after a reinstall of InDesign 2018 neither version of the app is launching.

I am in urgent need of assistance as I cannot access files for my client.s

[Steve Werner]

See if this helps. It's a computer issue seen before:

InDesign CC Start-up Error - Adobe Forumshttps://forums.adobe.com/thread/1314214

[Om Nath Jha · Accepted solution]

Hi there,

In addition to Steve's suggestion, you can also check this discussion for steps to get this fixed. Just keep in mind the folder number, it should be 14 instead of 9. Unable to launch Adobe InDesign!!

Thanks,

Om

[Sideways Design]

Thank you both to Steve Werner and ohmath for your prompt replies.

I would advise caution before performing the battery of suggested permissions changes, esp. in the ~/Library/Preferences folder.

After following the suggested steps (which didn't fix the InDesign launch issue), my Finder started hanging, repeatedly, after Force Quit relaunches or restarts.

It's impossible to say whether the CC InDesign 2019 install, the permissions changes, or some other, pre-existing problem were the root cause of the difficulties that followed, but it seems prudent to warn others to be careful.

Setting aside the InDesign launch issue for a moment, dealing with an alert that started appearing about syncing problems with iCloud led me to a suggestion online to delete the ~/Library/Caches folder to fix that issue.

Note: the Finder by this point would hang consistently when selecting anything in the Library window that I needed Terminal to delete the Caches folder. Unless familiar with Terminal commands, I would really not recommend someone use it unless as a last resort.

The good news: after the next restart, the Finder seemed stable again. Yay!

I then launched Creative Cloud, deleted InDesign 2019 including preferences (bye-bye...for now), and, pressing my luck, found that InDesign 2018 could launch without a hitch.

Now, to get back to my anxious clients after the unexpected half-day detour.

N.B.: a check on the disk with Disk Utility during the ordeal took a long time to run, but came up clean.

[pavelj7164886]

yes, the same problem ... resolving preferences does not solve the problem, I tried ...

[Srishti Bali]

Hi,

I would like to know if the steps suggested above worked for you, or the issue still persists.

Kindly update the discussion if you need further assistance with it.

Thanks,

Srishti

[Srishti Bali]

Hi All,

Please try steps mentioned here and upvote the issue: Unable to launch Adobe InDesign as you do not have sufficient permissions to access the preferences ...

Let us know if this helps or you need any further help.

Regards,

Srishti

[JoeLigo]

I have had this problem repeatedly over the years (starting with version 11 in 2015); most recently, yesterday when I deleted InD 14.0.1 in order to reinstall (troubleshooting a different problem).

The simple solution, which has always worked for me, is to navigate to each of the following folders, change the name of the current "Version X.X" folder to "xVersion X.X", then start InDesign. [for the current "CC 2019" version, X.X will be 14.0]. That will enable the program to start, and will force creation of replacement folders for the two you renamed.

[YourUsername]/Library/Preferences/Adobe InDesign

[YourUsername]/Library/Caches/Adobe InDesign