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peteremil
Inspiring
October 9, 2013
Question

InDesign CC won't start after update - serious error alert

  • October 9, 2013
  • 5 replies
  • 16457 views

UPDATE: solved problem.

After digging in the online Help I found several leads to fixing the problem. Don't know for sure which one was the most effective, but I'll think it was the first of following list:

1) In Creative Cloud App: Sign Out & Sign In again. The initialization process will be restarted. Suddenly there was an InDesign CC Update - which wasn't shown before signing out...

2) Deleted the preference files in User/Library/Preferences/Adobe InDesign/

3) Renamed the cache in User/Caches/Adobe InDesign/

~

For the curious I'll keep the backstory so others can benefit from it.

THE BACKSTORY:

After updating InDesign to CC on my iMac two weeks ago everything was fine. Didn't use InDesign for about one and a halve week because of holiday. Last Monday Adobe had a customer security alert.

Call it suspicious or plain coincidence: InDesign CC won't start up anymore. It throws an alert which states "serious error". I deleted the preferences files with the shortcut upon starting the app, deleted them manually, uninstalled the app complete with the preference files and installed a fresh copy from the Application Manager. But it still won't start up. It throws an error with a statement about permissions on the preference files. But there was no change in permissions made - at least not that I know of...

On my MacBook Pro InDesign CC starts up fine.

Photoshop CC starts up fine.

What can be done?! I really need to get access to my files & get my clients happy.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    5 replies

    L
    lynnb63986414
    Participant
    April 16, 2015

    despite the post being older, I just recently experienced this problem and the thing that fixed it was installing without the preferences, once that option pops up. The thing I do not understand is once InDesign opened, it said my presets have been successfully migrated although I declined that option.

    Glad it is functioning again. Lost a lot of time with this issue.

    M
    Mello CMG
    Participating Frequently
    July 29, 2020

    im still trying to open indesign. all of a sudden it wont open. photoshop and illustrator are fine.

    once again adobe shoots itself in the foot with CC. which i assume is the culprit since ive trashed prefs and cache.

    and uninstalled/installed diff versions. rebooted. dont know what else to do.

    please help. indesign app just bounces as if it's trying to open.

     

     

    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    BobLevineCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 29, 2020

    This discussion is seven years old. Please start a new one with full details of the issue.

    R
    Richards11597924
    Participant
    November 9, 2014

    thanks this helped:

    1. Delete the preference files in User/Library/Preferences/Adobe InDesign/
    2. Delete the entire contents of this folder : User/Caches/Adobe InDesign/en_US
    B
    bcmstudiodude
    Participating Frequently
    January 31, 2014

    Thanks for posting this solution. I tried all the tried-and-true methods to salvage InDesign CC with no luck.

    This is the first time I've seen this problem in over 10 years of using InDesign.

    What ended up working was deleting the entire contents of this folder : User/Caches/Adobe InDesign/en_US (similar to step 3 above)

    Of course, you would not try this without making a backup first.

      M
      march67
      Known Participant
      December 14, 2013

      Thanks, this helped me out.

      One important note for those using Mac Mavericks. The User>Library folder is now "Hidden" so it does not appear when you go to your User folder. You can get to it by using the "Go" menu in the Finder at the top - but you have to hold down Option for it to appear, otherwise it is hidden there as well.

      Ken G. Rice
      Community Manager
      Ken G. RiceCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      October 9, 2013

      Moved from the Creative Cloud to the InDesign forum.

      Thanks for sharing your solution. I know that prior to the Creative Cloud when I had an error with InDesign launching I would delete the user preferences and cache.

      ZombieGirl
      ZombieGirl
      Known Participant
      July 12, 2015

      I still can't get InDesign to start up and I've read over a few of these help files.

      I don't have any of the preference files nor the cache folder (hidden folders are on).

      Please help!!

      Peter Spier
      Community Expert
      Peter SpierCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      July 12, 2015

      OS? Version of InDesign? Did it ever run? Will itr sart if you log onto the computer using a new user account?

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