InDesign running slow. Spinning ball constantly appearing.

[scottmosher]

Ok, I'm having CONSTANT slow drag with InDesign. The spinning beach ball appears while I"m doing almost ANYTHING, even after quitting/re-starting the program, and even re-starting the OS. I'm running High Sierra on Mac, with 40GB of memory, so that shouldn't be the issue, but almost anything I'm doing, I'm getting major lag. Any ideas? This is really ridiculous. Thanks!

[sjstoyle]

And fast forward to July 2020 where I STILL fight with the spinning beach ball. Myriad updates and indd is STILL running slow and making me FORCE QUIT multiple times a day. I've changed preferences, I've reinstalled, I've force quit, I've said voodoo prayers and nothing.

[Marc Serre]

Hello @Sjstoyle;
Check in your Indesing menu:
Type / Find replace font;
Clean up wathever font you DONT use, like Minion or Myriad; That should speed up 

[dGMWI]

I noticed that InDesign created a AdobeFnt22.lst file for the document I was working in. The default program for this file was Suitcase, which I do not have. I was thinking that it is looking for that program to move forward with my type changes. So I changed the file to open with FontBase and there is a much shorter hanging ball of death when I make the type changes. From seeming like forever to now just a few rolls before the cursor comes back. 

[lisaa36685934]

I have this problem occasionally. When clearing the cache and preferences don't work, it's seems to be caused by:

1. Importing a glitch from MS Word—fix is to completely clear all previous formatting

2. Tables, anchored graphics that don't fit into the text box size and cause pages to reflow

[Srishti Bali]

Hi all,

Sorry about this trouble. We understand how frustrating performance issues can be. I am hopeful that it was fixed. If not, you may try the steps suggested on this page. We have consolidated the most popular solutions that help in fixing slow performance and unexpected behavior of InDesign. 

If you still need help, feel free to reach out, we'd be happy to help.

Regards,

Srishti

[PatrickG]

I'm having similar problems and none of the steps from the suggested page helped.

My issue is that the spinning ball is appearing almost every other action I'm doing. I've had more complex documents to work with before but the issues since the last upgrades kept becoming worse and worse. 

*rant on*

The scrolling speed with Indesign becoming extremely slow with other screen profiles then Apple or sRGB is true for me, too. The "please delete your cache and pref" stuff is complete BS but of course a standard procedure to check for problems. As long as I'm not a Beta Tester, I do not want to have to deal with speed issues like this on clean systems. Indesign is supposed to be a tool for professionals, so I want a robust working package, when I'm using it. Maybe Indesign would works better in test scenarios, but on normal workstations this is a real issue! Since my last session with an Apple engineer who clearly narrowed down my overall macOS performance issues after a clean install of macOS and Adobe to the Adobe library trash it spawns, I'm really no fan of Adobe. I'm a University teacher and professional, and I definitely try to push all my students as far away from Adobe as I can. Sadly that's not always possible and Adobe clearly knows that. Please stop resting on your laurels and stop that tiny feature adding from version to version. Aim to get a robust tool working. This is just sad and annoying.

*rant off*

[ryans85921973]

Hi Srishti,

I appreciate all your help on this matter. I have tried everything you have outlined and the problem actually seems to be worse. Constant spinning wheel with every gesture. This is next level frustrating.

Specs:

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)

Processor 2.5 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7

Memory 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Mac OS Big Sur 11.1

InDesign 16.0

Thanks

Ryan

[jvlookstudio]

I had this same problem in Indesign 2021, and since this is the only thread coming up on google: try unlocking your images. That fixed it for me.

[one-mouse]

Same problem here,  I'm having issues with both indesign and photoshop. If there was an new alternative I would dump Adobe. Maybe one day. 

[nickn43237267]

Please try the suggestion from trudyg66961491 above. Pause syncing in Creative Cloud – Creative Cloud > Settings > Syncing > Pause Syncing. It was a miracle for me.

[Benji-11]

I did that, but it didn't solve my problem. Whatever I do Adobe Softwares are so slow. I'm so tired of using these apps. 😔

[nickn43237267]

Yes, it worked for me for a while, then stopped. At the moment, the only thing that works for me is to disconnect from the Internet – not really a long-term solution.

[Benji-11]

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

I've tried many solutions. Adding a new printer as localhost, removing my printer, turning off my printer, erasing the cache, deleting my profile, preferences, rebooting, deleting applications, and reinstalling them. OMG. What I'm saying is not easy to do! They work for a week or a few weeks and then the same problem again and again. In end, I realized that I'm alone and nobody can help to get rid of this problem forever.

[jeffhalmos]

That was the magic for me. THanks Nick/Trudy.

Mac mini M1; Id 16.3 (Mainline CL #1106390)

[lisab323]

I have just turned off Suitcase Fusion Font Auto-Activation in my InDesign Preferences, and all the freezing and lagging from InDesign disappeared completely. Oh, and I re-set my Preferences again, just to cross the 't's and dot the 'i's.

[default26uheh75i1gu]

I just bought a brand new 16gb RAM 1TB Macbook Pro with new M1 chip. I downloaded the newest version of Adobe Indesign and working on my first trip 8 page document I had horrible lagging, the spinning wheel every 6 seconds.  I tried everything listed.  I mean EVERYTHING! including dumping my preferences which didn't work at all.  But then I got off my network (the internet provided by my building *very low speeds*) and connected to my hotspot from my personal phone. and TA DA! it worked.  no issues at all. no spinning wheel of death and no lagging.  Unfortunately this new found evidence is going to cost a little more as I need to get a faster network connection.  Thank you to all the creatives out there putting our minds together to get this done! hope this helps! 🙂

[noneset]

Ive found for me on all my machines that it is because of Time Machine... every time machine backs up it causes indesign to beachball.. constantly... i turn off time machine and its fine... 

[lculver]

I've been an Indesign user for years without any issues. Now have the dreaded Spinning Beach Ball problem with every click. After reading this thread, it appears everyone has a different solution to the problem. I've tried several of them, but without a fix. Maybe the real issue is that Adobe has grown complacent with their products becoming bloatware. Perhaps the best solution is use Affinity -- or go back to Quark Express!

[Derek Cross]

It would help if you gave us some details:

Which version of InDesign and OS?

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

What action seems to cause the isssue?

Are there any error mesages?

Have you tried resetting the InDesign preferences?

[zoomdust]

I just turned off the WIFI and instantly for me thigns returned to a normal (adobe normal) state. Maybe give this a try as one of the solutions suggested above.

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @lculver,

Sorry about the trouble you are facing. I would like to know if the steps suggested above by @Derek Cross and @zoomdust worked for you? If not, I would request you to share a few more details like:

• The exact version of macOS and InDesign
• Does InDesign run slow down while working on a specific document? If yes, could you please share that document with us? You can upload it to the Creative Cloud (https://helpx.adobe.com/in/creative-cloud/help/share.html) and share the download link.
• Where are you saving the files (Network Drive/ System HDD/ Shared Folder on System / External HDD)?
• When did this start happening? Are there any recent changes made to your system? For example, any antivirus, system updates, or web extensions installed recently.
• Are you using TimeMachine? If yes, please try disabling it as multiple users have reported that TimeMachine has slowed down some apps while they were working.

Also, please try booting the system into Safe Mode (https://helpx.adobe.com/in/x-productkb/global/start-safe-boot-mode-mac.html) and check how it works there. It starts your system to perform certain checks and prevent third-party software/ services from automatically loading or opening.

I will be looking forward to your response.

Thanks & Regards,

Anshul Saini

[content1971]

Anshul 

Since turning off wifi stops the spinning wheel, it's reasonable to assume that InDesign is "phoning home" for some reason, yes? Is it updating CC Library or some other bloatware feature that no one asked for? Is it cross checking fonts with Typekit? Downloading page templates? Who knows? Only Adobe's crack team of software engineers can figure this out. So please stop telling us to boot into safe mode and task them with figuring this out. This problem exists. Multiple people are experiencing it.

My recommendation would be to put a prominent "Work in Incognito Mode" button that turns the software, with one easy click, into a simple functioning page layout program instead of the bloated Frankenstein monster nobody asked for. For me to work on my production machine with wifi off is not an acceptable workaround.

Working on documents used to be responsive, on machines that were factors slower than the machine I'm working on today. And still, Adobe, with each and every update, manages to hobble and detract from this software. I've been working all morning on a job that should have taken me an hour, tops. It feels like I'm pushing a rope. 

Please tell your engineers to fix it. Or heck, fly one of them to my house and make him/her sit here and observe the pain.

InDesign is the problem. Not my preferences file. Not Time Machine. Not fonts. InDesign is the problem. It used to not be, then suddenly it was. Why am I paying for a problem?

Thanks

[zoomdust]

Anshul,

I am not going to do any of that, because it assumes that the problem is on my side and I am not convinced it is. I pay a premium monthly fee for the Adobe tools and they should work on a standard system. To get the ball to stop spinning all I had to do was disable the wireless from my laptop. Given this was the solution and it operates one otherwise, this is clearly NOT a computer configuration or setup issue, so all the recommendations below are not going to do anything but waste my time.

InDesign has an issue with wireless and this should not exist. So you should either offer a rebate on the monthly fee or fix the issue.

If this is not resolved I will go to Consumer Affairs and commence a case to recover paid fees for a product that does not function as agreed.

Regards
Peter Lucas
Co-Founder


[PII removed by moderator]

[Jewel H.]

I have a Late 2015 iMac with 4GHz Quad-Quore Intel Core i7 processor chip, 32GB of memory, and it is running MacOS 11.5.2. There is no reason I should be having the spinning ball constantly. I don't use any font software besides Fontbook. The onset of the problem was very sudden and I've tried everything to resolve it including reinstalling my system software and losing quite a bit of data in the process. When I open InDesign, the beach ball comes back and my computer slows to a crawl. Please help! I don't have time for this!

[noneset]

Its due to time machine, backing up. Its been a constant problem for 7 years (only on indesign) each time time amchine prepares or starts backing up it will beachball. Its annoying and counter intuitive but i turn off automatic time machine and now have to remember to turn it on when im not using indesign (which is rare).