laptop battery draining fast with Adobe software

[bahira]

Hi, Can anyone assist with resolving the issue of the battery draining so fast when using Adobe software on my MacBook Pro. I'm using Indesign and Photoshop? The Battery should last for up to 8 hours, but I'm only getting 2.5 hous. Cheers Bal

[Derek Cross]

It would help if you indicated your version of InDesign, OS and details of your MacBook Pro spec.

[bahira]

Hi Derek,

All software and OS are the latest 2020. Catalina 10.15.5, Adobe 2020. Any ideas how to resolve the issue of the battery draining? Wondering if its anything to do with the way the settings are configured? I've unstalled and reinstalled Creative Cloud and all the Adove softeware (Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator), but still having problems...

[Derek Cross]

No info about your system – which model, spare disk space, RAM etc.

[bahira]

MacOS Catalina: Version 1015.5

MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020)

Processor: 2.3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7

Memory: 16 GB 3733 MHz LPDDR4

Graphics Intel Iris Plus Graphics 1536 MB

[Laubender]

Hi bahira,

did you notice high energy consumption when running InDesign, maybe the fans running at high speed?

Perhaps Creative Cloud Libraries might be the cause. See this article by Mike Rankin at InDesignSecrets:

Is Your Computer Fan Going Crazy? CC Libraries Might be the Cause
Mike Rankin June 19, 2020

https://indesignsecrets.com/is-your-computer-fan-going-crazy-cc-libraries-might-be-the-cause.php

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[bahira]

Hi Uwe,

Thanks for your reply!

I've tried to follow Mike's instructions, but that article is a little out of date and I didn't seem to have all the atributes that he mentions in the process. If its the fan issue, is there a way of simply adjusting this as a simple solution to solving the issue?

Any ideas??

[Geоrge]

Adobe never have it something special for economy battery, AFAIK. This is desktop software. Sad, but true. 

[Randy Hagan · Accepted solution]

Hard to say entirely, but there are are a couple of possible culprits:

1) As Laubender has already offered, running with features which constantly reach back into your internet access can be an issue: CC Libraries and Adobe Fonts are cloud resources which constantly are calling back to Adobe servers to maintain access to those utilities. Even if you're not using them. You may want to turn off those online hooks and see if that improves your battery performance.

2) After turning off the links to your Adobe online resources, as relayed above, you may also want to test to see if running only InDesign and not Photoshop causes the same memory drain. Photoshop constantly accesses all your available storage memory for scratch disk space. Normally, that just means that there's a lot of processor and storage resources being constantly assessed and reserved in case you may need it for Photoshop work. Again, even if you not actually need it. With spinning-disk hard drives, that means a lot of activity — and energy — being expended to reserve capacities you may not be using. That may still be the case with SSD space, but I'm not hardware-savvy enough to know how much that may be an issue with an SSD.

And just to be absolutely sure, I'd also ...

3) Check to be absolutely sure that your battery draw issues don't happen even if you don't use InDesign and Photoshop. Not to be an apologist for Adobe, but if you're like me and you use those tools all the time, they get fired up at the start of the day and sit open in the dock because even if I'm not using them at the moment, I likely will be soon. Just to be sure you've identified the correct suspect(s), take a day on the weekend to browse the web, answer/write emails and such without even opening InDesign and Photoshop. Just to be sure that you've identified the right issue(s) with your unexpected battery draw. Jus' sayin' ...

Hopefully this'll help,

Randy

[bahira]

Thanks! I will try your tips and see how I get on... Cheers

[bahira]

How do I turn off  CC Libraries and Adobe Fonts?

[Randy Hagan · Accepted solution]

Here's a good primer on how to turn off CC Libraries, and keep them off ...

https://indesignsecrets.com/how-to-keep-the-cc-libraries-panel-closed.php

And while the following link is written to tell you how to turn Adobe Fonts on, by extension it also tells you how to turn them off:

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/add-fonts.html

Hope this helps you,

Randy

[bahira]

Cheers!

[Sheena Kaul]

Hi there,

I hope your issue is resolved already but in case you need more assistance please reply to this thread. 

Else, if any of the solutions above helped, please confirm. 

Regards,

Sheena

[Chris5EE4]

I am also experiencing severe battery draw from Adobe software on a 2019 Macbook Pro. It appears the problem is related to InDesign forcing the system to use the dedicated GPU. It does this, even if the software is just open in the dock but not completely closed out. If I could force InDesign to not use the dedicated GPU, I am quite confident my battery life would double. Cheers

[GODZEUS]

Is there any tutorial on the solution, I have a brand new Macbook Pro 14" M1 Pro, and the battery drains extremely fast with the use of Adobe applications? I have tried to delete and redownload, and also restarted my computer a few times, and I still have the same issue.   

[Geоrge]

Yep. Don't work with professional software on notebook, even if you work it on notebook - do this with electricity instead of battery using.