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Bug details

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[ID-4213625]Indesign performance issue : Bad performance when using span columns in InDesign/InCopy

VERSIONS
Windows 7, CC 2015.4 and CC 2017.0
Windows 10, CC 2015.4 and CC 2017.0
macOS 10.12, CC 2015.4
even CS6 versions are affected...

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Create an InDesign document with several pages
2. Define the text frame options with two columns
3. Link all frames and fill with placeholder text
4. Create a new paragraph style with the option "span columns" (e.g. title)
5. Define several parts of the layout with the new paragraph style
6. Edit some text near the paragraph style
--> the performance while typing is very very bad!!!

EXPECTED RESULT
InDesign and InCopy should still be usable when a layout file was built using either "span column" or "split column" (e.g. using a paragraph style > "Span Columns").

ACTUAL RESULT
Very bad performance - working is NOT possible anymore

29 votes

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philippe kaufmann shared this idea  ·   ·  Report…  ·  Admin →
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Partial Fix  ·  Abhinav Kaushik responded  · 

Hello All,
Thank you for reporting the issue to us.
We have been able to improve the performance with span columns but it is till work in progress.

Please upgrade your InDesign application to the latest version to try out the incremental fix.

If you face any problems with the new update, do let us know in the comments.

You may also follow the below given link for the list of all fixed issues in Id 15.0
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/fixed-issues.html

-InDesign Team

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  • Petr Vronský commented  ·   ·  Report

    I'm on version 19.0.1 and I still have this crazy bug. Just put some footnotes to a random text and combine it with span/split columns "function" and you can throw it to the trash completely because it freezes every single time you want to edit the columns.

  • Brian commented  ·   ·  Report

    It's nearly 2022 and this is still a problem.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Still experiencing this annoying issue in ID 2020. As a professional book designer, this is costing me serious money and stress. I've used Adobe products for 20+ years but I'm ready to cash it in and re-train myself on other software.

  • Jonas Madsen Rogne commented  ·   ·  Report

    CC2020 (latest update per 12/19-2019).

    I have 16 pages (1 flow with 1 text box per page), 2-column left-aligned text, some titles and footnotes are spanned. It is quite slow to edit, even on a fast computer.

    BUT turning on "balance columns" makes it an order of magnitude slower. It seriously freezes for 2 seconds if I ask it to change the *color* of a single letter (nothing should even need to reflow). I have to turn this off while editing, then turn it back on and check everything after I'm done. This is very annoying and time-consuming.

    I don't know what it was like before CC2020, but if this is the performance *after* it has been improved then I'm not impressed. Perhaps they should talk to the FrameMaker team. There I can have hundreds of pages of balanced columns and spanned titles and it doesn't even blink when making large changes that would cause all the text to reflow...

  • RY commented  ·   ·  Report

    Same, CC 2018 (caused crashes and document corruption too) and CC 2019 14.0.2, MacPro (late 2013), MacOS 10.13.6.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    When using Span Column for headers, editing text anywhere in the document (headers, body text, and footnotes) becomes extremely slow, each letter typed taking several seconds to appear. When I change the header paragraph style to Single Column, the typing lag disappears. (If I change only the current header to Single Column, the lag remains; I have to eliminate Span Column from the entire document for typing speed to be normal.) Gets even slower the longer the editing session goes on. Per Adobe chat rep I reset prefs, updated to CC2019, latest Windows update, and updated video card driver, to no avail. I'm using recent PC with Intel quad-core, 64 GB ram, Windows 10. Seems many others are having this issue with Span Columns. For prof book designers the slowdown makes InDesign virtually unusable. Turning off Span Columns and creating separate text boxes for every header is a huge hassle. Please fix this.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    ID 2019 is still unusable when using span column and multiple columns. Typing takes 5-6 seconds to respond before each letter appears. I'm a book designer, so I can't NOT use multiple columns with spanned headers! Unacceptable.

  • ValdisBB commented  ·   ·  Report

    I'm considering switching to another software!... Looking for an alternative to InDesign...

  • ValdisBB commented  ·   ·  Report

    For me, that function would be very useful. But unfortunately, the bawdy brakes are going on using it. I'm in despair!!!

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    If a solution was still not found, then remove these features!

  • [Deleted User] commented  ·   ·  Report

    The same here. Indesign CC 2019 is still unusable with Column Span and 10+ Text Frames.

  • Dan commented  ·   ·  Report

    Hi Phillippe,

    I've had the same experience. I'm using CC2018 (on Windows 10, if that makes a difference) and the issues have not been fixed. As convenient as Span- and Split-Columns are, they make editing the document nearly impossible. I sure hope they find a fix for this, but after so many years, it doesn't look like they can or care to fix it. :(

Adobe InDesign: Bugs: Performance/Usability

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