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[ID-4257184]InDesign 2025(v20.0) Performance issues: Delay or beach balls on basic operations

Problem: 

InDesign Performance issues: Delay or beach balls observed on basic operations on Macintosh

Steps to Reproduce:

  • We have reproduced one scenario in which the existence of the Documents Font Folder and Contextual Task bar results in some slowness.
  • Other workflows causing slowness are being investigated - No reliable reproducible steps

Impacted workflows:

  • Switching to InDesign
  • Open/Closing of Document
  • Edit/Scroll/Copy-paste/Highlight operation on Text
  • Text disappears, illustrations disappear
  • Imported or added text turns black until a style is applied.
  • Font menu highlight not following my mouse movement
  • Text will not change fonts until I click the mouse inside or outside the text box.
  • Resize a document window, the corner flies below the screen border
  • Click or Drag of the mouse
  • Switching between tools
  • "Waiting for UXP plugins to finish up remaining tasks."

Workaround:

  • Disable Contextual Task Bar or remove Documents Font Folder
  • Close the MAGNET application
  • Revert to InDesign 19.5, No performance lag is observed.
  • Restarting the machine and trashing the preferences seems to resolve the issue temporarily
  • Disabling any font manager software seems to resolve the issue. One customer confirmed that disabling "Rightfont" resolved the issue.
  • Uninstall-Reinstall seems to resolve the issue temporarily
  • Turn off Preflight seems to resolve the issue temporarily

Note:

  1. The issue seems to be specific to the MAC platform only. Impacted macOS (Sequoia, Sonoma, Ventura(maybe), Monterey)
  2. The issue seems to be specific to the MAC devices
    • Apple MacBook Pro M1/M2/M3
    • Apple MacBook Air M1/M2/M3
    • Apple Max Studio M1/M2/M3
    • Apple Mac mini M1/i7 Intel
  3. The issue exists for both old and new documents

Additional information needed:

  1. Are you opening the indd documents from the folder containing the Documents Font Folder?
  2. Is the "Contextual Task bar" shown? If yes, Disable it from "Window->Contextual Task bar"
  3. Screenshot of Memory usage while the issue is observed
  4. Please follow the below steps for InDesign 20.0.1.32 and InDesign PR 20.1.066 on Macintosh
    • Open Terminal in full-screen mode
    • Drag the InDesign application on the terminal (e.g. "/Applications/Adobe\ InDesign\ 2025/Adobe\ InDesign\ 2025.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe\ InDesign\ 2025")
    • Copy the logs when you start facing the slowness in a text(.txt) file. Share the file with us at sharewithID@adobe.com.
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Yvonne Hubner shared this idea  ·   ·  Report…  ·  Admin →
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FIXED  ·  AdminRavi Kiran (Admin, Adobe InDesign) responded  · 

We have made some Performance Improvements in the latest InDesign Release 2025 (Version 20.1), available via Creative Cloud Desktop application. This issue has also been fixed as part of performance improvements.


Please let us know if you still face slowdown while doing basic operations in this latest InDesign release.


--

Adobe InDesign team

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  • Anna Hirsch commented  ·   ·  Report

    I am also having the same issue.
    In InDesign 20.0: running on Sonoma 14.6.1
    switching between tools, highlighting text, everything is running extremely slow! Lots of lag and spinning wheels.

    Going back to 2024 version.

  • Courtney commented  ·   ·  Report

    Same issue. Makes the application unusable. Having to go back to the 2024 version.

  • Julia Glasberg commented  ·   ·  Report

    I have the same issue. I hope Indesign can solve this soon!! Indesign 2025, using a MacBook pro M1 16gb, OS Sequoia 15.0.1.

  • Michael Fasanello commented  ·   ·  Report

    Same here. v 20.0 on Mac Studio, m2 max, Sequoia v 15.0.1.

    Had to downgrade.

  • Shane Thomson commented  ·   ·  Report

    iMac pro 2017 Sonoma 14.7
    I am having the same issue. The spinning ball seems to pop up for a second or two about every 15 seconds or so. Just had a client over and it was embarrassing. Don't add fancy new features until core ones are fixed.

  • Pia commented  ·   ·  Report

    same.
    MacOS Sequoia 15.0.1
    ID 2025
    Slowing Down with every action (clicking zoom,.click on a text, ....) in a document directly after opening the document

  • JP commented  ·   ·  Report

    With2025 (v 20) having the same issue on iMac Intel Core i7 3.8GHz with 64MB RAM Sequoia 15.0.1. It's not usable with this amount of lag. Re-installed, removed all preferences, fontmanager is deactivated so no extra fonts - it didn't help. Had to go back to 2024 (v 19.5).

  • Ryan Goodman commented  ·   ·  Report

    I am having the same issue. Editing text is so slow I cant even use the software. Going back to 2024 until they fix this! Ridiculous.

    Indesign 2025 IMacPro Seq. 15.0.1, 3.8 GhZ i7, AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT 16 GB, 128 GB Ram

  • Julie Pietrini commented  ·   ·  Report

    Sequoia 15.0.1
    InDesign 2025
    Core i9

    I'm able to easily run AI, PS, and INDD simultaneously, however after this INDD update to 2025, I can't even click into the program without the beachball appearing.

    Right after the update, INDD immediately slowed to almost a complete stop. Every click I make launches the beachball. I've reset my preferences, restarted several times, and nothing. And it's a small doc - 10MB. I have 22 pages of edits to make and can't get through the first one.

    Just found one version earlier on CC, so have reinstalled that and it's flawless. Will NOT upgrade until this is all sorted out.

  • Aude commented  ·   ·  Report

    I have the latest OS update 15.0.1 (24A348) and since the update of InDesin 2025 each action, for example I change the tool it rows with the little wheel that turns

  • Aude B. commented  ·   ·  Report

    Same here, super laggy, even with document with no pictures. I'm going back to the older version.

  • Andreas Kuschner commented  ·   ·  Report

    macOS 15.0.1 (24A348)
    InDesign 20.0
    Slow with every document, especially while switching between windows for example to copy text from Textedit. Going back to InDesign always takes about 2 seconds. InDesign 19.5 no issues.

  • nitsch.lorand@curteaveche.ro commented  ·   ·  Report

    It seems that I solved this problem on my computer: quitting Rightfont immediately fixed the beachballing issue!
    So try disabling any font manager software and see that it helps.

  • Ed commented  ·   ·  Report

    I'm experiencing the exact same issue. Indesign 2025 is slow, laggy and I get the spinning wheel after performing the most basic function on any document I work on.

    I'm using a Macbook Pro, 2019 on OS Sequoia 15.0.1 (24A348).

  • Mr.Coffee News commented  ·   ·  Report

    OS Sonoma 14.7
    MacBook Air 15 inch with M2 chip
    Existing documents, I didn't try with a new document.
    Slowness is opening the file and trying to do almost anything, especially copy paste which takes about 20 seconds copy, then 20 seconds paste

  • Tracy Fannin commented  ·   ·  Report

    Same here – even without ANY document open! Just clicking into InDesign to try to start working, I get the spinning color wheel of death. 🤦‍♀️

  • Kris Hunt commented  ·   ·  Report

    It's immediately slow, and all the time. Even after a fresh restart of the whole computer. I noticed it was unusable garbage after one minute of use. You cannot expect us to believe you thoroughly tested this cr@p before you sent it out the door and didn't notice the issue.

  • Jerome Vautherin commented  ·   ·  Report

    Mac mini M2 with 32 Go ram
    macOS Sonoma

    Same issue here, beach ball every time and InDesign always not responding in activity monitor. Not usable at all, I will go back to previous version as soon as possible.

  • Filip Blazek commented  ·   ·  Report

    MacBook Air M2 16MB
    Sequoia 15.0
    InDesign 20.0.0.95

    This is my tragic experience recorded, spinning wheel most of the time, almost any operation causes this 5 second delay. I simply cannot use this app for my daily work. The problem occurs even with empty documents!
    As soon as I finish one project started in CC2025, I will uninstall this version.

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/f4a9lu8tqxhk59a/Spinning%20Wheel%202024-10-18%20v%C2%A015.36.42.mov?dl=0

  • nitsch.lorand@curteaveche.ro commented  ·   ·  Report

    What I experienced so far (on a 2018 MacMini with Sequoia): When starting fresh, Indesign 2025 works fine... until something happens - I bet something related to memory usage. For example this can be reproduced every time: when I open a book around 400 pages long and scrolling down on it, at some point the scrolling freezes and after that the beachball appears after every couple of moves - even after I close the file and browsing only thru the Indesign's Preferences. Quiting and restarting Indesign helps... until I guess some cache or buffer becomes full and after that it's beachball-time again...

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Adobe InDesign: Bugs: Performance/Usability

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