InDesign becomes unresponsive when working with images – cursor disappears, text disappears, application cannot be closed
I am experiencing serious stability problems with Adobe InDesign on Windows 11.
I previously reported a text display problem where text would randomly disappear from a text frame while still being present in the Story Editor. That problem has also occurred in the current version.
However, I have now noticed a second, very serious problem:
As long as I work only with text, InDesign works normally. As soon as I start working with images, the problems begin.
For example, when I place an image:
• underneath a text frame,
• next to a text frame,
• or anywhere on the page,
the normal mouse cursor disappears and is replaced by a spinning circle/loading cursor.
I can still perform some operations, but the program becomes extremely slow and unstable. When I then try to return to editing text, the text disappears from the text frame again. It becomes visible only after clicking in the text frame twice.
The most serious problem is that InDesign eventually cannot be closed normally at all. Choosing Exit/Close does not close the application. The program remains unresponsive, and the only way to shut it down is to force the computer to restart/shut down.
This makes normal professional work in InDesign extremely difficult and unreliable, especially when creating magazine layouts where text and images are constantly being edited together.
System information
• Windows 11
• Adobe InDesign 2026, version 21.4.1
• Hungarian user interface
• The problem occurs with text created directly in InDesign as well as text pasted from Word.
• I have already completely uninstalled and reinstalled InDesign.
• GPU Performance is disabled.
• The problem is not limited to a particular font; it also occurred with Arial and Minion Pro.
• The problem is intermittent when working with text alone, but the severe cursor/freezing problems consistently begin after I start working with images.
I would be very grateful if this could be investigated by the InDesign engineering team. I can provide a video demonstrating the problem if required.
This is not simply a text-editing or workflow issue. The application becomes unstable when images are introduced into the document, eventually becoming impossible to close normally.
Please let me know if you need any additional diagnostic information or a screen recording.
Additional clarification: The text-disappearing problem I reported previously eventually resolved itself, and InDesign worked normally for a period of time. The problems described in this new report appeared only later, after this period of stable operation, and are specifically triggered when I start working with images.