Adobe InDesign: Bugs
When filing a new bug, please provide:
- Version of Adobe InDesign, InCopy or InDesign Server
- Steps to reproduce the issues
- Expected result
- Actual result
- Test file, screenshot, video or GIF capturing the issue (optional)
- or
7734 results found
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Text frame options: Individual inset spacing when rounded corners are enabled
Currently the text frame options do not allow different inset spacing on each side if a rounded corner is applied to the text frame.
We are trying to create a template that has a text box with a gradient background and a rounded corner that bleeds off the page. We need to set the inset to push the inset spacing on one side further than the rest to fit within the page margins, but with the rounded corner this is not possible.
14 votes -
Adobe 2020 Crashes with copy & paste
Whenever I try to copy/paste small elements from adobe illustrator onto Adobe InDesign, indesign will automatically quit. If I try to recover the file after it has crashed, it crashes again...
What is happening here? This is an ongoing issue since the update.
14 votesWe have been able to reproduce the issue and it is currently under investigation.
Customers facing similar issue, Please share the document with sharewithid@adobe.com—
Adobe InDesign team -
Multiple text line links tab out of order
Not sure if InDesign or Acrobat issue: Using 13.1. InDesign - Recently noticed that if I have text that flows to 2 lines and that has a hyperlink behind it, in Acrobat, the tags show the link as having two Link-OBJR, but they are the reverse of reading order. So if you tab the page, you go from 2nd line of text to first. So,
'Go to
the store'tabs as if it is 'the store' 'go to'. The underlying link is fine--no issue there--it's the tab order and tag order (tag order perhaps then impacting screen readers/accessibility???).
This is in a single paragraph block, so not an issue of Article content out of order--the system is doing this. I think this is a recent bug (last 4-6 months?) --but whether in how InDesign feeds this to Acrobat or how Acrobat interprets, I don't know. I can manually fix in Acrobat but re-ordering the Link-OBJR tags, but it makes no sense that I should have to do so. Any idea what is going on?
Not sure if InDesign or Acrobat issue: Using 13.1. InDesign - Recently noticed that if I have text that flows to 2 lines and that has a hyperlink behind it, in Acrobat, the tags show the link as having two Link-OBJR, but they are the reverse of reading order. So if you tab the page, you go from 2nd line of text to first. So,
'Go to
the store'tabs as if it is 'the store' 'go to'. The underlying link is fine--no issue there--it's the tab order and tag order (tag order perhaps then impacting screen readers/accessibility???).
This is…
14 votesThanks for reporting this issue. We’ll review it shortly.
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Adobe InDesign team -
ALT Text not appearing in group
InDesign 2020
Issue: I have a screenshot with alt text included (typed in the Object Export Options dialogue). I then have a simple red box (rectangle tool, no fill, 2pt stroke) highlighting a section of that screenshot. When I group those objects, and export a tagged PDF, I get an error in Acrobat stating that no alt text exists.
Expected result: Alt text should appear.
Actual result: No alt text is present, or the assigned alt text is not recognized and is flagged by Acrobat's accessibility checker.
This issue did not exist with ID 2019.
14 votesThe fix for this issue was made available in InDesign 2022 version.
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Adobe InDesign team
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Cells formatted as Number/Currency etc. in Excel without decimal places or as Date not imported correctly into InDesign.
InDesign CC : 2020 / 15.0.0.155
MacOS : 10.13.6
MS Excel : 16.30 for MacWe were able since ever (last version ID CC 2019) to import Excel data-cells by InDesign with the placing functionality. With the actual version of InDesign CC 2020 numbers without any decimal places (e.g. 153) are not imported from Excel files and are displayed in InDesign with a "0" - (e.g. 153 imports to InDesign as 0). If the numbers in the Excel files have at least 1 decimal place numbers are imported correctly (e.g. 153.6 imports to InDesign as 153.6). Please fix this InDesign CC 2020 as soon as possible. An please in InDesgin CC 2019 Excel-Numbers with a sign for thousands place (e.g. 2'153) imported with a non correct sign (e.g. 2'153 imports to InDesgin CC 2019 as 2Õ153). Please verify this also.
Many thanks in advance,
InDesign CC : 2020 / 15.0.0.155
MacOS : 10.13.6
MS Excel : 16.30 for MacWe were able since ever (last version ID CC 2019) to import Excel data-cells by InDesign with the placing functionality. With the actual version of InDesign CC 2020 numbers without any decimal places (e.g. 153) are not imported from Excel files and are displayed in InDesign with a "0" - (e.g. 153 imports to InDesign as 0). If the numbers in the Excel files have at least 1 decimal place numbers are imported correctly (e.g. 153.6 imports to InDesign as 153.6). Please fix this InDesign…
14 votesFix for this issue is now available in the latest update of InDesign 2020 – that is, InDesign 15.0.1
In the Creative Cloud Desktop application, click on the Updates section on the left. You should be able to see the Update available for InDesign. Please update your InDesign application to this version to try out the fix.
Let us know in the comments section if you face any problem with the updation process.
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Adobe InDesign Team -
PDF Hyphenation Bug when line has cross-reference, hyphenated word, and option is to create Tagged PDF
When exporting an InDesign document to PDF, the hyphenated word is displayed incorrectly in the output PDF.
It only happens with a line that has cross-reference object, hyphenated word, and option is to create Tagged PDF.
InDesign 2019 (14.0.1) (MAC/PC) . Also tried it with previous versions and it has the same issue.
14 votesThanks for reporting the issue. We are looking into it
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Adjust Layout: add an option to ignore objects anchored in text or bring back legacy (2018) layout adjustment
I always made extensive use of the old layout adjustment feature in 'margins and columns', yet the new 'adjust layout' gives inconsistent and confusing results, resizing objects that never used to get changed.
It's gone from being very useful to a liability.
For me it was great for resizing the main text frame on multi-page (100s+ pages) books, but leaving the objects pasted into the text frame alone (figures, etc). Also moving page numbers aligned with margins, but not changing the sizes.
The new feature stretches and distorts carefully measured objects/figures, changes anchored object settings (at least, things move about incorrectly without the numbers updating) and causes other weird behaviours.
I always made extensive use of the old layout adjustment feature in 'margins and columns', yet the new 'adjust layout' gives inconsistent and confusing results, resizing objects that never used to get changed.
It's gone from being very useful to a liability.
For me it was great for resizing the main text frame on multi-page (100s+ pages) books, but leaving the objects pasted into the text frame alone (figures, etc). Also moving page numbers aligned with margins, but not changing the sizes.
The new feature stretches and distorts carefully measured objects/figures, changes anchored object settings (at least, things move about…
14 votesThanks for reporting the issue. We will review it shortly.
-InDesign Team
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Align toolbar: "Use Spacing" is greyed out
Version: Adobe InDesign cc 2019 (v 14.0)
Steps to reproduce:
I'm not sure how to reproduce it. After some minutes of working, the checkbox for "Use Spacing" in toolbar Align/Distribute Spacing is greyed out and inactive. Not sure when it happens or what makes it happen.
But: in the Properties toolbar, "Use Spacing" is not greyed out and it is working normal, as seen in the attached picture. If I click the checkbox in the Properties toolbar, then the checkbox in the Align toolbar is activated and not greyed out anymore.Expected result:
"Use Spacing" in Align toolbar should not be greyed out when two or more objects are selected.Acutal Result:
"Use Spacing" in Align toolbar is greyed out.Screenshot is attached with my red markings.
Version: Adobe InDesign cc 2019 (v 14.0)
Steps to reproduce:
I'm not sure how to reproduce it. After some minutes of working, the checkbox for "Use Spacing" in toolbar Align/Distribute Spacing is greyed out and inactive. Not sure when it happens or what makes it happen.
But: in the Properties toolbar, "Use Spacing" is not greyed out and it is working normal, as seen in the attached picture. If I click the checkbox in the Properties toolbar, then the checkbox in the Align toolbar is activated and not greyed out anymore.Expected result:
"Use Spacing" in Align toolbar should not…14 votesThe fix for this issue is now available in the latest update 14.0.2 of InDesign 2019.
If you are unable to see the update notification yet, open the menu (three dots) from the top-right of Creative Cloud desktop application and click on ‘Check For App Updates’.
Once the update button is shown against InDesign, click on the button to update to Id 14.0.2.If you face any problems with the new update, do let us know in the comments.
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/fixed-issues.html -
Cursor size in working area is huge InDesign CC 2018 Win
The ID cursor (black) when over the workspace is huge. It is normal size when hovering over the tool bars (white), but when you move over the workspace it is supersized. This occurs when working on an external monitor, but is scaled appropriately on HD Laptop Screen.
14 votesThanks for reporting.
We will review the bug-InDesign Team
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Indesign performance issue : Object movement
Indesign is always giving me rainbow wheel even if I edit small slides.
14 votesHello All,
Thank you for reporting the issue to us.
In the latest version of InDesign, Id 14.0.3
We have fixed multiple scenarios where the movement of objects was found to be slow.Please upgrade your InDesign application to the latest version to try out the fix.
If you are unable to see the update yet, go to Creative Cloud desktop application, open the menu (three dots) from the top-right corner and click on ‘Check For App Updates’.
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 14.0.3
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/fixed-issues.html -
Hyperlinks between documents in a book file don't work
I am producing an interactive pdf with hyperlinks to move between pages within the pdf.
I am doing this using a book file containing 22 indesign documents however some of the links do not work.
All of the hyperlinks within each document work fine but any that link between the documents just send you to the first page in the book and not to the specified page.
I am using InDesign CC 13.0.1 on Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.3
I have produced interactive pdfs in this way before without any issues so this has become broken in one of the recent indesign updates.
All of the files are stored on our server and there is a workaround which is to copy all of the files on to my local hard disk, but this is not ideal.
I am producing an interactive pdf with hyperlinks to move between pages within the pdf.
I am doing this using a book file containing 22 indesign documents however some of the links do not work.
All of the hyperlinks within each document work fine but any that link between the documents just send you to the first page in the book and not to the specified page.
I am using InDesign CC 13.0.1 on Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.3
I have produced interactive pdfs in this way before without any issues so this has become broken in one of the…
14 votes -
installed font missing
InDesign 13.0.1 on macOS 10.12.6
One installed font from a family of 6 suddenly started showing as not found. Frutiger LT Pro 67 Bold Condensed was correctly showing, now not.
I have re-installed InDesign twice, reinstalled the font, and rebooted several times. Font is correctly showing still in Illustrator and Photoshop.
This is impacting client files and while I have a workaround, I am concerned the problem will occur with other fonts where I don't have a viable solution. (I have another foundry version of that particular font.)
Screen shots attached.
many thanks
14 votesPlease let us know if this issue still happens with the latest InDesign Release
Thanks
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[ID-4273319] InDesign 2026 shows Damaged document when opening previous version documents from Synology NAS
InDesign 2026 says that my documents are damaged.
All documents that are on my Synology NAS. Connected via SMB3.
(InDesign 2025 works fine.)If I quit and restart InDesign 2026 - I can open one file once. Alla files after that is "damaged".
New file created with InDesign 2026 and saved on NAS works.
Looks like the issue is with documents from previous version that opens as "converted".
Only happens on NAS. Not on local files.Workaround: Copy indd file to your local drive, open, save and upload back to its original location
Indesign 2026
Mac OS Tahoe.
MacBook Pro M1 Max.InDesign 2026 says that my documents are damaged.
All documents that are on my Synology NAS. Connected via SMB3.
(InDesign 2025 works fine.)If I quit and restart InDesign 2026 - I can open one file once. Alla files after that is "damaged".
New file created with InDesign 2026 and saved on NAS works.
Looks like the issue is with documents from previous version that opens as "converted".
Only happens on NAS. Not on local files.Workaround: Copy indd file to your local drive, open, save and upload back to its original location
Indesign 2026
Mac OS Tahoe.
MacBook Pro…13 votesWe believe the issue may have been resolved with the release of macOS 26.4, as confirmed by one of the customers in this thread. Could you please confirm whether the issue has also been resolved for you after updating to macOS 26.4?
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Hyphenation zone settings override discretionary hyphen exclusivity
Adobe InDesign Hyphenation Bug Report
Summary
Conflict between discretionary hyphen behavior and "After First / Before Last" hyphenation zone settings, where InDesign ignores discretionary hyphens that fall within the prohibited hyphenation zone.
Product Information
- Product: Adobe InDesign
- Component: Text Composition / Hyphenation Engine
- Feature Area: Automatic Hyphenation and Discretionary Hyphens
Problem Description
Expected Behavior
According to Adobe's documentation, discretionary hyphens should have absolute priority over automatic hyphenation rules. Specifically:
"Entering a discretionary hyphen in a word does guarantee that the word can be broken only where the discretionary hyphen appears."
When a word contains a discretionary hyphen that falls within the "After First X Letters" or "Before Last X Letters" prohibited zone, InDesign should:
1. Respect the discretionary hyphen's exclusivity (only break where discretionary hyphen appears)
2. Refuse to break the word at all since the only allowed break point falls within the prohibited zone
3. Not apply automatic hyphenation anywhere else in the wordActual Behavior
InDesign ignores the discretionary hyphen when it falls within the prohibited hyphenation zone and applies automatic hyphenation rules instead, breaking the word at algorithmically-determined positions that fall outside the prohibited zone.
Conflicting Features
Feature 1: Document Hyphenation Preferences
- Location: Paragraph Panel Menu > Hyphenation Settings
- Setting: "After First [X] Letters / Before Last [X] Letters"
- Purpose: Defines minimum character zones at word beginnings/endings where hyphenation should not occur
- Example: With "After First 3 Letters / Before Last 3 Letters", the word "aromatic" may hyphenate as "aro-matic" but not "ar-omatic" or "aromat-ic"
Feature 2: Discretionary Hyphens
- Location: Type > Insert Special Character > Hyphens And Dashes > Discretionary Hyphen
- Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+- (Windows) or Command+Shift+- (macOS)
- Purpose: Manually specify the only allowable break point in a word
- Expected Behavior: Word can only break at the discretionary hyphen location, regardless of other settings
Steps to Reproduce
- Create a new InDesign document
- Set up hyphenation preferences:
- Go to Paragraph Panel Menu > Hyphenation Settings
- Enable "Hyphenate"
- Set "After First [3] Letters"
- Set "Before Last [3] Letters"
- Create a text frame with justified text
- Insert a word where a discretionary hyphen would fall within the 3-letter prohibited zones
- Example: Insert discretionary hyphen in "example" as "ex•ample" (where • represents the discretionary hyphen)
- This discretionary hyphen falls in the "Before Last 3 Letters" zone
- Force line break to require hyphenation of this word
Expected Result
Word should not hyphenate at all, since the only allowed break point (discretionary hyphen) falls within the prohibited zone.
Actual Result
InDesign ignores the discretionary hyphen and hyphenates the word using automatic rules at a different location (e.g., "exam-ple").
Impact
Severity: Medium to High
- Typography Quality: Undermines precise typographic control
- Workflow Disruption: Manual intervention required to fix each occurrence
- Consistency Issues: Unpredictable behavior between discretionary and automatic hyphenation
- Professional Publishing: Affects quality of professional publications where precise hyphenation control is critical
User Groups Affected
- Professional typesetters and designers
- Book and magazine publishers
- Technical documentation teams
- Any users requiring precise hyphenation control
Technical Analysis
Root Cause
The hyphenation engine appears to process the "After/Before Letters" rules after or independently of discretionary hyphen evaluation, rather than respecting the documented hierarchy where discretionary hyphens should override all other hyphenation rules.
Proposed Solution
Modify the hyphenation algorithm to:
1. First check for discretionary hyphens in the word
2. If discretionary hyphen found: Evaluate if it falls within prohibited zones
3. If in prohibited zone: Do not hyphenate the word at all
4. If outside prohibited zone: Use only the discretionary hyphen break point
5. Only if no discretionary hyphen: Apply automatic hyphenation rules with zone restrictionsWorkarounds
Current Workarounds (Inefficient)
- Manual intervention: Individually edit each problematic word break inserting discretiona hyphen at start of word to prevent it from breaking.
- Character Style with No Break: Apply No Break character formatting to words with problematic discretionary hyphens
- Adjust zone settings: Reduce "After/Before Letters" values (compromises typography for other words)
- Remove discretionary hyphens: Use only automatic hyphenation (loses manual control)
Limitation of Workarounds
All workarounds require manual identification and correction of each instance, making them impractical for large documents or automated workflows.
Documentation References
Adobe InDesign Help: Text Composition
- URL: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/text-composition.html
- Relevant Quote: "Entering a discretionary hyphen in a word does guarantee that the word can be broken only where the discretionary hyphen appears."
Hyphenation Settings Documentation
- After First / Before Last Letters: "Specify the minimum number of characters at the beginning or end of a word that can be broken by a hyphen."
Additional Information
Related Features That Work Correctly
- Discretionary hyphens function properly when they fall outside the prohibited zones
- "After/Before Letters" settings work correctly with automatic hyphenation
- No Break character formatting consistently prevents hyphenation
Test Case Suggestions
Adobe should test various combinations of:
- Different "After/Before Letters" values (2, 3, 4, 5 characters)
- Discretionary hyphens at different positions within words
- Various word lengths and compositions
- Different paragraph composers (Adobe Paragraph Composer vs. Single-line Composer)
Request: Please prioritize this bug fix as it affects fundamental typographic control and contradicts documented behavior. The fix should ensure discretionary hyphens always take absolute precedence over automatic hyphenation rules, including zone restrictions.
Adobe InDesign Hyphenation Bug Report
Summary
Conflict between discretionary hyphen behavior and "After First / Before Last" hyphenation zone settings, where InDesign ignores discretionary hyphens that fall within the prohibited hyphenation zone.
Product Information
- Product: Adobe InDesign
- Component: Text Composition / Hyphenation Engine
- Feature Area: Automatic Hyphenation and Discretionary Hyphens
Problem Description
Expected Behavior
According to Adobe's documentation, discretionary hyphens should have absolute priority over automatic hyphenation rules. Specifically:
"Entering a discretionary hyphen in a word does guarantee that the word can be broken only where the discretionary hyphen appears."
When a word contains a discretionary hyphen…
13 votes -
Omitted page ranges are affected by sections
Summary:
When describing a page range that omits the first/final page, if there is a starting section in the range, the output results will remain in the page range within the section.Verification:
Create an 8-page document (Figure 1).
Set the start section on page 5.
Export the PDF (and print as well) and enter “-6” in the page range (Figure 2).Result:
A PDF of pages 5-6 is exported.
When the PDF is exported again, the page range is set to “5-6” (Figure 3).Ideal result:
should not be affected by the presence or absence of sections.
A PDF with pages 1-6 is exported.
When the PDF is exported again, the page range is populated with “1-6”.Note:
In the above verification, the first page was omitted. Similarly, if the last page is omitted, such as “3-”, only the range of 3-4 pages separated by sections will be exported.
There is no mention of such a specification in the user guide.Verified version and OS:
InDesign 18.3.0.50
macOS 14.7.6<にほんご>
概要：
先頭ページ/最終ページを省略したページ範囲を記載した際、範囲内に開始セクションがあると出力結果がセクション内のページ範囲にとどまってしまう。検証：
8ページのドキュメントを作成する（図1）。
5ページ目に開始セクションを設定する。
PDFを書き出し（プリントも同様）でページ範囲に“-6”と入力（図2）。結果：
5-6ページのPDFが書き出される。
再度PDF書き出しを実行するとページ範囲には“5-6”が入力されている（図3）理想とする結果：
セクションの有無の影響を受けないこと。
1-6ページのPDFが書き出される。
再度PDF書き出しを実行するとページ範囲には“1-6”が入力されている記：
上記の検証では先頭ページを省略したが、同様に“3-”のように最終ページを省略した場合もセクションで区切られた範囲3-4ページしか書き出されない。
ユーザーガイドにはこのような仕様についての記載はない。検証したバージョンとOS：
InDesign 18.3.0.50
macOS 14.7.6Summary:
When describing a page range that omits the first/final page, if there is a starting section in the range, the output results will remain in the page range within the section.Verification:
Create an 8-page document (Figure 1).
Set the start section on page 5.
Export the PDF (and print as well) and enter “-6” in the page range (Figure 2).Result:
A PDF of pages 5-6 is exported.
When the PDF is exported again, the page range is set to “5-6” (Figure 3).Ideal result:
should not be affected by the presence or absence of sections.
A PDF…13 votes -
Workspace is still resetting every document. Latest Update has not fixed this yet
Workspace is resetting every time I open a new document. I received a notification from Adobe that this has been fixed. I've updated and it is not fixed.
13 votesWe have released InDesign 2025(v20.2.0.036) with many bug fixes. We recommend you upgrade to the latest version (if you’re not already on it) as it is more robust.
If you still face this issue even after updating, please send the following information to santalwa@adobe.com :
- Reproducible Steps – What were you doing when the issue occurred?
- Video recording of the issue?
- Is(Are) the issue related to a specific document(s)/asset(s)? If yes, could you provide the document(s)/asset(s) to us? Please package the entire document (To package the document, choose File → Package…)
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Adobe InDesign Team
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InDesign crashes/freezes when closing the application
InDesign freezes when you try to Quit the application. InDesign cannot be quit, it has to Forced Kill.
13 votesMany internal as well as external factors can cause the InDesign application to crash/freeze/hang. A few workarounds are listed at Fix crash issues with InDesign.
We completed the investigation and came up with the following: Either the issue has been resolved in the most recent release of InDesign (Refer to InDesign Release notes), the issue was intermittent at the time of reporting and is no longer reproducible, or the InDesign version mentioned in the report is no longer covered by Creative Cloud Support Policy.
We would recommend you upgrade to the latest version as it is more robust. If you are still facing this issue even after updating it, either submit the crash report(Refer to Submitting crash reports) to us or Contact Adobe support.
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Pdf comments - Sticky notes freeze file
INDD 18.0 PDF comments has something chronically slow going on with the sticky notes. We have done some testing here and also confirmed by other in the forums https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/pdf-comments-sticky-notes-makes-document-extremly-slow/m-p/13368359#M503963
If you delete the sticky notes the file will work as expected. But if you have 1 sticky note on a page, any editing on that page is painfully slow!
WORKAROUND - action sticky notes outside of INDD then delete them and import the file. Not ideal but manageable until Adobe can fix this one.
13 votes -
GPU Performance makes colours dull/desaturated
With GPU Performance enabled, all colours appear desaturated. In fact, it looks like colour management is simply turned off. Please note, this is not a Transparency Blend Space issue. It affects Spot, RGB and CMYK colours.
With GPU Performance disabled, colours appear vibrant and correct. It would be great to have this issue resolved, as I certainly want to take advantage of the GPU when using InDesign.
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InDesign 2023 v18.0
MacOS Ventura 13.0
MacBook Pro M1 Max 32GB RAM13 votesThis was an issue with the initial Apple's Ventura release.
It has been addressed in Apple's latest Ventura OS updates (13.1 or later).
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Adobe InDesign team
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Co-Authoring
Time to address the co-authoring issue, especially if you are pushing to the cloud.
13 votes
- Don't see your idea?