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)
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6974 results found
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Unable to change fonts
I am unable to change fonts.
Changing weights seems to work, but changing fonts does not work.
12 votesHello All,
Thank you for reporting the issue to us.
We have fixed the issue in the latest version of InDesign, Id 15.0Please upgrade your InDesign application to the latest version to try out the 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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Import XLSX spreadsheet to an InDesign table: the "-1" problem
InDesign CS4 - CC2017
Generate an Excel spreadsheet that contains at least one cell with the value "-1". Save as XLSX. Import/place (cmd-d) this file as "unformatted table".
the cells with the value "-1" should still have this value.
the cells are empty. All other values seem to show up correctly.
Additional information: Working regularly on Annual Reports with 100+ tables, our choice is to import as „unformatted table“ and to do all formatting in InDesign. After changes in Excel, all we have to do is updating the linked tables via the link panel. Table contents change, formatting stays. Perfect. But we are dependent on our clients still willing to use the outdated XLS format.
Please have a look at this problem! Thank you in advance.
Best regards
InDesign CS4 - CC2017
Generate an Excel spreadsheet that contains at least one cell with the value "-1". Save as XLSX. Import/place (cmd-d) this file as "unformatted table".
the cells with the value "-1" should still have this value.
the cells are empty. All other values seem to show up correctly.
Additional information: Working regularly on Annual Reports with 100+ tables, our choice is to import as „unformatted table“ and to do all formatting in InDesign. After changes in Excel, all we have to do is updating the linked tables via the link panel. Table contents change, formatting stays. Perfect.…
12 votesFix for this issue is now available in the latest release of InDesign 2022 - that is, InDesign 17.4 version.
Please update to this version to get the fix.
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Adobe InDesign team
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IDML export breaks structure when there is a tagged single row table at the start of a story
When exporting an InDesign document to IDML and re-opening it, a specific set of conditions causes the tag applied to a table to be incorrectly reordered in the XML structure, and an extraneous <Table> tag to be inserted.
This issue occurs when the table is a single-row table and is the very first element in the story (no preceding text or content). This bug disrupts the intended tag hierarchy, breaking workflows that depend on accurate XML structure.
Steps to Reproduce:
- Create a new InDesign document.
- Create a text frame on the page.
- Within the text frame, insert a table.
- a. Ensure the table is the very first element in the story (before any other text or content).
- b. Set the table to have only one row.
- Apply a tag to the table (in my example CustomTable).
- Export to IDML
- Open the IDML
- Open the Structure Panel and examine the structure. You will observe the following:
- a. The "CustomTable" tag now appears before a <Table> tag representing the table. The expected order is the <CustomTable> tag encapsulating, the cells.
- b. The "CustomTable" tag is before the actual table in the story, without any content inside of it.
Expected Result:
The structure of the document should be maintained after exporting to IDML and re-opening.Actual Result:
The custom tag appears before the table and a <Table> tag is added to the structure, disrupting the intended structure of the XML.Environment:
InDesign 2024 (19.5)
InDesign 2025 (20.1)
Windows 11When exporting an InDesign document to IDML and re-opening it, a specific set of conditions causes the tag applied to a table to be incorrectly reordered in the XML structure, and an extraneous <Table> tag to be inserted.
This issue occurs when the table is a single-row table and is the very first element in the story (no preceding text or content). This bug disrupts the intended tag hierarchy, breaking workflows that depend on accurate XML structure.
Steps to Reproduce:
- Create a new InDesign document.
- Create a text frame on the page.
- Within the text frame, insert a table.
- a.…
11 votes -
2025 InDesign (v20.0) Frequent Crashing on MacOS 15.0.1 Sequoia
Ever since the 2025 version of InDesign released earlier this month, I have had constant crashing issues while working on multiple files. I have been using MacOS 15 Sequoia since it released in September. At first it seemed to crash at random every 5-30 minutes while going between open indd tabs. I think I can more consistently trigger it now by trying to open/navigate around a .indt file. I have a screen recording attached of me clicking around with a 2025 .indt file, a 2025 .indd file, and a 2024 .indd file. Within this minute long recording, InDesign crashes twice, both times when going between/opening the .indt file to the regular 2025 .indd file.
Ever since the 2025 version of InDesign released earlier this month, I have had constant crashing issues while working on multiple files. I have been using MacOS 15 Sequoia since it released in September. At first it seemed to crash at random every 5-30 minutes while going between open indd tabs. I think I can more consistently trigger it now by trying to open/navigate around a .indt file. I have a screen recording attached of me clicking around with a 2025 .indt file, a 2025 .indd file, and a 2024 .indd file. Within this minute long recording, InDesign crashes twice,…
11 votesWe have released InDesign 2025(v20.2.0.036) with many stability 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 submit the crash report to us. (Guidelines to submit crash are available at (https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/submit-crash-reports.html )
Also, please send the following information to santalwa@adobe.com :
- Reproducible Steps – What were you doing when InDesign crashed?
- Video recording of the crash
- Is(Are) the issue related to a specific document(s)/asset(s)? If yes, could you provide us with the document(s)/asset(s)? Please package the entire document (To package the document, choose File → Package…)
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Adobe InDesign Team
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BUG: Small Caps not applied correctly to Variable Text with World-ready Composer
Using Adobe Indesign 19.3 on MacOS 14.4, Apple M1.
Steps to reproduce:
1. Make new document.
2. Define a text variable "Test" with custom text "Handgloves".
3. Insert variable in text frame.
4. Set the composer for that paragraph to "World-ready..."
5. Set the paragraph in Small Caps
6. Try different fonts.Expected result: small caps.
Actual Result: only first two characters are changed to small caps. Typing characters after the variable placeholder changes how many characters are changed to small caps. See attached video.
Workaround is to change the paragraph to a non World-ready composer.
Note: may be related to this bug.
Using Adobe Indesign 19.3 on MacOS 14.4, Apple M1.
Steps to reproduce:
1. Make new document.
2. Define a text variable "Test" with custom text "Handgloves".
3. Insert variable in text frame.
4. Set the composer for that paragraph to "World-ready..."
5. Set the paragraph in Small Caps
6. Try different fonts.Expected result: small caps.
Actual Result: only first two characters are changed to small caps. Typing characters after the variable placeholder changes how many characters are changed to small caps. See attached video.
Workaround is to change the paragraph to a non World-ready composer.
Note: may be related…
11 votes -
"Visual Cursor Movement" not working in Arabic in ID 19/19.01
On previous versions of ID with Arabic support, I could press left arrow to move cursor left, right arrow to move right. In versions 19 and 19.01, the cursor goes to the beginning or next line of Arabic text. So I have to select 'Logical Cursor Movement' under settings but now cursor move the opposite way: left arrow moves cursor right.
11 votes -
update to v24
For as long as I can remember, dating back to the early single-digit versions of Adobe products, it was advised to make separate backups of user settings that were often found in obscure directories on a user's own computer. I dared to trust Adobe this time around, hoping that the update to version 24 of InDesign and its option to delete old versions, would respect the user settings that I so painfully put together. FAIL. Adobe failed to maintain them and deleted them from existence. Adobe should be putting a disclaimer on their update process to prompt users of all levels to backup their user settings and provide a link to where these obscure files are normally found. The "gotcha" or "pie-in-the-face" is not appreciated.
For as long as I can remember, dating back to the early single-digit versions of Adobe products, it was advised to make separate backups of user settings that were often found in obscure directories on a user's own computer. I dared to trust Adobe this time around, hoping that the update to version 24 of InDesign and its option to delete old versions, would respect the user settings that I so painfully put together. FAIL. Adobe failed to maintain them and deleted them from existence. Adobe should be putting a disclaimer on their update process to prompt users of all…
11 votes -
Hanging drop cap has wrong indents in 2023 v18
In v18 (2023), when a paragraph has both a drop cap and a hanging indent (negative first line indent), the indent gets messed up on subsequent lines.
This came from a bug report by Lut Van Nooten on the InDesign Secrets LinkedIn group:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7006264075831648258/The solution is to disable the new Composition Preference: "Honor Text Indents in addition to Text Wrap"
However, in this case, this is clearly a bug because there is no text wrap!
11 votesThis issue was fixed in one of the recent updates (18.2) of ID2023 release.
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Adobe InDesign team
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Workspace Disappears on open - InDesign 18.0
Workspace Disappears on open - InDesign 18.0. Only shows when I go to Window>Workspace>Reset [workspace name]
iMac OS Ventura 13.0
11 votes -
Type on a Path Tool interrupter flow text
When there is a story (on parent page) with some 'text on a path' above:
You can't use 'Flow text automatically' to exist pages (by alt\opt+shift) - because it moves the text in the next stories TO THE PATH!
Note: 'Smart text reflow' *to new pages works well
11 votes -
Share for Review - Critical Scrolling Bug with Large Documents
Indesign Version 17.0
When scrolling in large documents (200-500 pages) the browser-window of Share for Review the screen hops between 3-5 different screens multiple times a second. This bug makes the feature basically unusable. Sometimes it snaps back (maybe after rendering correctly?), sometimes it just doen't.
The bigger the document, the faster the error seems to occur. Working on my 200 page-document with my team is essentially impossible right now.
There is a post about this over here with a video: https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/share-for-review-scrolling-bug-with-large-document/m-p/12516079#M452898
Our team has this problem on Mac, Windows - and on Safari, Chrome and Firefox (didn't check other browsers yet). We tested this on 7 different devices, all crashed equally.
Indesign Version 17.0
When scrolling in large documents (200-500 pages) the browser-window of Share for Review the screen hops between 3-5 different screens multiple times a second. This bug makes the feature basically unusable. Sometimes it snaps back (maybe after rendering correctly?), sometimes it just doen't.
The bigger the document, the faster the error seems to occur. Working on my 200 page-document with my team is essentially impossible right now.
There is a post about this over here with a video: https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/share-for-review-scrolling-bug-with-large-document/m-p/12516079#M452898
Our team has this problem on Mac, Windows - and on Safari, Chrome and Firefox (didn't…
11 votesThis issue has been fixed in the latest InDesign version - InDesign 2023.
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Adobe InDesign team
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Text box disappears, styling not displayed in real time
I am using the latest Indesign update for M1, 16.3.2 (Big Sur 11.4)
I am now having problems where the text box that I am styling disappears. I either have to zoom in or out, flip pages, or now go as far as closing the file and opening it, because Indesign is either not displaying the changes made, or the text disappears. Placing a cursor within text is also not accurate, and either a character to the left or right.
These are new issues, please advise.11 votesThis issue was fixed in one of the updates to InDesign 2022 version.
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Adobe InDesign team
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Type 1 Fonts
Preflight has the ability to flag Type 1 fonts. This is a great way to see if you are using fonts in a document that will not be supported in the future. The problem is there are OpenType Type 1 fonts and PostScript Type 1 fonts. In Preflight, when you click on Type 1 fonts not allowed, it also flags OpenType Type 1 fonts.
Would be very important to identify exactly what fonts will not be supported in the future.
11 votesThis issue has been fixed in the latest version of InDesign - 18.2 and later.
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Adobe InDesign team
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Double hyphen in words that already contain hyphen (minus)
Since a few weeks (we think since the InDesign 16.1 x64 update), we see a major problem in a lot of our books:
Words that already contain a hyphen (minus sign: -), and that are hyphenated automatically by InDesign, get a double hyphen!
Normally, when hyphenated words are at the end of the line, the 'hard typed' hyphen gets replaced by the automatic hyphen (with the blue ~ added above it), but now the automated hyphen is added, so we get two consecutive hyphens (--). Sometimes on the same line, sometimes one on the next (see example screenshot).This is a serious and big problem, experienced by everyone in our team (10 people), on multiple different projects (using templates we use for years already).
It causes a major liability issue towards our customers, when the books are printed this way! Please fix this.
We are all on Windows 10 Pro and have the latest version installed (InDesign 16.1 x64)
Since a few weeks (we think since the InDesign 16.1 x64 update), we see a major problem in a lot of our books:
Words that already contain a hyphen (minus sign: -), and that are hyphenated automatically by InDesign, get a double hyphen!
Normally, when hyphenated words are at the end of the line, the 'hard typed' hyphen gets replaced by the automatic hyphen (with the blue ~ added above it), but now the automated hyphen is added, so we get two consecutive hyphens (--). Sometimes on the same line, sometimes one on the next (see example screenshot).This is…
11 votes -
Translation bug : Spread -> Grossi instead of Planche (in french)
- Click on publish online button Single Page is well translated as "Un(e) seul(e)" (page) Spread is wrongly translated as "Grossi" Grossi means bigger (or what we had with trapping : spreading inks, so making ink marks bigger) Planche which has been the accepted term in inDesign for ages.
(also known as 09/01/2017 #ID-4199114)
11 votesThanks for reporting this issue. We will review it
-InDesign Team
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InDesign 2021 is not allowing me to open files created in previous version
I cannot open any files created in previous version. I had to reinstall InDesign 2020 to be able to do my work. InDesign 2021 is giving me a message about damaged files, is trying to repair them but without any success. So this version needs to be fixed asap.
11 votes -
share for review is not working consistently
If I try updating a share for review link the share for review panel freezes as shown in the attached image and nothing happens.
I have to close and reopen the indesign file for the Share for Review to update the link, but it only works once or twice, before it begins to freeze again.11 votesThis issue was fixed in InDesign v15.1.2 and later.
Please update to the latest available versions and see if the issue(s) you were facing earlier has got resolved.
Remember to check how you are signed into your CC account and if need be, sign out and sign in again. Since Share for Review is a service and dependent on your login to your Adobe ID account, it is important that CCD app is working well with your credentials.
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InDesign team -
InDesign opens with tiny window
For several recent versions of InDesign, and Windows, including the most recent of both (just updated InD yesterday, and this happened shortly after), I have on rare occasions had InD open as only a tiny box showing only the basic minimize/maximize/close buttons, and a window edge, positioned in the upper left corner. If I click on the maximize button, it goes to maximized, but then cannot grab outer edges to resize the box, and minimizes just goes back to almost nothing. If I then quit InD, USING FILE/QUIT, OR COMMAND-Q, then it will reopen OK. I think, maybe, this is triggered by using the x-box in the upper right corner to close the program, rather then file-quit or command-q. I try to remember to close it the 'correct' way, but since every other program I have on Windows is fine with closing the x-box, ...
Again, problem with current and at least 2 previous full versions, and with Windows 7 Home as well as Windows 10 Pro. It can go a long time without this happening.
For several recent versions of InDesign, and Windows, including the most recent of both (just updated InD yesterday, and this happened shortly after), I have on rare occasions had InD open as only a tiny box showing only the basic minimize/maximize/close buttons, and a window edge, positioned in the upper left corner. If I click on the maximize button, it goes to maximized, but then cannot grab outer edges to resize the box, and minimizes just goes back to almost nothing. If I then quit InD, USING FILE/QUIT, OR COMMAND-Q, then it will reopen OK. I think, maybe, this is…
11 votes -
Suddenly my document reverts to an earlier version
Ever since I updated Adobe InDesign to version 15.0.1, my current document suddenly reverts to a state from several minutes prior. All of my recent changes are gone, up to ten minutes, and they are not even available under Edit > Redo.
I've started saving more often now. Recently, this problem happened again. It suddenly went back to an earlier state than I had last saved, so I closed without saving, reopened, and the file was exactly in the state I expected, which was a LATER state than my document had reverted itself to (thank goodness), but not where I was before the problem happened.
I find myself having to figure out, over and over again, what changes I've made to my document for the last ten minutes so that I can do the same thing over again. I have to save between each step!! This is not good!
Ever since I updated Adobe InDesign to version 15.0.1, my current document suddenly reverts to a state from several minutes prior. All of my recent changes are gone, up to ten minutes, and they are not even available under Edit > Redo.
I've started saving more often now. Recently, this problem happened again. It suddenly went back to an earlier state than I had last saved, so I closed without saving, reopened, and the file was exactly in the state I expected, which was a LATER state than my document had reverted itself to (thank goodness), but not where I…
11 votes -
Data Merge not populating correctly when placeholder curse overflow
When using Data-Merge with an .txt/.csv and using export as pdf, indesign (still) merge the fields wrong (only use the first data-entry), if the placeholder and not the data curse an frame-overflow.
Detailed description:
You have a textframe with enough space to place the string "888", but not enough space to place "8888".
You have a .csv table with a colum named "number" and values from "1" to "999".
You select the file with data-merge and get a placeholder "<<number>>" and replace the "888" with it. Now you got a frame overflow.
You select preview, and all values (1 - 999) shows up fine without any overflow.
You try to export as pdf.You aspect: a pdf-file containing 999 pages with numbers from 1 to 999.
You get: a pdf-file containing 999 pages all with the value 1. :-(Work arounds:
1.) making the text-frame bigger, until the placeholder fits.
2.) let data-merge generate a merged indd-file.Both work-arounds are no solutions! I often work with layouts where u can't choose option 1, small tickets for example. Solution 2 is a real nightmare if u work with graphics and many data-entrys.
When using Data-Merge with an .txt/.csv and using export as pdf, indesign (still) merge the fields wrong (only use the first data-entry), if the placeholder and not the data curse an frame-overflow.
Detailed description:
You have a textframe with enough space to place the string "888", but not enough space to place "8888".
You have a .csv table with a colum named "number" and values from "1" to "999".
You select the file with data-merge and get a placeholder "<<number>>" and replace the "888" with it. Now you got a frame overflow.
You select preview, and all values…11 votes
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