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Adobe InDesign: Bugs

When filing a new bug, please provide:

  1. Version of Adobe InDesign, InCopy or InDesign Server
  2. Steps to reproduce the issues
  3. Expected result
  4. Actual result
  5. Test file, screenshot, video or GIF capturing the issue (optional)
If you are facing a crash in InDesign, please submit the crash report as well. How to Submit Crash Report
Join the InDesign Prerelease Program to try out the new features and the bug fixes that are available in beta builds.

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1411 results found

  1. 1 vote

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    0 comments  ·  Document/Pages  ·  Admin →
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  2. InDesign Server removes locks from locked layers during opening the document

    Hi,

    We ran into to the following issue on InDesign Server: after opening, saving and closing a document that contains layers that are locked, these layers become unlocked.

    The issue is reproducible on InDesign Server 16.4.0, 16.4.1, 17.0.0.

    The issue is not reproducible with version 15.x and 16.0.0, so it must have been introduced in InDesign Server 16.2.1 or 16.4.0.

    Scenario (on IDS 16.4.1):

    1. InDesign: create a document ‘~/Desktop/local2021.indd’

    2. Create 3 layers

    3. Lock all layers

    4. Save and close the document

    5. Run the script below on InDesign Server 2021 (16.4.1),


    targetengine "session"

    function main()
    {
    try {
    var docFile = new…

    1 vote

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  3. Updated to 2020, now fonts are not working

    Okay, so apparently I have run into an issue, that many have experienced before me. After an update of InDesign, fonts are not working, although installed. And browsing through the forum, no solutions seems available even though this is months old problems. Yes, there are some work-arounds, which I tried out with on luck.

    Attached are screens:

    001: My current InDesign version.
    002: My current InDesign version according to Create Cloud Desktop.
    003: My computer specs.
    004: My Windows specs.
    005: Example of the lastest pdf version of one of the InDesign files, where fonts are not working. Here…

    3 votes

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  4. "Generating PDF" dialog opens randomly, crashes InDesign

    Indesign version: 13.1 x 64

    After updating to this version, I have been having an issue where the "Generating PDF" dialog box will open unprompted at seemingly random times. The "Generating PDF" and "Downloading Image" bars are present, and begin to fill up. The "Downloading Image" bar appears to finish, but the "Generating PDF" never fills up all the way. InDesign becomes entirely unresponsive during this process, and I have to Force Quit the application to proceed.

    2 votes

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    CLOSED  ·  amaarora responded

    To identify the cause of this issue, we had started our investigation with the aim to resolve it. You might have also received email from us seeking more details to help in our investigation.

    We’ve concluded our investigation and came up with the finding : Either the issue is fixed in the latest release of InDesign or the issue was intermittent in nature at the time of its reporting and is not reproducible now.

    We recommend you to upgrade to the latest version of InDesign 2020.0.1 (if you’re not already on it). It contains a lot of stability fixes.

    If you still face this issue even after updating to the latest version of InDesign, please submit the crash report to us. (The guidelines to submit crash are available at (https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/submit-crash-reports.html)

    We seek your support in our continual effort to improve InDesign.


    Adobe InDesign Team

  5. Glitching and Lagging

    Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (as well as previous release)
    InDesign 19.01 (as well as previous releases)
    Apple M1 Max

    InDesign (and Illustrator) have become infuriating to use. All graphics and text are constantly glitching when scrolling or zooming. When selecting an element for some reason there is a lag where it things that I am clicking and dragging the element cause it to move. Sometimes it moves a pixel or get thrown across the page.

    I have tried the following
    In Preferences,
    Disabled Animated Zoom to no effect.
    Disabled GPU Performance to no effect.
    Changed Both Display Performance options to…

    2 votes

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  6. InDesign CC 2019 No search results when trying to place a file

    When I try to place a file in InDesign CC 2019 (or ANY CC 2019 app) and I enter text in the search box to find my file it defaults to "my Mac" instead of the folder I want it to search. Then when I select the folder I want to search it yields no results even though I KNOW there is a file there containing that word in the name. The folder I want it to search is on a remote server. I have tried to reindex the remote server in Spotlight (by adding it to the privacy tab…

    3 votes

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  7. Smart guides

    Snap to grid and smart guides or any function where cursor automatically snaps to edge, corner, or center point is not working. I am currently using version 16.0. I have restarted the program 5 times. All of these features are check marked and turned on despite the features not working at all.

    I will not work on my project because of this issue. I need to rely on the precise support of smart guides and snap to guides in order to do what I have to do. I'm very disappointed with this bug and upset I'm set back so…

    3 votes

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  8. Unable to export to pdf

    Hi there, I am unable to package some of the InDesign files I am working on at the moment. It shows the error messages attached. Initially, it showed a conversion error however now this no longer shows and it just refuses to allow me to export to pdf and therefore package the document. I have no idea how to fix the issue as it doesn't give any indication at to why it isn't working which is super frustrating.

    2 votes

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    10 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
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  9. ID2026 Export Issues

    Exporting PDFs and IDML files in ID2026 is taking far longer than it does to do the same export in 2025, and I'm losing almost all of the hyperlinks on parent pages when exporting to IDML.

    2 votes

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  10. story editor

    Using Indesign 17.2 on x64 PC. Brand-new machine with fresh install.

    To reproduce the issue open the story editor then close it.

    Expected result: The story editor closes and I can resume working in the main document window immediately.

    Actual result: When I close the story editor, the window disappears but all the tools on the toolbar, except the text tool, remain greyed out and I can't do anything in the main document for around 30 seconds.

    2 votes

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  11. Indesign 16.1 Insert new cross reference takes 20 minutes for the panel to load

    Indesign version: 16.1
    Steps to reproduce: Insert new cross reference
    Expected result: New Cross-Reference panel should load within an acceptable delay
    Actual Result: New Cross-Reference pane takes extremely long time to load.

    To add a new cross reference takes about 20 minutes for the panel to load, while editing an existing cross reference is normal. The issue is common to many documents.

    I tried to go back to versions 16.0 and 16.01, but had the same issue.

    I have used this feature in the past and every thing was normal.

    1 vote

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  12. PDF Export Page Range Defaults to Previous Settings

    Adobe InDesign – PDF Export Page Range Defaults to Previous Settings

    When exporting a document to PDF in Adobe InDesign, the software retains the page range from the previous export session and uses it as the default setting for the next export. This behavior can lead to unintentional partial exports if the user forgets to manually reset the page range to "All" before exporting a new document or version.

    This issue disrupts workflow and increases the risk of delivering incomplete documents, particularly in environments with high output volume or multiple concurrent projects. It would be more efficient and user-friendly if…

    3 votes

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    0 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
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  13. Object distribution disapeared from Advanced Settings

    Even object distribution has been removed from the Advanced layout and can only be seen in Essentials or Essentials Classic. I updated InDesign 2019 on 02/02/2019 and this issue suddenly appeared.

    1 vote

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  14. pages breaking and vertical lines on screen

    When i am working in any document since updating to Indesign 17 including the recent 17.0.1 the pages start to get vertical lines and horizontal lines, and the design elements start overlapping or having duplicates, tables will not display as aligned, trying to select text and my curser is really clicking 2 lines above. If i click "W" to toggle between Presentation view and back sometimes that will fix some of it and other times it will make it worse. I have attached a few screen shots to show how it will display different pages. When i go to export…

    3 votes

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  15. The crop marks in Indesign are inaccurate by 0.04” on the horizontal plain.

    The crop marks in Indesign are inaccurate by 0.04” on the horizontal plain. This is a big issue!!!

    I just wanted to get this info to the developers, in hopes of a quick fix.

    1 vote

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    0 comments  ·  Adjust Layout  ·  Admin →
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  16. PDF-Roll-Over STILL BROKEN in 2021 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    You already know the issue for years but you do not solve it.

    If you make a interactive pdf with indesign and have some buttons with a state change on roll-over the alternate roll-over-layout does get stuck sometimes and the layout does not revert to normal automatically.

    This is very embarrassing when pitching a client and he just thinks you are too stupid to do it. But it's Adobe's fault. FIX IT ALREADY IT HAS BEEN YEARS!!!!!!!!

    2 votes

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    0 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
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  17. InDesign very slow after update to 16.0 (x64), especially data merge

    Opening the app takes well over half a minute, used to be within 5 sec. Closing with save can take over a minute for a single master page with three variable placeholders. The app feels sluggish to use and there is a visible delay after performing any action, ranging between a fraction of a second and a few seconds.

    This last one has always been the case, but after update it is even worse: exporting a PDF using data merge renders the machine unusable. Mouse cursor moves with visible skips and lengthy delay between those skips, regardless of complexity of…

    4 votes

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  18. Alternate filling function of table rows doesn't work on imported Word table

    Please see the attached video to fully understand what is the issue about: the alternate filling function doesn't work on an imported Word table. Also I attach the InDesign file to help you solve this bug.

    1 vote

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    0 comments  ·  Text/Story/Table  ·  Admin →
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  19. Alternate filling function of table rows doesn't work on imported Word table

    Please see the attached video to fully understand what is the issue about: the alternate filling function doesn't work on an imported Word table. Also I attach the InDesign file to help you solve this bug.

    1 vote

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    0 comments  ·  Text/Story/Table  ·  Admin →
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  20. Share for review

    During this pandemic, I'm am trying to use the 'share for review' feature for a book I'm laying out. It is 600 pages, 300 spreads, about 333 MB file. It includes images and text.
    I've designed other books -- the printer had no problem with the files
    I'm using a Mac with InDesign 15.1.
    When I tried to share the file, 4 pages - 2 spreads uploaded. I tried again and 8 pages - 4 spread, appeared for sharing. I didn't choose them, it is what InDesign randomly chose.
    As an experiment, I created another file and tried to upload…

    4 votes

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    FIXED  ·  4 comments  ·  Share for Review  ·  Admin →
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