Indesign CS3 magically disappearing

[R***@adobeforums.com]

It honestly happens to both. Although the majority of the files are worked off the network.

Usually if there is a network connectivity problem Indesign CS2/CS3 usually freezes for a bit, then crashes hard with an error dialog box.

Suitecases auto-activate is turned off or until system restart. I don't know that is an issue.

InDesign dropped a couple of times today. Endtask, re-open file. Working on three different documents. The only thing I had open was Thunderbird and a couple of instances of explorer. I asked my co-worker if her Indesign disappeared hoping to find a collation, the answer was no.

I suppose I will have to call adobe. :/

[P***@adobeforums.com]

Did you try disabling the Suitacse plugin entirely?

[Stephenz Richards]

I use Indesign all day every day, this has started in last few weeks for me too. The problem seems to be when openening files from operating system after product has launched as opposed to opening from within indesign. So I guess just have to open all files from within Indesign until Adobe fixes it.

[R***@adobeforums.com]

It happened to me again as Stephenz pointed out. I opened a ticket with Adobe to see if they will say anything. Heard nothing yet.

Peter to answer your question, we actually removed it from one of our systems since our CSR doesn't do too much in InDesign. It does still happen.

[R***@adobeforums.com]

Actually that doesn't work for me ... as it still happens from time to time and have tried what was described. While there might be another bug where Indesign runs off screen, my issue is a bit different. And it sounds like I not the only person.

Again, it doesn't show up in Applications in the Task Manager but under processes it does. I can also say 98% certainly that it when you open a file by double-clicking rather than opening a file through the File Menu.

I did contact Adobe but for whatever reason they closed the ticket on me a few weeks ago. I haven't gotten around to calling them to find out why. I think that CS3 is a buggy piece of software for the PC side and that is just another bug. A rather annoying one at that.

[c***@adobeforums.com]

I'm having the same problem. I run the full adobe suite and this keeps happening to me too!

[h***@topdog.uk.com]

I've had a similar problem where all my CS3 files seemed to disappear but had magically converted to PDFs without me doing anything to them and they did not open by double clicking or from recent files list BUT they would open in CS4 when I selected them from inside the application using "Open" and changed the radio button to "Open as original" instead of the default. Now I'm saving my files as templates instead of documents and Windows seems to identify them as that. Hope that might help some of you!

[J***@adobeforums.com]

I have the same problem. It only happens if I used Windows explorer to open the file and only if I already have a file open. I'm using an IBM machine.

[O***@adobeforums.com]

OU812 - 10:47am Feb 18, 08 PST (#29 of 32)

I uninstalled and reinstalled CS3 and that seemed to do the trick. I still cant open files thru the network (another issue) but at least this has resolved the problem for me so far. I dont think that this should be the answer but I guess it will do for now.

I spoke too soon its back.

[A***@adobeforums.com]

Just wondering if there has been any update on this from Adobe?

Aidan

[C***@adobeforums.com]

None that I have heard.

[V***@adobeforums.com]

Hi

Just installed CS3 on a brand new computer - opened In design - and in a few minutes In design freezes and then without any warning closes - reinstalled CS3 - again same freezes - then disappear without any message. Not happy at all. Will switch back to the CS2. CS3 not ready yet. Thanks a lot to Adobe for its good programs, but for CS3, thou I did spent a good money for it. Do anybody can help us in that?

[J***@adobeforums.com]

I have seen this issue as well. One of the people I provide support for mentioned InDesign disappearing, and it occurs just as tom van haesebroeck mentioned. They'll open up one document in InDesign, minimize it, try to open a second through explorer, and InDesign disappears. It does appears to "try" to restore the window just prior to disappearing (I see the restore window animation).

When it disappears, it does not appear in the taskbar and does not show up in the "applications" tab of task manager. You have to kill the InDesign.exe process before it will open again.

I've not had a chance to explore this issue in depth, however we're running in an all-Windows environment, files are being opened from our DFS fileserver, and computers are running the latest updates from Microsoft and Adobe. We haven't tried updating drivers/etc, but will be since this is pretty annoying...

[C***@adobeforums.com]

I have 8 users on CS3 Indesign running on Windows XP with SP2 and they all are having the problem of Indesign just all of a sudden closing and the only way back is to restart their computers. One user is really having problems with the program closing out and I have re-installed twice and i have installed the Indesign update and none of it has helped. Please let me know of anything that might help. Cathy U

[C***@adobeforums.com]

Cathy, you do not actually need to restart the pc. Just kill the InDesign.exe process and reopen InDesign.
The best workaround that I have found for my designers is to only open a file from within InDesign (e.g. from the file menu.)
The only time the issue is present is when a file is opened from explorer.

[A***@adobeforums.com]

Hello,

I've just been browsing this forum to find messages relating to InDesign mysteriously disappearing from the screen or not responding.
This is what is happening to us. We are an architecture practice of 1,200 users, all working on PCs and all have just been upgraded to CS3 InDesign. Everyone is experiencing this. I'm responsible for CS3 support and training and we have so many calls about this.
We have also reported it to our contact at Adobe but they don't have a solution at the moment. Although they did say they should be able to fix it for the next version 4!
Are there any other PC users out there who have reported this to Adobe? Any other responses?

[G***@adobeforums.com]

Hi. We are having the same problem with Windows machines. We have just upgraded to the newest version. The program does not show up in Task Manager, but the .idk is in the folder. We have to restart the computer in order to open the files again.
Can anyone help?

[unknown]

Forget the task manager...look under the running processes.

Bob

[P***@adobeforums.com]

If the lock file is in the folder it usually means the file is open. Have you tried the various suggestions for finding it off-screen?

Peter

[K***@adobeforums.com]

Did a bit of sleuthing last night after a file with 1Gb-worth of linked images disappeared (after I'd waited 30 minutes for it to open over a VPN link. No, I know that's not sensible, but the press deadline was looming and a page needed a correction).

Using the little app located here: <http://www.compendiumdev.co.uk/forcedisplay/> I was able to force the display of all sorts of windows belonging to background windows processes, but couldn't find anything belonging to InDesign except one "window" of zero size (i.e. invisible even after forcing. Seems safe to say (as far as I can see) that the missing window isn't just "offscreen" or "hidden".

I know this is a user-to-user forum, and yes, I have filed a bug report, but I do wish someone from Adobe would respond to this *somewhere*.

[t***@adobeforums.com]

The same problem described here (InDesign disappearing when I open a second document from Windows Explorer) has started happening to me earlier this week. At first I thought there was a problem with the second document, but it's happened with quite a few other documents now. I find it bizarre that I never encountered this problem before, even though I have been working with this version of InDesign for a couple of months now.

[R***@adobeforums.com]

It is nice to see all the people coming out of the woodwork on this one. I sort of felt like I was the only one experiencing this issue and looked at as a crazy person. Btw - It happens to me still and I have found no solution to problem.

However something new has appeared, it no longer restores my documents after disappearing. After killing the process and relaunching Indesign, the documents quickly flashs on the screen as if it is going to recover documents and then closes it leaving Indesign empty.

I am not sure if it has anything to due with recent Adobe updates. I have the lastest and "greatest" from Adobe.

[M***@adobeforums.com]

FWIW, I've had the same problem since I updated CS3 to version 5.0.2 on PC.

It's a royal PITA.

[A***@adobeforums.com]

I have downloaded a 30 day trial of InDesign onto a brand new computer and on day 2 of the trial, I can't even get it to open. Have tried re-booting, no luck, let it sit overnight, no luck, and the saga continues.

I get the fuschia page and then a window and all of a sudden poof, it is gone. Can't find it on taskmaster, can't find it anywhere.

Downloaded the update but no luck there either.

I sure hope this changes. I am on a deadline.

PLEASE HELP ME!!!!

[P***@adobeforums.com]

It's very hard to know what is happening without any sort of error message or crash log. When you looked in Task Manager, did you check both the applications tab and the processes tab?

The trial versions are designed to stop working if you tamper with them or with the system in certain ways. Resetting the system clock is one of the things that will kill the trial immediately. This also means, unfortunately, that it may not be predictable what updating or other system changes have in terms of an effect on program operation. If the trial is truly dead, I think there is no way to recover it on that computer short of a full format and re-installation.

However, that shouldn't be taken to mean that all hope is lost. Hunt through the event viewer and see if anything was logged there that might help. You should also, I think, try renaming the the InDesign recovery folder. This is a hidden folder, typically found at C:\Documents and Settings\<User>\Local Settings\Application Data\Adobe\InDesign\Version 5.0\Caches\InDesign Recovery

If there was a problem with a file that crashed, renaming this folder will remove the recovery data and allow InDesign to restart without trying to automatically restore the damaged file.

Peter

[d***@adobeforums.com]

Robert,

You're not crazy, if you open a document through Windows Explorer, this will eventually happen to you. I wouldn't look for a solution soon though. There has to be enough people complaining about it to make it worth their while. And since the workaround is to open a file normally, Adobe can just say it's a Windows concern. Sorry for the defeatism, but you can't fight the machine.

[Z***@adobeforums.com]

This is really really crappy of Adobe to have a known issue like this go on for 6+ months on software that costs people many THOUSANDS of their hard-earned dollars.

There's no excuse. They should issue a fix for this.
All 4 of the designers where I work (myself being one of them) are experiencing this issue and we're clearly not in the minority here.

At first i thought it was some funky setting on our PC's from our IT dept. causing it, but clearly that's not the case either.

Until they fix this, Adobe can suck it.

[P***@adobeforums.com]

Here's the official bug report link:
<http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform>

Until people report what is happening, provide some configuration details, and it can be shown that it is reproducible, there is nothing that can be fixed. If you want to help, file a report.

Peter

[M***@adobeforums.com]

hi guys, today the first day using IDCS3 had been a nightmare for all of us, working for a newspaper, all machines crashing all day, someone say closed others softwares and works fine, but did nothing, and of course you can't work without PS IL.
IDCS3 desappears like magic, but was running somewhere in the background, so we had to do control+alt+delete to closed the program from task manager and run ID again. I think the mstake was to install cs3 in all machines without monitoring by installing in ONLY 1 or 2 machines, BUT NOT IN ALL OF THEM.
Maybe the reason is because we still have cs2 install in all machines. We have cs2 and now cs3, for sure that will create nasty conflicts no? maybe I'm wrong, since I had a new machine at work with cs2, works beautiful, now cs3 is really nasty.
I hope someone have some tips to fix this problems.
What I would do is uninstall all cs3, then instal in 2 machines and monitor the process, just my thinking.
Ya, helpppppppp please!!!!
Manuel.

[Stephenz Richards]

Manuel - If you open .idd file from within Indesign as opposed to clicking on file, you should be right.

[P***@adobeforums.com]

There should be no conflicts running CS2 and CS3 simultaneously. Quite a few of us are doing that without problems. Your problem is much more likely to be related to your hardware configuration.

How many monitors do you have? Do you run them at the native resolutions? Have you tried updating the video drivers?

In order to get help you need to provide information about your system -- type of hardware, video, monitors, OS version, etc.

Peter

[L***@adobeforums.com]

Someone mentioned this in another thread:

I'd tried everything, but setting the default printer to adobe pdf was
what did it. Not only did it solve this "disappearing program" problem
for In Design,




Does anyone else want to try this?

I have and I've openeded about 30 InDesign files through explorer today without InDesigin "Dissapearing", which I've never been able to do since installing CS3..

[t***@adobeforums.com]

have adobe pdf set as my default printer for some months now, but that never solved the indesign disappearing problem... the reason i set my default printer to adobe pdf was that it took ages opening an illustrator file when my computer was not connected to a real (default) printer. even tried different 'security programs' (anti-virus/firewall) but the indesign disappearing problem still exist!

[Matthew Laun]

This could be a few issues, one of which is this known issue introduced with Leopard: <http://www.adobe.com/go/kb402895>

I wrote the following AppleScript to quickly save my open documents and quit InDesign when I experience this. Feel free to use it, though no warranty is implied. Just copy the following text from your browser, Launch ScriptEditor.app, paste, and run. The Save for later reuse.


tell application "Adobe InDesign CS3"
set nDocuments to (count documents)
set myCount to 0
repeat while myCount < nDocuments
tell active document
if saved then
save
close
else
set myResult to my getTimeStamp()
save to ((path to desktop folder as text) ¬
& "SavedDoc_" & myResult & ".indd") as text
close
delay 1 --Ensures unique time stamp
end if
end tell
set myCount to myCount + 1
end repeat
set nBooks to (count book)
set myCount to 0
repeat while myCount < nBooks
tell active book
save
close
end tell
set myCount to myCount + 1
end repeat
quit
end tell

on getTimeStamp()
set timeStamp to the current date
set nMonth to month of timeStamp as number
if (nMonth < 10) then
set nMonth to "0" & (nMonth as text)
end if
set nYear to year of timeStamp
set nDay to the day of timeStamp
if (nDay < 10) then
set nDay to "0" & nDay
end if
set nHour to hours of timeStamp
if (nHour < 10) then
set nHour to "0" & nHour
end if
set nMinute to the minutes of timeStamp
if nMinute < 10 then
set nMinute to "0" & nMinute
end if
set nSecond to the seconds of timeStamp
if nSecond < 10 then
set nSecond to "0" & nSecond
end if
return {nYear, nMonth, nDay, nHour, nMinute, nSecond}
end getTimeStamp

[P***@adobeforums.com]

Matthew,

That may be a splendid solution over on the Mac side, but if you look closely at the top of the page you'll see this is the Windows platform forum, so the issues are almost certainly not the same as those introduced with Leopard. :)

[unknown]

And an AppleScript won't do much good either.

Mac forum is across the hall two doors down on the left. <g>

Bob

[K***@adobeforums.com]

As Peter and Robert have said, this won't work on Windows as-is but it *is* a splendid idea. Good thinking.

I'll see if I can write a VBScript equivalent this week when I've got a minute.

Keith

[B***@adobeforums.com]

It's nice to know i am not alone!! I have tried opening my docs through InDesign rather than Explore and they still crash. PC - 150GB hard drive - 2GB RAM - Office 2007 - CS3. One thing we have discovered is that just having one doc open seems to sometimes take all my CPU and blows up every other app that i have open. I was working on a Corel drawing - simple line schematic and had a 2Mg ID doc open. My computer was getting really slow and Corel locked up then vanished - poof! No error reports. ID followed - poof. Then - when i right click START to go to explore - this crashed, too. Reboot again! This has been going on for a while but i never saw a solution other than open in ID. Since that didn't work i have just put up with it because i am the only user in the building and even my IT guys can't figure out what it going on.

Thanks for letting me vent!!

Barbara

[Matthew Laun]

<chagrin>My apologies for posting AppleScript in the Windows forum. I've been following multiple threads in the different forums with similar descriptions. The case where the application is running but the UI not visible is a known issue only on Mac 10.5. If users are experiencing a similar result on other OSes, it's definitely for different reasons. This type of script (in the scripting language appropriate for your OS :-)) would help confirm the application state, which would be helpful to understand the reason for their case.</chagrin>

[Matthew Laun]

Now for you windows users ;-) Some of the posts here sound like a known issue which tends to result in an application crash with no error message. Though the issue is rooted in some low level code, so far, we've only seen it manifest itself in relation to the Links panel. So the workaround is to close the links panel before opening documents. For more see: <http://www.adobe.com/go/kb403825>

Adobe Engineering is investigating solutions. Your frustration is heard and your patience appreciated.

[B***@adobeforums.com]

I have also noticed that it happens most frequently when 'placing' a graphic or using 're-link'if one has been changed or lost.

Any suggestions?

Barbara

[S***@adobeforums.com]

Sorry Matthew, but the idea that the issue of the UI disappearing while the program continues to run is only known on Macs just isn't true: it's been an issue with InDesign CS3 on PC ever since it was rolled out in my company, and the same for many other users and organizations. Not only has it been posted about in these forums, it has been notified to your tech people too, who are working on a fix.

It may be a different problem, but the nett result to the user is the same - the application doesn't crash, there are no crash logs generated, the UI disappears, but the process continues to run in Task Manager.

[Matthew Laun]

Simon,
Sure, any application can crash in this way on Mac or PC. The mac instance I was referring to is particularly unique in that the application is *truly* still running, the UI just doesn't draw, hence the ability to recover via scripting.

[Matthew Laun]

Barbara,
In your case, it could be related to damaged data related to the Version Cue client. VC Client code does get used for some file I/O in most CS3 applications, even if Disable Version Cue is turned off in the preferences. Try this, find your "workflow" folder and move it to the desktop:
Win: C:\Documents and Settings\[Username]\Application Data\Adobe\Workflow
Mac: [Username]/Library/Preferences/Adobe/
Where [Username] = your account name on the machine.

If this works, great! If not, then move the folder back and try other avenues of troubleshooting.
--
Matthew Laun
Adobe Systems, Tier 3 Support Engineer