Adobe rolls out fix for InDesign crashing bug

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
Adobe on Monday issued a ZIP file complete with instructions to manually fix an API bug that would crash the company's InDesign professional layout software on Intel Ivy Bridge-equipped MacBooks.

The fix comes less than a week after Adobe acknowledged a problem with its program and Apple's OS X 10.7.4 which comes pre-installed on all 2012 MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs. According to a user support forum thread started in mid-June, the issue can be traced back to an API that handled InDesign's system icons which was removed in the latest update to OS X.

As noted by MacNN, the problem caused blank dialogue boxes to pop up as InDesign failed to retrieve the correct icon assets which in turn crashed the program.

It appears that the issue is confined to mid-2012 MacBooks that have "MacBook Pro (Mid 2012) Software Update" installed. Previous to Monday's response some users created a workaround by rolling back the machine's operating system to factory defaults.

Crash


From Adobe's InDesign Help webpage:
InDesign Crashes with Blank Dialog Boxes on MacOS 10.7.4

Issue

"When working within InDesign or InCopy CS5 or later on a 2012 MacOS system, you receive a blank warning dialog box that causes the application to crash when performing certain functions.

Additional Information

The latest update for MacOS has removed an API file that InDesign uses to work with system icons. By placing the files directly within the applications we are working around the function the API served.

Adobe is working closely with Apple on both their current and future OS releases to resolve this issue in a more comprehensive manner.
Adobe's pseudo-patch involves the running of a script that installs three InDesign icons automatically or, for cases where the script does not run, a manual installation of the files directly into the application's resources folder.

Both the script and the manually-installable files can be found through Adobe's webpage.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post





    Both the script and the manually-installable files can be found through Adobe's webpage.


    Like I said when it was first posted here. The fix will be very soon. Glad they got it worked out. I think Apple and Adobe need to work together more closely as the technology is really changing rapidly and you can't always depend on things to work just because they used to work. It is not like Adobe and Apple are competitors. This is one of the more symbiotic relationships in the tech industry despite the disagreement over Flash which I think Adobe is acknowledging the reality check even though there are many unique abilities that Flash offers over HTML5. For the most part Flash is a legacy that can no longer be supported in a post PC world.

  • Reply 2 of 9
    ghostface147ghostface147 Posts: 1,629member


    That was rather quick for Adobe.  

  • Reply 3 of 9
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    That was rather quick for Adobe.  

    Indeed. However, you need to manually fix it yourself, i.e. it is not an automated process.
  • Reply 4 of 9
    philboogie wrote: »
    Indeed. However, you need to manually fix it yourself, i.e. it is not an automated process.

    Not automated? You download a file, select your installation of InDesign and about half a second later it says "Application installed successfully"? How much more automation do you need? Some sort of automagic update service ?? I really can't see how they could have made it any simpler. Works a treat and no more crashes on Retina MBP from a very quick test.

    Thanks Adobe for sorting this one out quickly (for once). : )
  • Reply 5 of 9
    lightknightlightknight Posts: 2,312member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by seltzdesign View Post





    Not automated? You download a file, select your installation of InDesign and about half a second later it says "Application installed successfully"? How much more automation do you need? Some sort of automagic update service ?? I really can't see how they could have made it any simpler. Works a treat and no more crashes on Retina MBP from a very quick test.

    Thanks Adobe for sorting this one out quickly (for once). : )




    Some Adobe guy might fly-then-drive to your house/company, install the update for you and go away.


     


    Hmmm, meh.

  • Reply 6 of 9
    hexorhexor Posts: 57member


    Well most apps now-a-days do auto-update.. you run the program, it says there is an update, you say yes, and then it updates and restarts the app for you..  I would consider Adobe's process "manual" compared to that.

  • Reply 7 of 9
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,727member
    hexor wrote: »
    Well most apps now-a-days do auto-update.. you run the program, it says there is an update, you say yes, and then it updates and restarts the app for you..  I would consider Adobe's process "manual" compared to that.

    They probably did it this way as many folks might not trust an update from Adobe /joke
  • Reply 8 of 9


    Great, now how about the completely random Dreamweaver crashes on my 15" Macbook Pro? I didn't know clicking was such a dangerous activity!

  • Reply 9 of 9
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    philboogie wrote: »
    Indeed. However, you need to manually fix it yourself, i.e. it is not an automated process.

    Not automated? You download a file, select your installation of InDesign and about half a second later it says "Application installed successfully"? How much more automation do you need? Some sort of automagic update service ?? I really can't see how they could have made it any simpler. Works a treat and no more crashes on Retina MBP from a very quick test.

    Thanks Adobe for sorting this one out quickly (for once). : )

    My bad; I only read Solution #2:
    1. Close InDesign and download the zip archive containing three InDesign icons.

    IDIcons_1074_Fix.zip
    Note:
    While placing these files should continue to allow additional updates be aware that we are modifying the existing application file. Moving or changing the contents of the application can result in needing to reinstall the application.

    Adobe recommends installing all official dot release updates before placing these files within the application. You can access these updates through Help > Updates or on the Adobe website.

    2. Extract the icons from the zip file to an easy to find location, such as your desktop.

    3. Navigate to: /Applications/Adobe InDesign CS6/ or where the application is installed on your system.

    4. Right click or CTRL+Click the InDesign application file and choose "Show Package Contents"

    5. Within the InDesign application file, navigate to: /Contents/MacOS/Required/ and locate the file Application UI.InDesignPlugin and again "Show Package Contents."

    6. Within the plugin, navigate to the Resources folder and then into the idrc_PNGA folder

    7. Copy the three icon files from the extracted zip file to the idrc_PNGA folder.

    8. Relaunch InDesign.
Sign In or Register to comment.