Describe your workflow in detail, including the specific operation you were performing (for example, Exporting a 50-page magazine layout to PDF for print or Placing a large TIFF image while working on a poster design) in the Problem Description or What were you doing when the problem occurred? Fields of the Adobe Crash Reporter dialog box. Include any patterns you've observed, such as whether the crash happens consistently with specific files, after certain actions, or at particular times.
Last updated on
Jun 2, 2026
Report crashes through the Adobe Crash Reporter to help improve Adobe InDesign stability.
When Adobe InDesign crashes unexpectedly, the Adobe Crash Reporter appears automatically and sends diagnostic data about the failure to the InDesign engineering team.
Submitting crash reports is one of the most effective ways to improve InDesign stability, as engineers use the data to identify patterns and fix root causes. Including your email address and a clear description of your workflow makes reports especially valuable for follow-up or fix notifications.
If the Crash Reporter doesn’t appear after a crash, it may have been disabled in preferences earlier.
InDesign crash reporter is triggered
Providing detailed information significantly increases the likelihood that the engineering team can identify and resolve the underlying issue. Crash reports without sufficient context make it difficult for engineers to reproduce issues or identify patterns across multiple reports.
If you can reproduce the issue reliably, document the exact steps that trigger the crash.
Include your email address in the designated field so the team can contact you for follow-up questions or to notify you of fixes.
Select the checkbox to include application usage data to provide workflow context.
After filling in the details, select Send Report or Submit to transmit the diagnostic data to Adobe. The report uploads automatically and you can continue working by relaunching InDesign.
Crash reporter triggered with a particular document
For crashes that occur consistently with a particular document, sharing the file with Adobe facilitates faster diagnosis and resolution. Some crashes are triggered by specific document structures, corrupt objects, or unusual combinations of content that engineers cannot reproduce without access to the actual file.
Upload the problematic InDesign document and any linked assets to a file-sharing service such as Creative Cloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, or WeTransfer. If privacy concerns prevent you from sharing the original file, create a copy of the document, remove sensitive content, and verify that the crash still occurs. Even a simplified version that reproduces the issue can be valuable.
Generate a shareable link with appropriate access permissions.
In the crash report's problem description field, paste the sharing link along with your description.
Specify whether the crash occurs when opening the file, during specific edits, or when exporting.
Understanding Adobe Crash Reporter privacy
You can rest assured that Adobe isn't monitoring your activity through Adobe Crash Reporter. InDesign detects the crash, and we don’t know anything about it until you send the report to Adobe. The report originates on your computer. If you choose to submit a report (and we very much appreciate it if you do), only non-personally identifiable information is sent to Adobe. This includes information such as which part of the software encountered an issue.
Adding more information, such as what you were doing when the error occurred, is very helpful in diagnosing the problem. If you choose to provide your contact info such as your email address, Adobe will use it only if we need to contact you about your crash or notify you of a fix or a workaround. Your personal information will not be used for marketing purposes. You can send the report anonymously if you’d like.
These reports go directly to the engineering teams and are a tremendous resource for improving the product.
Share historical crash data
In situations where the crash reporter isn't functioning or you need to share historical crash data with Adobe Support, you can manually locate and extract crash logs from your system.
macOS
Select Report in the InDesign quit unexpectedly dialog box that appears after the crash.
Press Cmd + A to select all crash log text, then Cmd + C to copy it.
Open TextEdit and paste the log with Cmd + V.
Save the file for sharing with Adobe Support, this will capture the data even if the system fails to write a permanent file.
To access historical crash logs
Open Finder and press Shift + Cmd + G.
Type ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports and press Enter.
Look for files ending in .ips (the standard for macOS Tahoe and InDesign 2026). Older system logs may still appear with the .crash extension.
Open the Console app (press Cmd + Space, type Console, press Enter).
Select Crash Reports in the sidebar.
Filter by app name or date to find relevant InDesign crashes.
Right-click the relevant Adobe InDesign entry and select Reveal in Finder to locate the actual .ips file for sharing.
Windows
Open Task Manager by right-clicking an empty area of the taskbar and selecting Task Manager, or press Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
Select the Details tab (previously the Processes tab in older Windows versions).
Right-click InDesign.exe (if the application is frozen but not closed) and select Create Dump File.
If prompted for administrator credentials, enter your password or select Continue.
Note the location shown in the completion message, typically C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Temp\InDesign.DMP.
Navigate to that folder and locate the .DMP file for sharing with Adobe Support.
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