Adobe Forums: InDesign CS4 Help--Toolbar not showing, can't type or do anything.

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kirklandeCommunity Member

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InDesign CS4 Help--Toolbar not showing, can't type or do anything.

Sep 4, 2009 6:40 PM

So I downloaded the trial version of Indesign CS4 on my computer, and when I opened it there was no toolbar, and I basically cannot type anything on it etc. . .

I looked through some older posts on the forums and people suggested uninstalling it and then reinstalling. My only fear is that since this is a trial version I thought that after uninstalling the program it wouldn't let me reinstall the program since I already had my free trial.

Does anyone have any other suggest on how to fix this or know if uninstalling it will still let me use the trial version when I reinstall it.

Thank you very much!

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Marvin Sable,

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Sep 4, 2009 6:57 PM

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I'd be surprised if this was it BUT the TAB Key will toggle the toolbar, menu bar and panels on and off.

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Claudio González,

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Sep 4, 2009 7:02 PM

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I think that you stand a much better chance of getting a useful answer if you post your question in the appropriate InDesign forum, which you can find here:

http://forums.adobe.com/community/indesign

This forum is for discussing the forums themselves...

May I ask you how you got to post in this forum? Your answer could help to detect why so many people are posting in the wrong forum.

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kirklande,

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Sep 4, 2009 7:08 PM

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This may sound stupid, but I couldn't find the TAB key?

I'm sorry, I didn't realize this was a forum about forums. When I was on the main adobe website it advertised the forums page and then it said general forums. I think that was how it happened.

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Marvin Sable,

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Sep 4, 2009 7:17 PM

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Actually this is the main InDesign forum. ??

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kirklande,

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Sep 4, 2009 7:20 PM

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I was wondering the same thing. I think somehow it got switched to this forum?

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Claudio González,

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Sep 4, 2009 8:02 PM

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Well, this wasn't the InDesign forum when I posted. This is some sort of magic that the new moderators think is useful and not in the least confusing...

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Claudio González,

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Sep 4, 2009 8:45 PM

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I was going to do some more explaining, but this thread suddenly vanished from the Forum Comments forum (where the opening message was initially posted, and from where I thought I had posted my previous message) and it wasn't all that easy to find where it had gone, because I don't keep a record of where I post, or in answer to what. Nothing very confusing, really, just very obscure.

Traditionally, when someone posted a specific product question in the Forum Comments forum, someone would politely tell the questioner which was the right forum for the question. As I did, although not everyone was always as polite or as precise. And that was all: the questioner would then post the question again where it belonged, many times thanking the help received in the Comment forum. However, the new hosts think that it is much more helpful, and quite a lot less confusing, to simply move the whole thread to what they think is the right forum -pretty obvious most of the time but not always- without a single word saying they have moved it. If someone who had posted a message such as mine is left looking like a dumb ***, bad luck. If the original poster never manages to find the way to the moved thread, bad luck. If..., bad luck again.

There have been several protests about this, but times have changed, and the opinions of us users no longer seem important for those who have been given the force to do as they like in these forums.

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Claudio González,

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Sep 5, 2009 5:24 AM

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Marvin, kirklande, you'll have to ask the forum hosts, who don't seem to make up their minds. The opening message, message #2 by Marvin, and my initial answer, were all posted in the Forum Comments forum. When I posted my message #6, I entered the thread from that same forum, but when I started writing I noticed I had been magically transferred to the InDesign forum. My message #7 was posted enterely in the InDesign forum, after the thread disappeared from the Forum Comments one and I had to spend some time to find where the thread had gone. And this morning I see that the thread is completely back in the Forum Comments forum, without a single word or hint explaining any of these these movements.

Go figure. And I hope kirklande doesn't get lost with all these transfers, and finally gets the help he has been asking for. Which, in my opinion, would be easier in the InDesign forum than here.

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Peter Spier,

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Sep 5, 2009 6:02 AM

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Claudio González wrote:

Well, this wasn't the InDesign forum when I posted. This is some sort of magic that the new moderators think is useful and not in the least confusing...
I suspect Claudio is right. Moderators have the ability, and authority, to move threads. I don't know who moved it (wasn't me), but confusing though it might be at first, in the long run it's better to have this discussion over here in the ID forum.

Peter

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Peter Spier,

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Sep 5, 2009 6:08 AM

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To those who might have been following from the comments forum. This topic is now where it belongs, and I will delete off-topic nonsense summarily. Over here we try to help people if we can without turning every thread into a gripe session.

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Peter Spier,

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Sep 5, 2009 6:20 AM

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kirklande wrote:

This may sound stupid, but I couldn't find the TAB key?

The Tab key is on the upper left side if the keyboard. That's the key you use for indenting a line in Word, or aligning columns in a free-typed table, or switching fields in a spreadsheet or your browser.

Unfortunatley, that isn't likely to be the issue given the rest of your description. It sounds like you have a failed installation, and I wish I could tell you that you can try again, but I honestly don't know. For previous versions that was not possible without reformattinig the hard drive.

There were some issues of this type that popped up on some older hardware that didn't support certain instructions. Those probelms were fixed, I think, with the 6.0.2 or 6.0.3 patch. You could try downloading the update and see if it will run.

What OS are you using? Do you have a way, such as System Restore on Windows, to go back to before you installed the trial? If so that would be a possibility for trying to reinstall. make sure you disable any anti-virus or other security software before do a new installation, and though I haven't seen any problems personally installing CS4 with other stuff running, you might want to diable anything else that isn't strictly required for you system to operate. Lots of things, like the add-on browser toolbars adn instant messengers were know to interfere with CS3 installations, but I don't use that stuff on my systems so I have no experience one way or the other withthem in CS4.

Peter

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Claudio González,

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Sep 5, 2009 6:42 AM

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Peter, when I wrote my last message, the thread was totally in the Comments forum, not in the InDesign one. Now I have just entered it from the Comments forum, here

but I have been taken to the InDesign one. So it's not very clear for me where the thread really is, or if it will stay where it is...

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Peter Spier,

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Sep 5, 2009 7:23 AM

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The thread is in the InDesign forum, and eventually any trace of it should disappear from the comments forum. There's sometimes a lag while the servers synch up, which is why it's confusing. Anyone who was subscribed (and that's the default for any thread in which you post) should continue to see responses normally.

I'ts unfortunate that several of you were most likely posting while the thread was bing moved, or as now, continue to see it in the comments area, but there's nothing I can do about it other than wait it out.

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Peter Spier,

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Sep 5, 2009 7:25 AM

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I've just checked, and I don't see any sign of it in the comments forum now, but I may be accessing servers in a different part of the world.

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Jhabrix,

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Sep 5, 2009 10:00 AM

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P Spier wrote:

I've just checked, and I don't see any sign of it in the comments forum now, but I may be accessing servers in a different part of the world.

Still there, as of now 1600 GMT. That's how i got here. It was showing as unread. Result of your last post.

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Ildhund,

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Sep 5, 2009 10:39 AM

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I first saw this OP at seven this morning in email notifications from the Comments forum, with no response. Remembering that others had had similar problems, I started hunting around my archive for possible solutions and started composing a response, including a suggestion that if none of the proposals work, to post again in the ID forum. Just to be sure that I hadn't overlooked something, I quickly searched through recent posts in the ID forum - and to my surprise found a whole string of responses to the same topic.

It is intensely frustrating to spend time on trying to help someone who's presumably desperate for a solution to his problem, only to find that he'd already been dealt with in another forum. When people multipost instead of crossposting in newsgroups, they get told why that's a bad idea and won't do it again. This business of moving threads without saying that they've been moved is just as bad as multiposting. This is a public site, so it's not enough just to tell the OP by PM that his post has been moved. It's left me feeling a complete fool for wasting time researching the problem. I hope that the mods can devise a system that avoids this, including at least posting a response to the OP saying that the thread has been moved with a link to the new location.

Noel

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Claudio González,

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Sep 5, 2009 11:53 AM

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Peter, you don't seem to have read my posts carefully enough. This thread was originally only in the Comments forum, then in both, then in this forum only (until late last night here). This morning I found the thread was fully in the Comments forum (the breadcrumbs on top said so while I was posting my message), then in both again. After some hours away, I now find it is only in the InDesign forum.

So it would seem that I witnessed three changes of location of this thread, and also the transient bug accompanying such changes. I am glad that you agree that this can cause some confusion.

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Peter Spier,

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Sep 5, 2009 12:44 PM

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At this point the when and why and even the where of moving this thread is irrelevant to answering the OP's question. He was notified by the moderator who made the move, and was apparently OK with it. People who are subscribed are getting notified of new posts.For what it's worth, the mod who did the moving has apologized to Bob and me (and the rest of the moderation team) for causing the confusion, and in all probabilty will not do things this way again. As far as I'm concerned, that part of the discussion is over. If you have more to add that is relevant to the topic of the thread, great, otherwise, keep it to yourselves, please.

Hopefully the OP will return with an update on what he's tried, and the results.

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Claudio González,

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Sep 5, 2009 2:02 PM

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Unfortunately, I cannot help the OP with his specific problem; I can only hope that the advise you provided has been helpful for him and that he hasn't got lost. I was only trying to help him to understand where he was and why but, in any case, it's your forum, not mine, and you have the force to move threads to your heart's content. And also to eliminate those messages that you don't like, without any explanation if you so wish.

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kirklande,

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Sep 5, 2009 7:35 PM

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Thanks to everyone for their responses! I think I saw that someone said that the moderators contacted me that they had moved the post between the two forums. Actually, no one even told me, I just noticed the switch, which is extremely frustrating.

The problem was solved however. I unistalled the program and then reinstalled it and everything worked out perfectly. Thanks again to all those who replied!

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Peter Spier,

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Sep 6, 2009 7:55 AM

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The moderator in question says he sent you a message through the Private Messages system, his standard procedure. I must have been mistaken that you had received it. Private messages generate an email from Adobe Forums, I believe, sent to the email you used in your profile, informing you that you have a message, along with a link. You should also see the Your Stuff icon at the top of the page turn orange (if you visit the website) when you have an unread message.

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Peter Spier,

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Sep 6, 2009 8:04 AM

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Because the problem is solved, and due to confusion for some users as to where this discussion lives and what are appropriate comments, it seems like a good time to lock the thread.

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InDesign CS4 Help--Toolbar not showing, can't type or do anything.

Sep 4, 2009 6:40 PM

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