InDesign crashes when updating InCopy ICML files

Question

I created an assignment file with around 20 different stories. The next time I opened InDesign the writer had input text to most of the story files. One story file was a couple of pages of text, the rest were just a few lines of copy, nothing huge. Every time I tried to update the ICML files InDesign crashed. I didn't matter if I only tried updating one story or all of them, it always crashed. I was working on a PC when this happened. I moved over to my Mac to try and updated the ICML files and it crashed there too.
The actual InCopy ICML files on the server were fine. The writer never realized there was a problem. All of the copy was sitting there, so I was able to go back and re-import all the copy.
I did all the basic stuff to resolve the issue like restart, trash the prefs, convert to INX, and try on different computer. Nothing worked, crashed InDesign every time.
I'm currently using CS5, but this same issue came up last year on another project in CS4 as well.
Has anyone had this happen and/or know of a fix other than re-importing all the story files?

Answer 1

Some might call me crazy, but in order to progress with my project I ended up having to create my own work around this crashing bug.
The problem with my situation was that the reviewers had already made their comments in InCopy and it wasn't until I tried opening the .indd file and updating the stories that we received the crash... every time.
My workaround - if the reviewers had made their comments in InCopy, hopefully with track changes enabled, in order to see their comments I did the following:
I opened the .indd file in InDesign CS5.5 (version 7.5.2). DO NOT UPDATE the document with the ICML stories. Instead I unlinked the .icml stories from the main document. I then opened the .icml files in InCopy 5.5. I was able to see the edits that were made by my reviewers and copy and paste them between InCopy and InDesign at that point.
I know, I know. This is totally a crazy thing to need to do when we have such a powerful tool (InDesign and InCopy). It comes down to, you must do what you must do to get the job done. I truly had no other option presented at the time. The project had to complete and the reviewers were not HAPPY to even think about reviewing the content again via PDF shared review.
The best advice I received from other forum users when I proposed the crashing issue was that it could be because of anchored objects being deleted or moved by an InCopy editor. Because InCopy is strictly a text editing tool, there may be an issue that causes InDesign to get frustrated when an edit moves or deletes an anchored object or frame. I had lots of anchored object, interactive objects, etc. in my document. To track down whether an anchored object moved or was deleted by a user was unsurmountable... my workaround, while painful, at least got the job done this time.
Any future projects will be moved back to CS4. That version atleast works with InCopy stories and Interactivity. I am sure one day this will be resolved... just wonder when.