Skip to content

Adobe InDesign: Bugs

When filing a new bug, please provide:

  1. Version of Adobe InDesign, InCopy or InDesign Server
  2. Steps to reproduce the issues
  3. Expected result
  4. Actual result
  5. Test file, screenshot, video or GIF capturing the issue (optional)
If you are facing a crash in InDesign, please submit the crash report as well. How to Submit Crash Report
Join the InDesign Prerelease Program to try out the new features and the bug fixes that are available in beta builds.

  • Hot ideas
  • Top ideas
  • New ideas
  • My feedback

485 results found

  1. anchor

    1) Version of Adobe InDesign: CC 2018 (latest release)

    2) Steps to reproduce the issues:
    i) Create a text box with type tool. Enter text.
    ii) Create a text field with "buttons and forms" or insert a picture.
    iii) Anchor text field (or picture) to the end of the text in the text box.
    iv) Drag text box into Articles panel.
    v) Ensure "Include Article" is selected.
    vi) Select "use for reading order in tagged PDF" in Articles panel menu.
    vii) Export to PDF (save as interactive is using the text field).

    3) Expected result:

    Text field (or picture) will…

    19 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    5 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)
  2. Font outlined when exporting to pdf

    When I export to pdf and open the document in Acrobat, I have no issues with fonts. But, if I want to open the file in Illustrator (we have a special procedure to add the pdf file to one drawing in iIllustrator), I get this alert: To preserve appearance, some text has been outlined. When I checked the Background tasks in InDesign, it gives me the following alert - image attached.
    We have the copyrights on fonts. Glyphs are mentioned in the alert, but not all of them are outlined. Using CC 2018 13.1

    2 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    0 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)
  3. I'm using Windows with InDesign cc 2018, but I can't seem to export a single page from a multipage document.

    I know I can export separate pdf files, but I don't want 90 separate pages, I should be able to simply select one page and export it, with the printer's marks. I also tried to print to pdf using the print settings, but was unable to create a pdf file with the printer's marks and bleed, even though these were selected in the dialogue box.

    1 vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    1 comment  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)
  4. Data Merge to PDF (using the new single page export feature) does not work properly

    Using the packaged folder attached, go to the Data Merge panel and select Export to PDF. Click OK on the first dialog box and in the second dialog box, make sure the "Create Separate PDF files" checkbox is checked.
    Expected result - 6 PDFs that have correct content in each PDF.
    Actual result - 6 PDFs that have incorrect content. PDF 1 is fine, but PDFs 2-6 are the same content as PDF 2.

    4 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    4 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)
  5. "View PDF after exporting" previously opened acrobat, now my computer switches between opening Illustrator, Mircosoft Word, rarely Acrobat

    I've set my computer to use Acrobat as default, yet perhaps you could add an Application of choice to use when view exported PDF.

    Not sure if it's just a bug, but any fix would be welcome. Thank you!

    9 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    6 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)
  6. Export PDF, cannot cancel background task

    Sometimes, there is no way to cancel a background pdf export task.

    No way to close the document either, only hard quitting works.

    23 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    12 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    Hello All,

    Thank you for your support. The issue is now fixed in the latest update of InDesign.
    Please upgrade to the new InDesign 14.0 from your Creative Cloud Application.

    If you are unable to see the update yet, click on the menu (three dots) on the top right corner of Creative cloud app and click on “Check for App Updates”.

    Let us know your feedback in the comment section.

    Thanks,
    Abhinav Kaushik
    InDesign Team

  7. Exporting Emojis to PDF

    I built a newsletter with the use of the new Apple Emoji "glyphs" in InDesign and when I went to export it as a PDF, it replaced my emojis with random images from my file.

    I talked with Adobe support and learned that only vector emojis can be used in PDFs which is a bit frustrating! Can we update the PDF export capability to include these new emoji features, so we can use the glyphs like I think that they were intended? I'd be a happy camper!! Thank you in advance!

    10 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    3 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)
  8. Dotted line looks pixelated in pdf

    When I export a Indesign file to pdf that has lines in it with japanese dot style, the dots appear pixelated in the pdf. But only the dots on a straight line, the dots in the rounded corner (see attached screenshots) look good, as do the dots on a circle line.

    When I print the file they look good. But as I need to show this document on screen as well it has to look good on screen too.

    Could you please fix this?

    11 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    8 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)
  9. endnote

    There appears to be a bug in the endnote linking when exported to PDF from InDesign. I'm running InDesign 13.0.1 x64 (Windows).

    When I export an InDesign document as a PDF, endnote linking (from the reference to the text and v.v.) is incorrect.

    Please see https://forums.adobe.com/message/10048963 for the full discussion. In short:

    Create a document with multiple sections (e.g. 1st section with 9 pages, 2nd section with 125 pages). Endnotes in second section will link nine pages too early (e.g., if you have an endnote on page 122, clicking on the endnote in the PDF will link to page 113.

    8 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    4 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)
  10. Indesign will not tag endnotes to XML

    When Adding untagged items to the Structure, Indesign promptly states that Endnotes are not supported for XML tagging. I use XML tagging process for creating reliable Accessible WCAG compliant PDFs, and other export requirements. Please make Endnotes USEFUL - 1. keep in same story (not an additional frame) and make tagging process available.
    OR... a way to convert endnotes to linked cross references - even in tables!
    Tables if Indesign worst thought when it comes to footnotes and endnotes.

    4 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    0 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)
  11. form field tag export

    Current version - InDesign CC 2018

    Form field tags are not created when exporting an interactive .pdf with tags.

    To recreate:
    1. Create a form with form fields.
    2. Add everything to Articles pane in order from top to bottom per page.
    3. Export to interactive .pdf, make sure to elect to create tags and set tabbing order by structure.

    Expected result - when the file runs through the Accessibility checker in Acrobat Pro - it passes.

    Actual result - all form fields are missing tags and does not pass the accessibility checker.

    Everything worked great before I updated InDesign…

    9 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    5 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    Fix of the issue is now available in InDesign’s latest November’17 update.
    Please upgrade to the latest version InDesign CC 13.0.1 for the fix.
    If you are unable to see the update, go to Creative Cloud application and click on the context menu on the top right and click on Check for App Updates.
    Thanks,
    InDesign Team

  12. alt text

    Also category: Accessibility

    I'm having a problem with the PDF tags when applying alt text to a group of items- a feature introduced in the most recent version of Indesign. Even though our articles panel shows separate articles, ALL of the content that comes AFTER a group tagged with alt text will have their exported tags all appear nested within that group as well, ignoring the structure set up in the Article panel. For example:

    Article 1

     Group with alt tag
    
          item in group
    
          Item in group
    
     more content
    

    Article 2

     Article 2 content
    

    Will in the exported PDF appear…

    6 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    0 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)
  13. styles don't export to pdf tags

    All my paragraph styles are set to automatic for export options. When I export to pdf 99.9% comes over as 'span' in the reading order structure, not what it is supposed to be.

    There is the occasional H3 for some reason on some versions exported. Appears totally random. None on attached sample.

    9 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    2 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)
  14. Indesign cuts off effects on PDF Export

    InDesign cuts off effects on PDF Exports if they get too large. (Also to mention... menues look different fot Font or Object Effects... someone realigned one of them and forgot the others.)

    Version of Adobe InDesign, InCopy or InDesign Server: CC 2017.1 with Tablefix
    Steps to reproduce the issues: Create a new Document that's wide enough e.g. 5000mm (happend to us on a big Banner) – Write Text - Use Effect "Bevel" - Export to PDF and watch it fail.
    Expected result: A Text with the applied effect
    Actual result: The Effect gets cut off (we almost printed a job…

    4 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    4 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    Hello All,

    Thank you for your support. The issue is now fixed in the latest update of InDesign.
    Please upgrade to the new InDesign 14.0 from your Creative Cloud Application.

    If you are unable to see the update yet, click on the menu (three dots) on the top right corner of Creative cloud app and click on “Check for App Updates”.

    Let us know your feedback in the comment section.

    Thanks,
    Abhinav Kaushik
    InDesign Team

  15. Page Hyperlinks Defaulting to page 1 when Exporting to PDF

    I have a multiple documents in a InDesign book. Each document has several page hyperlinks between all of the documents. I have exported this in the past and everything worked fine. Since updating to CC2018 the page hyperlinks no longer work. They all default to page 1.

    I had to update some image links and make some text changes so the books and documents are all now in CC2018. I do not see a way to save the indb file as a idml so I think I am stuck on CC 2018.

    I am exporting as a print pdf and…

    2 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    1 comment  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)
  16. PDF Exporting Issue - Linked EPS wrong color

    When exporting files created w/ Id CC 2018 13.0.1, some linked eps files appear in the PDF in a totally incorrect color. I've tried embedding the files and saving as an interactive PDF, to no avail. This has happened with multiple docs . Given this issue, I'm rendered unable to print any of my projects. Any insight appreciated!

    3 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    0 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)
  17. hyperlink

    Interactive PDF not exporting hyperlinks correctly

    Everytime I export an interactive PDF with hyperlinks, the links have %0D automatically at the end. The hard return code is not in the link in InDesign, I've tried to remove it several times within the working document and Acrobat with no luck. Seems to be a bug.

    4 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    1 comment  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)
  18. background issue PDF

    I can not export a DPF file from my InDesign file. I keep getting the message that a background issues has occurred and the PDF can not be saved. HELP!!!!!

    2 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    2 comments  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We have released InDesign CC2019.0.2 with lot of stability fixes. If you are not on 14.0.2.324 then I would recommend you to upgrade to latest version as it is more robust.

    If you still face this issue even after updating, please send the following information to santalwa@adobe.com :
    • Error snapshot or video recording of the issue?
    • Is(Are) the issue related to a specific document(s)/asset(s)? If Yes, Can you please provide the document(s)/asset(s)? Please package the entire document(To package the document, Go to File → Package)
    • Does Trashing preference and cache, please create a backup of Preference and cache before trashing them, help to resolve the issue?

    Adobe InDesign Team

  19. Wrong characters exported to PDF.

    My InDesign-Document uses 1 font only. After exporting a PDF, some character-combinations are replaced by a special character (see Screenshot). After closing and re-opening the document, the error doesn't appear again and the PDF file is exported normally.

    InDesign Mac CC 2018 (13.0.1)
    OS X Sierra 12.12.5
    Monotype Fontexplorer 6.0.3

    Thank you all!

    1 vote

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    1 comment  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We have released InDesign CC2019.0.2 with lot of stability fixes. If you are not on 14.0.2.324 then I would recommend you to upgrade to latest version as it is more robust.

    If you still face this issue even after updating, please send the following information to santalwa@adobe.com :
    • Error snapshot or video recording of the issue?
    • Is(Are) the issue related to a specific document(s)/asset(s)? If Yes, Can you please provide the document(s)/asset(s)? Please package the entire document(To package the document, Go to File → Package)
    • Does Trashing preference and cache, please create a backup of Preference and cache before trashing them, help to resolve the issue?

    Adobe InDesign Team

  20. nested hyperlinks

    Currently, hyperlinks in InDesign documents don't survive import/nesting into other InDesign documents. It would be great if they did -- it's the only thing preventing me from nesting pages from a "base" document into multiple localized versions...

    2 votes

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)

    We’ll send you updates on this idea

    1 comment  ·  PDF Export  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    We're glad you're here

    Please sign in to leave feedback

    Signed in as (Sign out)
  • Don't see your idea?

Feedback and Knowledge Base