Hello I have the same problem => Can't export my PDF files with the latest Indesign 2023 version (V18.2.1)
No problem with the indesign 2022 (V17.4) => Export as a PDf without problems
IT IS THE SAME PB I have complained for Adobe Illustrator (Fixed for AI few days ago) = TRANSPARANCY OPACITY MASK = "Bad parameter"
Try this:
- Insert the "image_3_Opacity_Mask.pdf" in your Indesign 2023 page
- Export as a PDF
= The message "Impossible to export PDF" will pop-up
The vectorial illustration contain opacity mask option
So you coul of course flatten the transparancy but I wouldn't flatten my vectorial illustration.
By the way it is only an exemple, Ihave many ilustrations like this one.
Most of the time the problem appears when there are 2 or more same shapes containing opacity mask and which overlapping each others.
It was the case for my problem on Illustrator 2023 and was not on the 2022 version.
Try to do it with both version of indesign (2022 and 2023) to compare.

Nope, I updated mine and still get that error report. Any other options?

Steve Blackwell... thank you for the insight. Process of elimination. I kept deleting elements until I found what was causing the problem. A small hidden box. Deleted it and good to go. Thank you folks!

This is still an issue for me. I'm on Mac OS Mojave, 10.14.6, INDD 16.1, and working off of a server. Any INDD document, whether a previous version or newly created file, even without any images, fails to export to PDF seemingly at random. When I close the document, sometimes the export will work after re-opening it and trying again; sometimes it won't. It has never failed when exporting to my desktop.

Problem clearly has multiple possible sources. I was able to solve it by tracking down long file-paths for some images. moved the files closer to the root folder (shorter path) and relinked. Then I was able to export to pdf again.

I got the same message and tracked it down to one solitary text block in a 112 page document. Why would one text block cause this problem?

This is happening here also since the last update. No problem on laptop but workstation gives continuous PDF export errors for every file I want to export. I've literally uninstalled the entire Creative Cloud suite and used Adobe's cleaner tool afterwards. the problem persists though :S. Not sure what i can still do to fix it.

Still having this issue. I cannot package a file, so now I cannot send my work to the client and I'm going to miss my deadline. Extremely frustrating! Help! Any workarounds?

When exporting a large hi-res pdf for print, make sure that the "Create Tagged PDF" and "Optimize for Fast Web View" options are UN-checked in the PDF export dialog.

This solution by anonymous fixed this issue for me:

"I had this same issue and I found the culprit, for me at least. Some of the links a colleague had placed had file path names that were excessively long. I am not sure of the character limit on overall paths or individual file names but I found several ridiculous ones in my document, renamed and resolved the issue. "

I just changed the width of the Name column in Windows File Explorer to find the most obvious super-long files. Luckily I only had 10 or so files of crazy length, as there's no way of sorting by name length

I'm having the same issue, but I'm working off of a server. When I export to my desktop, it works. INDD 16.0.2

If this was fixed in May then why is it happening to me all of a sudden in December? I am up to date, and no link, fonts or image issues when exporting. Just can't export pdf, or package with a pdf.

Have we established if this error occurs when the InDesign file is located on a server, or saved locally?

Is it something to do with the containing folder's permissions?

It's weird how some people say that small PDFs work but high quality PDFs fail? Is there a problem with the large postscript file that's generated in the background?

This is a bug. I was able to export a "print quality" pdf with no downsampling, as usual, from an INDD 2-page file. But when I tried to export only one page of the exact same file, created as a different INDD doc, I got an empty white 5kb pdf. Restarted, cleared IDD preferences, restarted again, no luck.
Adobe, please fix it.

Why does it say the issue has been fixed when clearly so many people have this problem? It's really frustrating...

I had this same issue and I found the culprit, for me at least. Some of the links a colleague had placed had file path names that were excessively long. I am not sure of the character limit on overall paths or individual file names but I found several ridiculous ones in my document, renamed and resolved the issue.

@amaarora , is this issue solved? I am using in design 2020 . I have no error in my document I still cant export in pdf. Why it is happening?

It's not fixed, still happening in 16.0.

Hello, I'm having the same issue with 15.1.2. I've tried multiple different export settings, I've tried saving as an IDML file and exporting, I've tried exporting different files. I'm getting the "PDF Failed to Export" every time. I have no link/font errors in my document. I've also tried exporting to different file locations because I thought it might be my network right away. It won't export to any file location. I've restarted my Id app, and my entire computer. Please help!!

I am getting the same error. How do you fix this? Any work-around? I need a pdf asap.