PDFs Export to Google Drive as 0 Bytes, for Anyone on MacOS Ventura
Sometime in approximately late January 2023, my workgroup began having difficulty exporting PDFs from InDesign to our Google Drive. The PDF files appear on the Drive but as 0 bytes and can't be opened/viewed from the Chrome side of the Drive. We have isolated the problem as specific to anyone who is on MacOS Ventura. We believe the problem stems from a late January/early February upgrade to either the Google Drive, InDesign or Ventura (or perhaps a perfect storm combo of all three). We have 8 InDesign users in our workgroup and only the three who upgraded to Ventura are experiencing this problem. The PDF files on our Google Drive can be viewed and behave normally when accessed through Finder on the Mac side by the author of the PDF file. When accessed through Chrome on the Google Drive side, they appear as 0 bytes. The workaround we discovered is to drag the PDF from the Finder window into the Chrome window, replacing the PDF file on the Chrome side, at which point it acts normally for everyone. Every time the PDF is modified, the process has to be repeated.
Giving the Drive "time to sync" is not the issue as we've gone back and checked bad PDFs 24 hours later and they are still bad. PDFs exported from other CC apps behave normally, as do other file formats (JPG, PNG, etc.) exported from InDesign so this is definitely a very specific ID + PDF + Ventura + Google problem.
Below is a link to the same issue being reported on Google Drive's Help page:
https://support.google.com/drive/thread/198550588/macos-ventura-some-files-do-not-sync?hl=en
Heidi Workman
shared this idea
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Vanese Clough commented
My team has the same problem. In addition to this, the inDesign files themselves don't save for the group unless the last person who touched them makes a copy of the file with a new name. We do think we're going crazy.
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milko
commented
the 0 bytes size PDF files if renamed from mac finder are synced.
PDF files of zero byte size, if not renamed but moved to a new folder, are synced from drive (in the new folder) but their 0 byte version is still visible within the original folder. -
Sean Hynes commented
Hi there.
We have exactly the same issue and it's strangely reassuring to know that I'm not going mad and imagining this.
Let me know if you find any solution or have any more information on the issue.
Thanks
Sean