Adobe InDesign: Bugs
When filing a new bug, please provide:
- Version of Adobe InDesign, InCopy or InDesign Server
- Steps to reproduce the issues
- Expected result
- Actual result
- Test file, screenshot, video or GIF capturing the issue (optional)
- or
7256 results found
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Hyphenation zone settings override discretionary hyphen exclusivity
Adobe InDesign Hyphenation Bug Report
Summary
Conflict between discretionary hyphen behavior and "After First / Before Last" hyphenation zone settings, where InDesign ignores discretionary hyphens that fall within the prohibited hyphenation zone.
Product Information
- Product: Adobe InDesign
- Component: Text Composition / Hyphenation Engine
- Feature Area: Automatic Hyphenation and Discretionary Hyphens
Problem Description
Expected Behavior
According to Adobe's documentation, discretionary hyphens should have absolute priority over automatic hyphenation rules. Specifically:
"Entering a discretionary hyphen in a word does guarantee that the word can be broken only where the discretionary hyphen appears."
When a word contains a discretionary hyphen that falls within the "After First X Letters" or "Before Last X Letters" prohibited zone, InDesign should:
1. Respect the discretionary hyphen's exclusivity (only break where discretionary hyphen appears)
2. Refuse to break the word at all since the only allowed break point falls within the prohibited zone
3. Not apply automatic hyphenation anywhere else in the wordActual Behavior
InDesign ignores the discretionary hyphen when it falls within the prohibited hyphenation zone and applies automatic hyphenation rules instead, breaking the word at algorithmically-determined positions that fall outside the prohibited zone.
Conflicting Features
Feature 1: Document Hyphenation Preferences
- Location: Paragraph Panel Menu > Hyphenation Settings
- Setting: "After First [X] Letters / Before Last [X] Letters"
- Purpose: Defines minimum character zones at word beginnings/endings where hyphenation should not occur
- Example: With "After First 3 Letters / Before Last 3 Letters", the word "aromatic" may hyphenate as "aro-matic" but not "ar-omatic" or "aromat-ic"
Feature 2: Discretionary Hyphens
- Location: Type > Insert Special Character > Hyphens And Dashes > Discretionary Hyphen
- Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+- (Windows) or Command+Shift+- (macOS)
- Purpose: Manually specify the only allowable break point in a word
- Expected Behavior: Word can only break at the discretionary hyphen location, regardless of other settings
Steps to Reproduce
- Create a new InDesign document
- Set up hyphenation preferences:
- Go to Paragraph Panel Menu > Hyphenation Settings
- Enable "Hyphenate"
- Set "After First [3] Letters"
- Set "Before Last [3] Letters"
- Create a text frame with justified text
- Insert a word where a discretionary hyphen would fall within the 3-letter prohibited zones
- Example: Insert discretionary hyphen in "example" as "ex•ample" (where • represents the discretionary hyphen)
- This discretionary hyphen falls in the "Before Last 3 Letters" zone
- Force line break to require hyphenation of this word
Expected Result
Word should not hyphenate at all, since the only allowed break point (discretionary hyphen) falls within the prohibited zone.
Actual Result
InDesign ignores the discretionary hyphen and hyphenates the word using automatic rules at a different location (e.g., "exam-ple").
Impact
Severity: Medium to High
- Typography Quality: Undermines precise typographic control
- Workflow Disruption: Manual intervention required to fix each occurrence
- Consistency Issues: Unpredictable behavior between discretionary and automatic hyphenation
- Professional Publishing: Affects quality of professional publications where precise hyphenation control is critical
User Groups Affected
- Professional typesetters and designers
- Book and magazine publishers
- Technical documentation teams
- Any users requiring precise hyphenation control
Technical Analysis
Root Cause
The hyphenation engine appears to process the "After/Before Letters" rules after or independently of discretionary hyphen evaluation, rather than respecting the documented hierarchy where discretionary hyphens should override all other hyphenation rules.
Proposed Solution
Modify the hyphenation algorithm to:
1. First check for discretionary hyphens in the word
2. If discretionary hyphen found: Evaluate if it falls within prohibited zones
3. If in prohibited zone: Do not hyphenate the word at all
4. If outside prohibited zone: Use only the discretionary hyphen break point
5. Only if no discretionary hyphen: Apply automatic hyphenation rules with zone restrictionsWorkarounds
Current Workarounds (Inefficient)
- Manual intervention: Individually edit each problematic word break inserting discretiona hyphen at start of word to prevent it from breaking.
- Character Style with No Break: Apply No Break character formatting to words with problematic discretionary hyphens
- Adjust zone settings: Reduce "After/Before Letters" values (compromises typography for other words)
- Remove discretionary hyphens: Use only automatic hyphenation (loses manual control)
Limitation of Workarounds
All workarounds require manual identification and correction of each instance, making them impractical for large documents or automated workflows.
Documentation References
Adobe InDesign Help: Text Composition
- URL: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/text-composition.html
- Relevant Quote: "Entering a discretionary hyphen in a word does guarantee that the word can be broken only where the discretionary hyphen appears."
Hyphenation Settings Documentation
- After First / Before Last Letters: "Specify the minimum number of characters at the beginning or end of a word that can be broken by a hyphen."
Additional Information
Related Features That Work Correctly
- Discretionary hyphens function properly when they fall outside the prohibited zones
- "After/Before Letters" settings work correctly with automatic hyphenation
- No Break character formatting consistently prevents hyphenation
Test Case Suggestions
Adobe should test various combinations of:
- Different "After/Before Letters" values (2, 3, 4, 5 characters)
- Discretionary hyphens at different positions within words
- Various word lengths and compositions
- Different paragraph composers (Adobe Paragraph Composer vs. Single-line Composer)
Request: Please prioritize this bug fix as it affects fundamental typographic control and contradicts documented behavior. The fix should ensure discretionary hyphens always take absolute precedence over automatic hyphenation rules, including zone restrictions.
Adobe InDesign Hyphenation Bug Report
Summary
Conflict between discretionary hyphen behavior and "After First / Before Last" hyphenation zone settings, where InDesign ignores discretionary hyphens that fall within the prohibited hyphenation zone.
Product Information
- Product: Adobe InDesign
- Component: Text Composition / Hyphenation Engine
- Feature Area: Automatic Hyphenation and Discretionary Hyphens
Problem Description
Expected Behavior
According to Adobe's documentation, discretionary hyphens should have absolute priority over automatic hyphenation rules. Specifically:
"Entering a discretionary hyphen in a word does guarantee that the word can be broken only where the discretionary hyphen appears."
When a word contains a discretionary hyphen…
12 votes -
Overrides are not preserved when importing and overwriting object style
version 19.3.0.58
But it happens in everything after CC2018When I update object styles on import or book sync, size and position options do not retain overrides. What is currently known is Width, Height, X, Y in Size and Position Options.
Reproduction steps
- Create a document
- Create object style
- Set Width, Height, X, Y of Size and Position Options as desired.
- Save document
- Open the document that duplicated 4.
- Create an object and apply the object style from 2.
- Change to any position and size (override)
- Import and update the object style in 2. from the document in 1.
- The object in 7. does not retain its size and position and is returned to the style settings.
Expected behavior
8. As a result, the size and position will remain as they were before the style update.There was a similar post, but the content didn't exactly match, so I posted a new one.
https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs/suggestions/42713450-certain-overrides-on-objects-styles-do-not-hold-whHope for improvement.
〈にほんご / Japanese〉
バージョン 19.3.0.58
しかしCC2018以降すべてで起こるインポーティングやブックの同期でオブジェクトスタイルを更新すると、サイズと位置のオプションはオーバーライドを保持しない。現在判明しているのはSize and Position Optionsの中のWidth, Height, X, Y
再現手順
- ドキュメントを作成
- オブジェクトスタイルを作成
- Size and Position OptionsのWidth, Height, X, Yを任意に設定
- ドキュメントを保存
- 4. を複製したドキュメントを開く
- オブジェクトを作成、2. のオブジェクトスタイルを適用
- 任意の位置、サイズに変更（オーバーライドする）
- 1. のドキュメントから2. のオブジェクトスタイルをインポートして更新
- 7. のオブジェクトはサイズと位置を保持せず、スタイルの設定値に戻されてしまう
期待される挙動
8. の結果、サイズと位置はスタイル更新前の状態を保持すること類似した投稿はあったが、内容が完全に一致しないため新たにポストした。
改善を希望しちゃう。
version 19.3.0.58
But it happens in everything after CC2018When I update object styles on import or book sync, size and position options do not retain overrides. What is currently known is Width, Height, X, Y in Size and Position Options.
Reproduction steps
- Create a document
- Create object style
- Set Width, Height, X, Y of Size and Position Options as desired.
- Save document
- Open the document that duplicated 4.
- Create an object and apply the object style from 2.
- Change to any position and size (override)
- Import and update the object style in 2. from the document in 1.
- The…
12 votes -
BUG: Small Caps not applied correctly to Variable Text with World-ready Composer
Using Adobe Indesign 19.3 on MacOS 14.4, Apple M1.
Steps to reproduce:
1. Make new document.
2. Define a text variable "Test" with custom text "Handgloves".
3. Insert variable in text frame.
4. Set the composer for that paragraph to "World-ready..."
5. Set the paragraph in Small Caps
6. Try different fonts.Expected result: small caps.
Actual Result: only first two characters are changed to small caps. Typing characters after the variable placeholder changes how many characters are changed to small caps. See attached video.
Workaround is to change the paragraph to a non World-ready composer.
Note: may be related to this bug.
Using Adobe Indesign 19.3 on MacOS 14.4, Apple M1.
Steps to reproduce:
1. Make new document.
2. Define a text variable "Test" with custom text "Handgloves".
3. Insert variable in text frame.
4. Set the composer for that paragraph to "World-ready..."
5. Set the paragraph in Small Caps
6. Try different fonts.Expected result: small caps.
Actual Result: only first two characters are changed to small caps. Typing characters after the variable placeholder changes how many characters are changed to small caps. See attached video.
Workaround is to change the paragraph to a non World-ready composer.
Note: may be related…
12 votes -
Flashing screen on selecting text
Adobe InDesign 2024
When highlighting text with text tool or selecting multiple items with the selection tool and dragging with the mouse held down, the screen flashes rapidly between the document and plain white - this makes the ID document contents not visible on the screen so you can't actually see what you are doing - eg can't see what text is being highlighted
Please fix asap - it is making ID virtually unusable!
12 votes -
The link is set to "anyone with link can comment" but it's still requiring a password
I have created a share for review link for others to comment on, however it's requiring them to log into an account even though it's set to "Anyone with the link can comment". This was not the case before, others could comment as a guest. Using InDesign 2024 v19.0.1
12 votesThe issue has been fixed.
Now the Share for Review links set to "Anyone with the link can comment" open in the browser without asking for an Adobe ID login & password.
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Adobe InDesign team
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update to v24
For as long as I can remember, dating back to the early single-digit versions of Adobe products, it was advised to make separate backups of user settings that were often found in obscure directories on a user's own computer. I dared to trust Adobe this time around, hoping that the update to version 24 of InDesign and its option to delete old versions, would respect the user settings that I so painfully put together. FAIL. Adobe failed to maintain them and deleted them from existence. Adobe should be putting a disclaimer on their update process to prompt users of all levels to backup their user settings and provide a link to where these obscure files are normally found. The "gotcha" or "pie-in-the-face" is not appreciated.
For as long as I can remember, dating back to the early single-digit versions of Adobe products, it was advised to make separate backups of user settings that were often found in obscure directories on a user's own computer. I dared to trust Adobe this time around, hoping that the update to version 24 of InDesign and its option to delete old versions, would respect the user settings that I so painfully put together. FAIL. Adobe failed to maintain them and deleted them from existence. Adobe should be putting a disclaimer on their update process to prompt users of all…
12 votes -
Issues with epub quality on the new 2023 update
I'm a book publisher. I downloaded the latest InDesign update last week. I created the files and saved them like in the previous software. However, the vendors are all rejecting the epub files stating they're not validating in their epub software. I had to go redownload the prior version of InDesign, and it works like a charm. The glitch seems to be in the new version of the InDesign software.
12 votesFix for this issue is now available in the latest release of InDesign 2023 - that is, InDesign 18.1 version.
Please update to this version of InDesign to get the fix.
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Adobe InDesign team
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Co-Authoring
Time to address the co-authoring issue, especially if you are pushing to the cloud.
12 votes -
Type on a Path Tool interrupter flow text
When there is a story (on parent page) with some 'text on a path' above:
You can't use 'Flow text automatically' to exist pages (by alt\opt+shift) - because it moves the text in the next stories TO THE PATH!
Note: 'Smart text reflow' *to new pages works well
12 votes -
InDesign should apply variating substitutions from rclt
Variable fonts may contain location-dependent substitutions, but the
rvrnfeature runs too early for many real-world substitutions. The solution in font-making land has been to use thercltorrligfeatures instead, but at least the former is not supported by InDesign. This is a major headache for e.g. Arabic.Technical discussion about this at
12 votes -
Menu bar gets stuck - Indesign on M1 Pro mac
On a regular basis the pull down menus in Indesign will stop reacting properly: Clicking menu item will select the topic (screenshot 1), but not pull down the menu. A second click AND hold will pull down the menu, but all the sub-menus remain unavailable, they will not pull out. The issue is persisent: Restarting Indesign does not fix it once it starts occuring, but restarting the computer will fix it. The issue may be OS related, but it only occurs in Indesign, and only on my M1 Pro computer, not my older Intel mac.
The issue usually occurs after Indesign crashes, something which unfortunately happens multiple times a day using Indesign on M1 Pro. Having to restart the computer multiple times a day has not happened to me since the days of OS 9. I am using a couple of plugins in Indesign, which may contribute to crashes, but I also have an Intel Mac with the same version of Indesign, and the same plugins, and am having no such issues there.
Apple M1 Pro
Indesign 17.1
macOS 12.0.1 (21A559)On a regular basis the pull down menus in Indesign will stop reacting properly: Clicking menu item will select the topic (screenshot 1), but not pull down the menu. A second click AND hold will pull down the menu, but all the sub-menus remain unavailable, they will not pull out. The issue is persisent: Restarting Indesign does not fix it once it starts occuring, but restarting the computer will fix it. The issue may be OS related, but it only occurs in Indesign, and only on my M1 Pro computer, not my older Intel mac.
The issue usually occurs after…
12 votes -
Indesign 2022 (17.1.0.50) IDLK file does not lock
This problem was recently flagged as resolved, but despite the newest InDesign and MacOS versions it is still possible for two users to open the same Indesign file. We are working on a network volume over SMB and it is possible for my colleague to open the same file I am working with. The *.idlk file was generated by the first user, but it is not recognized by the second Indesign user and sometimes subsequently just disappears.
I also tried to reproduce this issue with Indesign 2020 but all worked just as expected.
12 votes -
InDesign not displaying actual (print) size
InDesign 2021 does not actually show you the printed size of the document.
There are two potential (and faulty) options to achieve this currently:
- Set the zoom level to 100%: On various forums I've read that this should let you view the document at actual print size. A document that physically takes up 10x10cm on your screen, should print at 10x10cm.
In effect, that doesn't happen and the 100% renders my document at a way larger size than what it's actual size. (I'm literally holding up a ruler against my screen, and a 10cm wide page is about 20cm wide on the screen).
- Go to view>view actual size: This one comes closer - the document (and thus objects in it) are rendered about 1.3 smaller than the real-actual dimensions they'll be printed at (as opposed to 2 times bigger in the previous method).
Again, this doesn't actually work and I'm wondering what it's intended to do.
My suggested solution:
I'm using a 4k, 15.6" Dell monitor, and photoshop did this also. It even has a "printed size" in addition to "actual size", which also didn't render things in their correct size.
After reading this article: https://www.photoshopessentials.com/essentials/print-size/
I understood that photoshop assumes all screens are at 72dpi, and that causes the incorrect rendering. After "telling" photoshop my actual monitor dpi, which is 283 - it began rendering things correctly when choosing "view print size".I when to edit>preferences>units&increments, and tried setting the "points/inch" setting. It was at 72 at default, and I thought that setting it to 283 would solve the problem.
When I tried doing so, a popup came up and said "the value must be between 60 and 80". So this obviously doesn't work. I'm wondering why this would be the case, as screens today have dpi's of way over 72 and 80.
Maybe allowing entering higher dpi's will solve this problem?Anyway, if anyone knows a solution/idea on how to display print size, I'd love to hear it.
Thanks,
AlonInDesign 2021 does not actually show you the printed size of the document.
There are two potential (and faulty) options to achieve this currently:
- Set the zoom level to 100%: On various forums I've read that this should let you view the document at actual print size. A document that physically takes up 10x10cm on your screen, should print at 10x10cm.
In effect, that doesn't happen and the 100% renders my document at a way larger size than what it's actual size. (I'm literally holding up a ruler against my screen, and a 10cm wide page is about 20cm wide…
12 votes -
Missing Glyphs on PDF export in InDesign v17.0
using the google font Signika, quotation marks and colons give me a missing glyph upon export to pdf. When using v16.4, this is not an issue.
12 votesThe fix for this issue is now available in the latest update of InDesign - InDesign 17.1 available via CCD app.
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Adobe InDesign team
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Indesign M1 Beta expired
The beta suddenly stopped working and won't allow med to access InDesign on the M1 machine, no update on the Creative cloud installer beta section, and removing and reinstalling the app doesn't solve it.
Will there come a new beta update soon?
12 votesFix for this was available in the previous release of InDesign – InDesign 2021. Please update to the latest update of InDesign 2021 or install the latest version of InDesign 2022 to get the fix.
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Adobe InDesign team -
BUG (since CS6!): Nonbreaking Space (^S) Issue with World-Ready-Composer
Issue:
When using the ›World-Ready Composer‹, the character ›Nonbreaking Space‹ (^S) behaves exactly like the character ›Nonbreaking Space (Fixed Width)‹ (^s); i.e.: in justified paragraphs, its width does not adjust (like regular spaces do), but it is fixed and unchanging.
This only occurs with the ›Adobe World-Ready Composer‹ (both ›Paragraph‹ and ›Single-line‹) and not with the regular ›Adobe Composer‹ (neither ›Paragraph‹ nor ›Single-line‹).
It is not related to the font used, it has been tested with many different fonts.Versions with this bug, tested and confirmed by myself or colleagues:
InDesign (Standard Version) CS6, CC2015.0
InDesign (Middle Eastern Version) CC2020 (15.1.2), CC2021 (16.0)
I suppose it occurs in all versions since CS6 (when the ›World-Ready Composer‹ was first introduced, afaik)!Steps to reproduce this issue
Enter a few lines of text and insert the character ›Nonbreaking Space‹ somewhere. Choose any of the ›Justify‹ paragraph styles and select the ›World-Ready Composer‹. Switch to the regular ›Adobe Composer‹ with the same setup and compare the result.Expected Result:
The ›Nonbreaking Space‹ should adjust its width just like any other of the regular spaces.Actual Result:
The ›Nonbreaking Space‹ does not adjust its width.Example as Screenshot attached.
(Menu is in German: ›Globaler Adobe-Absatzsetzer‹ = ›Adobe World-Ready Composer‹; ›Adobe-Absatzsetzer‹ = ›Adobe Composer‹)
As far as I know, this issue has been reported only once before (https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs/suggestions/39403822-non-breaking-space-is-smaller-than-regular-space-w). But in this report, it is stated incorrectly that the Nonbreaking Space would be smaller than a regular space. It can, in fact, be larger as well (e.g. in a tight line with regular spaces smaller than their 100% optimum). The real nature of the issue is that it does not vary its size.
PLEASE FIX ASAP!
ThanksIssue:
When using the ›World-Ready Composer‹, the character ›Nonbreaking Space‹ (^S) behaves exactly like the character ›Nonbreaking Space (Fixed Width)‹ (^s); i.e.: in justified paragraphs, its width does not adjust (like regular spaces do), but it is fixed and unchanging.
This only occurs with the ›Adobe World-Ready Composer‹ (both ›Paragraph‹ and ›Single-line‹) and not with the regular ›Adobe Composer‹ (neither ›Paragraph‹ nor ›Single-line‹).
It is not related to the font used, it has been tested with many different fonts.Versions with this bug, tested and confirmed by myself or colleagues:
InDesign (Standard Version) CS6, CC2015.0
InDesign (Middle Eastern Version) CC2020…
12 votesThanks for reporting. We will review the issue
-InDesign Team
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12 votes
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Drop shadow in exported PDF is a different size
Certain drop shadows have a different size when they appear in an exported PDF.
In the attached example, the black shapes each have a drop shadow effect in yellow. When exported, the shadows appear shorter and narrower. The difference is approximately 20 pt narrower and 1 pt shorter. (Note the difference in proportion of the yellow drop shadow and black shape in the screenshots.) I've also included the drop shadow effect attributes.
This occurs with multiple PDF export settings including the default [High Quality Print]. I am able to reproduce this behavior in both InDesign versions 15.1.2 and 16.0.
12 votesThanks for reporting. We will review the issue shortly.
-InDesign Team
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image damaged or incompatible
"Error encountered while reading JPEG image. Image might be damaged or incompatible. Resave the image with a different setting and try again."
I have a set of at least 100 JPEGs that work perfectly fine with any other program, but won't load in Indesign12 votes -
Share for Review SYNC Broken
I use "Share" > "Share for Review" on a Program for review by multiple departments for edits. I received notifications of over 200 edits, but upon opening the InDesign file to begin changes, the "Window" > "Comments" > "Review" Panel data is empty and again says "Create Review".
So the connection from my online review and the source InDesign is broken. Additionally, there is no option to save that online version as a pdf to import the comments via that option in "Window" > "Comments" > "PDF Comments"
12 votesWe’ve released an update to InDesign – 15.1.2
Please update to this latest version and see if the issues you were facing earlier have got resolved.
Remember to check how you are signed into your CC account and if need be, sign out and sign in again. Since Share for Review is a service and dependent on your login to your Adobe ID account, it is important that CCD app is working well with your credentials.
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Adobe InDesign team
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