Save InDesign files for previous versions

When you open documents from more recent versions of InDesign than the version you are running, you receive the following error message:

"Missing Plug-ins" and lists some plug-ins. The document '<document name>' uses one or more plug-ins which are not currently available on your system. Do you want to open anyway?"

When you click OK, you receive the following alert:

"Cannot Open File" with another list of plug-ins, followed by the message, "Cannot open '<document name>

. Please upgrade your plug-ins to their latest versions or upgrade to the latest version of Adobe InDesign."

Save the file in a compatible InDesign format.

To open an InDesign document in the previous version, export the InDesign document to an export format. From InDesign CS5, this export format is the InDesign Markup Language (IDML). For in InDesign CS4 or InDesign CS3, the export format is the InDesign Interchange format (INX). Only InDesign CS4 and later can open IDML files, and Only InDesign CS4 and earlier export INX files.

Make sure that the version of InDesign used to open the IDML or INX file has all available updates installed. 

Note: Content created using features specific to your version of InDesign are sometimes modified or omitted when you open the document in the previous version. Therefore, carefully review any document opened in a previous version.

You can now open the IDML file in CS4 to convert it to an untitled InDesign document. Save the document, and review it for content changes that you want to address.

You can now open the INX file in CS3 to convert it to an untitled InDesign document. Save the document, and review it for content changes that you want to address.

You can now open the INX file in your previous version to convert it to an untitled InDesign document. Save the document, and review it for content changes that you want to address.

There is no direct way to save back from InDesign CS5 > InDesign CS3 or earlier because InDesign CS5 no longer supports INX export. InDesign CS4 uses INX to save back to CS3.

In CS4, which was the first version to support IDML, InDesign supported both INX and IDML. This made sense as it was a “transition period” between the two formats and Adobe wanted to support the ability to export from CS4 to CS3.

By transitioning from INX to IDML, InDesign has a well-documented, human readable, XML-based format. This format makes it possible for developers to automate InDesign document creation and modification, beyond what was possible with the old INX format. It is for this reason that InDesign moved to the IDML format beginning with CS4.

Online help:

• CS5 – Save backwards to the previous InDesign version
• CS4 – Save backwards to a previous InDesign version
• CS3 – Save backwards to previous InDesign versions