Export a single page or group of pages at time.
- InDesign User Guide
- Get to know InDesign
- Introduction to InDesign
- Workspace
- Generative AI
- Introduction to InDesign
- Create and layout documents
- Documents and pages
- Create documents
- Work with parent pages
- Work with document pages
- Set page size, margins, and bleed
- Work with files and templates
- Convert PDFs to InDesign files in InDesign (Beta)
- Create book files
- Add basic page numbering
- Number pages, chapters, and sections
- Convert QuarkXPress and PageMaker documents
- Share content
- Understand a basic managed-file workflow
- Save documents
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- Text
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- Arabic and Hebrew features in InDesign
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- Troubleshooting
Learn how to troubleshoot problems while exporting an InDesign document as a PDF.
Multiple factors, both internal and external, can prevent a document from being exported as a PDF. One or multiple reasons can be associated with the file itself, such as the links used in the file, the styles, fonts, or any other.
Try exporting the file to a different location
For Example, if you are exporting your files to a Network drive, try exporting them to your desktop locally. This will determine if the issue is with the file or location.
Binary sorting of the document
Binary sorting of the document helps in eliminating the issue coherently.
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Locate the corrupted page or link by exporting your document in short sections.
For Example: If you have a document with 20 pages, then export your document as PDF in ranges 1-10 and 11-20. So, In whichever set it would generate the error or failed, sort it more until you find out the problematic page.
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Once you find the problematic page, you can either remove and re-create the page or remove the images or elements causing the problem.
Export the document as IDML
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Go to File > Export and choose to save as IDML.
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Open the saved IDML in InDesign and export it.
Move pages to a new document
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Create a new blank document.
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Open the source and destination documents.
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In the source document, select Pages panel menu icon > Move Pages.
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In the Move Pages panel, specify the following:
- Move Pages: Enter the page numbers you want to move.
- Destination: Select the location and enter the page number.
- Move to: Select the destination document from the drop-down.
Note:Don't select Delete pages after moving document.
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Once the pages are moved to the new document, export the new document to PDF.
Troubleshoot plugins
Remove third-party plugins from the InDesign Plug-ins folder, and then restart InDesign. If the problem recurs, move the plugins back to the InDesign Plug-ins folder. If the problem doesn't recur, identify conflicting plugins:
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Choose one of the following options as per your Operating System.
Windows: Help > Configure Plug-Ins
macOS: InDesign > Configure Plug-Ins
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Select All Plug-Ins for the Set and then clear all the options in the Display section except Third Party. Create a list of these plug-ins.
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Quit InDesign and move these plug-ins out of the Plug-Ins folder:
- Windows: /Program Files/Adobe/Adobe InDesign [Version]/Plug-Ins
- macOS: /Applications/Adobe InDesign [Version]/Plug-Ins
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Restart InDesign and try to reproduce the problem.
If the problem does not recur, repeat steps 3 and 4, adding some third-party plug-ins back to the Plug-Ins folder. If the problem recurs, contact the developer of the plug-in you last moved, to inquire about an update.
For more information, see Troubleshoot InDesign third-party plug-ins.
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