[Another thread on when] InDesign crashes when exporting to EPUB

Question

Hi,

I am looking to develop a list of common reason why InDesign might crash when exporting to EPUB.

Looking in the community I see that endnotes and hyperlinks might be a problem. Any other common things to look out for?

I appreciate this may seem an open-ended question and some crashes may be to do with processing power and file corruption, but I am just asking for common problems outside these areas as I am not able to share the file.

Here is a scenario: I am working on a lenghty ID document (600+ page plus) with images, tables, multiple fonts, bi-directional text, etc. The export to EPUB consistently crashes, even with basic export settings, seemingly after just the first few images are exported.

However, previous versions of the document (backups before finalising) do not crash when exporting to EPUB.

So, my hunch is that there is some small type of formatting that occurred in the last phase of the project which is causing the crash (nothing fundamental like adding endnotes or changing the page size). What could the cause of the crashing be?

Here are some things I have tried...

remove all cross refs
remove all no break formatting
export to IDML and re-save in INDD format
remove discretionary hyphens

any other ideas?

A2D2 · Accepted Answer

Hi @A2D2,

Thank you for sharing all these details.

Since you mentioned there's no crash dialog and InDesign just quits, it's quite likely that a specific object or some hidden corruption in a text or image frame is causing this. A good way to pinpoint the issue is to create a duplicate of your file and start removing content in sections. For example, deleting groups of pages or certain frames, and then trying to export each time. This can help you narrow down exactly which element is triggering the crash.

If possible, it would be really helpful if you could share a sample file so we can try to reproduce the crash on our side. If the file is confidential, you're welcome to share it privately via DM in the community. Please make sure to package the file before sharing it. Quick reference on how to package: https://adobe.ly/44u88z8

Looking forward to hearing back from you!

Abhishek

Thank you @Abhishek Rao for your support.

I found out what the problem was.

Short answer: a few words of outlined text in a table ... as soon as this was removed from the ID document the document could be exported to EPUB with no problems (both with style and without)

Long answer: as mentioned, ID was failing at the same place everytime; each time I attempted to export an EPUB a series folders and files would appear at the designated save location ... it was clear these were the internal files of the EPUB that never quite made it to completion (i.e. being packaged inside an EPUB file). My document included a series of images in between all the text and these were exported one by one until the export routine reached a particular image in the document and then the next image would not be exported. It was always the same result for each export attempt. I could see that the next image in the image export sequence was a few outlined words in a table. As soon as this outlined text was removed the EPUB export was successful. I have no idea why this particular outline was causing a problem as 19 other outlines, at positions both before and after in the document, and with similar table contexts, exported without issue.

So, to come back to the original question, here is an updated list of things to check when exporting to EPUB or HTML:

remove all cross refs and links
remove all no break formatting
export to IDML and re-save in INDD format
remove discretionary hyphens
remove outlined text

Abhishek Rao · Answer

Hi @A2D2,

Thanks for sharing these details, and I completely understand how frustrating these EPUB export crashes can be, especially with such a large and complex document.

I checked for any crash reports linked to your community email but couldn't locate any logs so far. Could you please submit a crash report the next time this happens and share the email address you used to submit it with me over DM? This will allow me to pull up the report and get it properly investigated with the engineering team. Reference for submitting the report: https://adobe.ly/3TfjtOn

In addition to what you've already tried, try breaking the document into smaller sections and exporting them separately to see if you can isolate a specific section or element that is triggering the crash.
Once you've submitted the crash report and shared your email with me, I'll dig into it further.

Looking forward to your update!

Abhishek

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