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richardl28109603
Participant
January 16, 2026
Question

BUG - Illustrator files placed into Indesign are shifting elements.

  • January 16, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 180 views

I can't share too many screenshots due to confidentiality, but I keep encountering an issue when placing illustrator files into InDesign. Elements shifting, type dissapearing or dupllicating. General glitching.

The issue isn't just graphical, it persists when being reopened after a reboot or even exported as a pdf/png. The thumbnail in the links window shows it with the glitch, so it appears to be something corrupting the illustrator file. Rather than an InDesign issue?

I have had some success with saving the file as a pdf then oversaving back over the .ai file. 

This is it placed into indesign the background layer has shifted up.

Placed into InDesign, fully updated.

 

This is the saved illustrator file, as you can see the background layer if fine.

Illustrator file

It's talked about in this Reddit thread https://www.reddit.com/r/indesign/comments/1ppsjgx/illustrator_placement_bug_be_careful/

I'm using an M4 mac, with GPU performance unchecked as this also causes a bunch of issues.

1 reply

Abhishek Rao
Community Manager
Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
Community Manager
January 16, 2026

Hi @richardl28109603,

 

Thanks for sharing the details and for the reference to the Reddit discussion. To better understand what's happening on your setup, could you please confirm the exact versions of Illustrator and InDesign you're using, along with your macOS version?

It would also help if you could take a look at this similar community thread and let me know if the behavior you're seeing matches what's described there: https://adobe.ly/3Ly0m1K. If it does look like the same issue, please try the suggestion pinned in that thread and share whether it makes a difference on your end. If it feels different in any way, let me know what stands out, so I can check this further.

 

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

R
richardl28109603Author
Participant
January 18, 2026

Hi,

I'm using Indesign 21.0, Illustrator 30.0

 

That linked post doesn't seem to be the same issue. The issue I'm having is objects and type randomy shifting and dissapearing when placed into InDesign, it's not just a display issue as it exports incorrectly too. It's happened with mutiple completely unrelated files over the last 6 weeks and colleugues opening the files have the same issue.

 

Cheers

Willi Adelberger
Community Expert
Willi AdelbergerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 19, 2026

Has the file been edited outside Illustrator?

What did you use, AI or PDF?

If PDF, what standard?

 

Avoid PNG!

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