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Drop Shadows Export Incorrectly in PNG from InDesign 21.2

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Ever since the last updated, drop shadows aren't displaying properly when exporting PNGs from Indesign. There are a couple of threads, but no solutions, It's becoming annoying, as the workaround is to close the app completely and reopen the file. Totally messes the workflow.

Mike WitherellCorrect answer

Community Expert

According to release notes for InDesign 21.6, (September 2026) this problem has been fixed.

Long live the drop shadow!

Mike Witherell

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rob day

Community Expert

Hi @vancey31007647 , Does the drop shadow problem happen if you Export a PDF/X-4, open the PDF in Photoshop, and Save As a PNG

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0194212rkws

Participant

Also experiencing this issue, but the workaround of closing out Indesign and reopening did nothing. Operating on 21.2 update, but the issue was also noted on 21.1. And its not consistent on how the drop shadow appears on the object, even though its the same object repeated. Exported these exact files only a few months ago with no issues.

EDIT: Issue resolved by uninstalling 2026 Indesign and using 2025 instead. Which is another problem in an ongoing list of issues I’ve had with the newest release. Maybe in a few months the bugs will be resolved. 🙃

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Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

First, make sure you are using the latest 21.2 update that came out recently.

I’m not seeing the problem on my system, but I only did a simple test.

If you cannot solve the problem, a workaround would be to export to PDF and export to PNG from Acrobat.

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David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

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vancey31007647Author

Participant

Yes. It is the 21.2 Update. It happens 80% of the time. My workaround is closing InDesign, reopening the file, then exporting the PNG. The other workaround is to export it as a JPEG. Unfortunately, there will be an instance when I will need a PNG.

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Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @vancey31007647,

Thanks for the confirmation. To help us better understand what’s happening on your end, could you please share a screenshot showing the difference between how the drop shadow appears in the INDD file versus the exported PNG, or a short screen recording demonstrating your workflow up to the point where the issue occurs?

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

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Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @vancey31007647,

I understand how disruptive this can be. Could you please confirm if you are on the latest InDesign 21.2 build and share your OS details as well? Also, let me know if this happens with every file or only a specific document. It would really help if you could share a quick screenshot showing how the drop shadow looks in the INDD compared to the exported PNG for better reference. In the meantime, please try the suggestion shared in this similar community thread and let me know if that helps: https://community.adobe.com/questions-671/problems-exporting-a-file-with-drop-shadows-to-png-898234?postid=898234#post898234.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

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P

prdh67

Inspiring

I’m experiencing this issue on 21.2 on Sequoia. It’s reproducible:

Create a text box or an object and add a drop shadow
Rotate the object or text box.
Move the object or text frame around the page with the selection tool (takes between 1-10 moves to trigger)

The drop shadow will appear incorrectly in InDesign, but correct if you turn on Overprint Preview. A PDF exported from the file will have the correct drop shadow; a PNG export will have the incorrect drop shadow.

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