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vancey31007647
Participant
January 30, 2026
Question

Exporting PNGs on Indesign a problem .

  • January 30, 2026
  • 4 replies
  • 0 views

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.

    4 replies

    rob day
    Community Expert
    rob dayCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 31, 2026

    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

    0194212rkws
    0194212rkws
    Participant
    January 30, 2026

    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. 🙃

    Dave Creamer of IDEAS
    Community Expert
    Dave Creamer of IDEASCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 30, 2026

    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.

     

    David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)
    V
    vancey31007647Author
    Participant
    January 30, 2026

    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.

    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    January 30, 2026

    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

    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    January 30, 2026

    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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