Participant

Question

InDesign 2023 makes a read only file

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
October 27, 2022
64 replies
73708 views

I have just updated to the 2023 InDesign, and now suddently my documents are read-only and I cannot save the file, but have to make a save as version and give the document a new name everytime I have to save my work.

Do you know why this is happening? And how to avoid this?

Performance

Show previous replies

M

mhvz2019

Participating Frequently

Hi everyone. I've discovered something purely by fluke. I find that if I do a Save As and save the file as an IDML file, making sure not to override a previous file, (so calling it V1, V2, V3 etc because it won't save over a previously saved file), InDesign then lets me save my native InDesign file. The Read Only message never disappears but it will let me save.

J

Jim27186468bpg8

Participating Frequently

There is a faster, less cumbersome "workaround"... just open the file, close it, and reopen it immediately. Then there is no Read-Only tag.... works 98% of the time....

But we the people, want this fixed. No more "workarounds"... 1 Year + is long enough.

T

Tom24990841upiw

Participating Frequently

I've done this Hundreds of times. Mostley just to see how many times it will take for the file to open as readable.

Open, Close, Open, Close, Open, Close, over and over again. Usually about the 12th time it opens as readable.

@Rishabh_Tiwari , any thoughts about the survey I suggested?

Radio silence is all we can get?

pifath67

Participating Frequently

I have just updated to Mac OS Ventura 13.6.1 and Indesign 19.0.1 and the first InDesign file I opened after the update was immediately write-protected.
The problem persists...
And Adobe is obviously doing absolutely nothing to fix it...
Very disappointing...

Rishabh_Tiwari

Legend

Hi @pifath67 ,

Sorry to hear about the trouble. Have you tried the suggestions shared in this discussion? Did the issue occur after the update, or did you experience the issue in an earlier version as well?

Thanks

Rishabh

T

Tom24990841upiw

Participating Frequently

My suggestion would be for Adobe to put out a simple survey with maybe 10 questions about Versions, OS, Server Protocals, Virus Protection...ect, to see if we can find a common issue here and get to the bottom of this.

This has gone on long enough.(2 years?) If this isn't an Adobe issue, than Adobe needs to prove it!

Otherwise this thread is useless.

D

Dan291424714xu2

Participant

I know it's not a FIX as such but a colleague of mine was having the same issue and said that the issue doesn't happen when opening files from Windows Explorer. Previously they would open InDesign and open the file from within the software but by opening outside of it they think its stopped the issue from occuring.

T

Tom24990841upiw

Participating Frequently

Dan291424714xu2,

Please explain how you open InDesign files in a web browser?

D

Dean27672471wbrl

Participating Frequently

I believe this means that if you navigate to the file on your server through Windows and double click to open it from its location rather than opening it through the OPEN function in Indesign then files opens without the READ ONLY issue.

We found while this can reduce the number of time to problem occurs it does still happen. If you see an Indesign Lock file has been generated in the location folder on your server after you open the Indesign file you know you will be okay, but if a lock file fails to be be generated the READ ONLY issue occurs.

This could be an indication of where the problem lies??

N

Nöllsn McNölle

Participant

Hello!

I think I have a solution to the problem (works on MacOS Sonoma).

you have to enable full hard drive access in design:

Go to Security & Privacy Preferences > Privacy and click Full Disk Access from the left panel. Then activate indesign.

then it should work.

try it out!

J

Jim27186468bpg8

Participating Frequently

This doesn't sound like a solution, but instead a sketchy "workaround"...and only for Mac users?

I want this FIXED.. For everyone.

pifath67

Participating Frequently

That is EXACTLY what I think.
BTW: I did this weeks ago and it didn't work, just like many other users.
@HARSHIKA_VERMA: Is Adobe actually doing anything to fix the problem or are they just leaving us alone with this problem?

pifath67

Participating Frequently

We have just updated to InDesign 19.0 (MAC/Ventura) and both the problem of read-only files and the problem already mentioned in this thread that PDFs cannot be overwritten during export still exist.
Apart from the introduction of new "features" with dubious benefits, is work also being done on eliminating such serious errors?
Or do we have to prepare for another year of inefficient work and high risk of errors with expensive software?
Can we expect any reaction at all from Adobe?

@HARSHIKA_VERMA

Harshika Verma

Community Manager

Hi @pifath67,

We apologize for the frustration you're experiencing with the read-only issue on your macOS. We would request you please try disabling the Mac preview for InDesign files and let us know if this resolves the issue.

We will try our best to investigate further with the team.

Thanks,

Harshika

J

J-Dubbs

Participant

That did not help us as we've been disabling the Finder previews since 10.6.8. This problem happens despite that old workaround. The "don't open it by clicking on it, open it via the Open command" one didn't help either FYI.

S

Sinead30764660gxaz

Participant

This is still happening!

B

BriGuyOSC

Inspiring

Sorry so many folks are still having these issues. I personally still feel it is not an Adobe/InDesign/Acrobat issue or I would still be having the same problems, because I was also having them before. I am no longer having them. After I updated a couple months ago, the read only issue disappeared. And no one else here at our office is having the issue, either.

- Windows 10 Home 64-bit w/ latest updates applied

- Acrobat Pro 2023.006.20320

- Acrobat Distiller product version (according to Properties tab in Windows): 23.3.20284.0

- InDesign 18.5 x64

I would check your Acrobat and Distiller versions, too, and make sure they're updated, not just InDesign, if you haven't already. Seems to me it would be more of a Distiller issue, because that is where a lot of the PDF export settings come from.

J

Jim27186468bpg8

Participating Frequently

I am not following this explanation and what PDF exports have to do with the 7 pages of people having problems with Read Only InDesign files. Maybe I am missing something here.

pifath67

Participating Frequently

We have had this problem for over a year now and I think for the not so small amount we pay for this software we can expect such a serious problem to be solved gradually.
It affects 3 MACs with Ventura and InDesign 18.5.
Working is extremely inefficient and the risk of errors is high.
After all, we are working in a production environment here and not for a hobby....
So, is it to be expected that there will be a solution soon?

D

Dan291424714xu2

Participant

This is still happening on 18.5, PC Windows 10. Do we have any further update to this? @HARSHIKA_VERMA

J

Jim27186468bpg8

Participating Frequently

I am not sure this thread is even being monitored anymore.

MissTheClash

Participant

Harishka posted a little over a month ago that they were still working on the issue. My guess is there's nothing new to report. Frustrating because we're about to begin work on our 18 section catalog which for the 2nd year will be a festival of read only warnings and wrong file deletions

J

Jan284177508w2p

Participant

FYI

Updated to v18.5 today.

3rd file I open is read only again.

This is ridiculous.

B

BriGuyOSC

Inspiring

Mine's working fine. I haven't noticed any Read Only issues since the 18.5 update yesterday and have turned Windows Preview back on to test. Every InDesign file I've opened since has opened correctly... at least, so far.

Now, previewing multi-page PDFs in Windows Explorer, that's another story... ("previous page" button is suddenly grayed out; can only click the "next page" button).

At least InDesign seems to be behaving at the moment.

B

BriGuyOSC

Inspiring

OMG, thought it was just me, something with my computer or with our network drives/settings. Been blowing up our IT guy w/ emails/screenshots, LOL! Had this same thing start happening yesterday.

Harshika Verma

Community Manager

Hi @BriGuyOSC,

We are sorry to hear you have started experiencing the issue again. Would you mind confirming if it's happening with all or a specific file? Have you tried the below workaround to solve the issue?

Workaround:-

Disable Preview Pane in Explorer- >View-> Preview Pane.
Close InDesign, Restart the system.

We will make every effort to assist you with the issue.

Thanks,

Harshika

B

BriGuyOSC

Inspiring

Hi, @30611042 ,

The workaround does work for me, so that's what I've been having to do for the time being. It does seem to have something to do with the Preview Pane.

Oh, and it's all files. Our files are saved to a Synology NAS.

Thank you!

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