Skip to main content
Known Participant
May 13, 2026 7:20 PM UTC
Question

InDesign drop shadows have been broken for 6 months.

For the past few months, I’ve been able to work around this issue, but it has now reached a point where I can’t. When exporting PNG files in Adobe InDesign, the drop shadows shift position during export. The shadows appear correctly within InDesign, but once the PNG is exported, the shadows are visibly displaced from their original placement. I am currently using Adobe InDesign version 21.3.

Here’s a longer forum:

This forum has been marked as “answered” but it is only suggested workarounds from the community.

Here’s an example:

Inside Indesign, the shadows are where they’re supposed to be.
Flattened .png files placed as assets in Animate.  The shadows moved.

I’ve gone back into InDesign multiple times to correct the shadow placement and re-export the files, but the shadows continue to export incorrectly, which has become a major issue in my workflow.

I’ve been dealing with this bug daily for months, often having to resize assets in InDesign just to temporarily work around the problem. I’m hoping to bring more attention to this issue so it can hopefully be investigated and resolved.

 

Thank you.

15 replies

Anubhav M
Community Manager
Community Manager
Aug 27, 2026 4:57 PM UTC

Hello everyone,
 

The product team is aware of this and is actively working on another fix. We will keep this thread updated as soon as we have any new information to share.


In the meantime, you can follow and upvote the related UserVoice report to stay informed about any updates:
https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs/suggestions/51041536-drop-shadow-changing-position-and-shape-on-rotated

 

Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have more questions or need assistance. We'd be happy to help.
Anubhav

Translate
Participant
Aug 21, 2026 9:59 PM UTC

A workaround is exporting to a high quality PDF, then opening that in Photoshop and exporting to PNG from there. Clunky, but it works. Hope Adobe just fixes it soon.

Translate
Participant
Aug 24, 2026 5:35 AM UTC

yes thats what we do now when it doesn’t work the easy way - but when we’re exporting files more than a dozen times a day its a time & money issue

Translate
Mike Witherell
Community Expert
Community Expert
Jun 18, 2026 12:33 PM UTC

According to release notes for 21.4.1, this issue has not been addressed?

Translate
Mike Witherell
Participant
Jun 18, 2026 2:24 PM UTC

It’s not fixed for me. Just as glitchy as it ever was. 

Translate
Participant
Jun 25, 2026 3:26 AM UTC

def not fixed for us either

Translate
Participant
Jun 18, 2026 12:28 AM UTC

Yes a huge issue for us too as almost all artwork is exported as pngs - have fund that sometimes taking the effect off then re-applying works, but its so time consuming & not a reliable option either!

Translate
JaxVenostaTVI
Participant
Jun 17, 2026 3:55 PM UTC

This issue persists and the company I work for (I work in marketing as a designer) uses PNGs for email campaigns. The entire graphics department has to pull files into Photoshop using copy+paste because exporting directly from InDesign causes the shadows/effects to appear incorrect. It is a huge delay effecting the entire design department… Hoping for a quicker fix.

Translate
dzgnr89
Inspiring
May 30, 2026 8:09 AM UTC

Updated to InDesign 21.4, this bug is still there. 

This has been dragging on for months with no fix in sight.

​@Abhishek Rao , please escalate this, a lot of users are affected and waiting.🙏🏻

Translate
Participant
May 28, 2026 6:52 AM UTC

So frustrating - when will this issue be resolved?

Translate
Abhishek Rao
Community Manager
Community Manager
May 14, 2026 2:11 PM UTC

Hi ​@A Nova  & ​@micky1984,

 

Sorry to hear you're still experiencing this issue. The behavior is a known bug and is still being actively worked on by the product team.

Ref: https://community.adobe.com/questions%2D671/indesign%2D2026%2Ddrop%2Dshadows%2Dgraphical%2Dglitch%2D898121/index2.html?postid=3560547#post3560547

You can also add your vote to the related UserVoice report, as it helps the team track the impact:
https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs/suggestions/51041536-drop-shadow-changing-position-and-shape-on-rotated

I'll keep this thread updated as soon as I have any news to share.

 

Thanks for your patience.

Abhishek

 

<Marking as correct for better visibility across the thread>

Translate
A NovaAuthor
Known Participant
May 14, 2026 2:20 PM UTC

Thank you - I’m aware it’s already been documented. 

I’m updating changes I’ve noticed with the bug and I’m also trying to make it a higher priority since it’s been an issue for so long.

Translate
Mike Witherell
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 14, 2026 1:24 PM UTC

Hi Nova,

What measurement system are your rulers set to?

What color model is the InDesign file set to?

Translate
Mike Witherell
A NovaAuthor
Known Participant
May 14, 2026 1:42 PM UTC

It’s happened when I’m in both RGB and CMYK mode, and rulers are set to points.

Translate
Participant
May 14, 2026 8:56 AM UTC

I’m having the same issue, very frustrating

Translate