InDesign - need a "Fix my Corrupted File" Upload Service

I have followed up with Zak via email, as per his request.

However, there's a big difference between "examining any corrupt file" and offering a service to actually salvage data from those corrupt files. Adobe doesn't want to get into that business, which is what I would pursue, if given an opportunity, as per the quoted reference to my earlier posting.

I certainly don't want this to be perceived as a rant against Adobe -- I fully understand why they might not want to pursue this. I fully expected my original comments would be quickly forgotten, and life would go on.

>I'd be very happy to pursue it, but I doubt Adobe would be very receptive to such a pitch from somebody they've never heard of before.

As far as I can see, Adobe has not only been very receptive, but Zak has extended exactly the sort of offer that the OP wanted - he's given a contact email and offered to examine any corrupt file anyone wants to send in.

One correction. The Save As, Save A Copy, Package bug was fixed in 5.0.2, not 5.0.1.

Matt, send me your e-mail address off list and I'll provide ftp upload information.
- Zak

zak@adobe.com

I appreciate the information on this thread. I have a similar problem.

Using CS2 5.0.4 on WinXP, I started experiencing instant crashes, where Indesign just disappeared. No crash box, no warning, just poof! Gone! I suspected a third-party plug-in (Overset Text Manager), so I uninstalled it last week.

I was working on a 200-page book last night. While looking for images on IE (the document was open in Indesign but not active), Indesign just crashed on me. I hadn't done anything with Indesign for the past minute or so. I tried to reload the document, and nothing works.

Restarted. Yes to Autorecover. No to Autorecover. Unloaded fonts. Renamed Links folder. Installed update to 5.0.5. Used other computer. Upgraded to CS3. Restarted. Made a copy of file. Nothing. Crash, crash, crash.

Hoping to hear of any success stories from the rest of you.
-Tim

Zak wrote: "The InDesign file format is a transaction-safe object database."
I reply: sounds similar to a Helix database. Which is sort of ironic in that Helix began life in 1983 with the goal of creating a page layout program. The first step was to develop a database for storing & manipulating the objects in the page, but when that was done, they realized the database was a viable product in its own right.

Harbs wrote: "If you are in a position of pursuing this, I think you should contact Adobe. They might be more accommodating than you think..."
I reply: I'd be very happy to pursue it, but I doubt Adobe would be very receptive to such a pitch from somebody they've never heard of before. I have no inside contacts at Adobe. Still, Zak's obviously following this thread, so I leave it in his hands. "Call me, let's do lunch." ;^)

Zak wrote: "Any time we hear of a corrupt file we would like to receive a copy."
I reply: Through what mechanism? I have a dozen corrupt files I would be happy to send you. (But I understand via third party that you already have one of them, so the repetition may be pointless.)

Rebecca, please send me your file. See my previous post for instructions on how to send me a file.

I have received 11 files since my first post in this thread ~3 months ago. I was able to repair 2 of the 11 files.

The 11 files have shown one of three types of corruption.

1) Scrambled data due to a low-level bug in Save As, Save A Copy and Package. This bug has been fixed in 5.0.1, but there's no mechanism to recover from this type of corruption in a 5.0 file.

2) File truncation due to a Mac OSX bug. We're actively working with Apple to either get a fix in an OS update, or get information for how we can effectively workaround the bug in a future InDesign update. This type of corruption can occur when a machine experiences a hard crash (power outage, hold the power button down to force shutdown, kernel panic, crash on sleep or wake from sleep, etc.) while InDesign is running with a document open. In this case a large portion of the file is missing.

3) Faulty hardware. In this case individual data blocks within an InDesign have been altered by some outside force between when they were last written and when they are read. It's this type of corruption I've been able to recover from, because only a very small amount of data in a single data block was preventing a file from opening. In others cases the contents of multiple data blocks were scrambled.

The InDesign file format is a transaction-safe object database. Something as simple as a story containing a single word stores its data across more than 25 subobjects. Each of the subobjects is referenced by an index and the data is likely to not be co-located. Randomly scrambling a few blocks on disk can impact portions of dozens of subobjects and or destroy the index that indicates which object is which. While it would be possible to salvage random bits of Unicode text, truly repairing a document to anything resembling its original form (if possible at all) would in most cases be far more time consuming than recreating even a very complex file from scratch.

That said, short of hardware or media failure, it is completely unacceptable for there to be any way to corrupt an InDesign file. Any time we hear of a corrupt file we would like to receive a copy. We make every attempt to determine the root cause in order to either fix the problem for a future update or rule out the possibility it was caused by a software bug versus faulty hardware.

No, I can't fix a damaged InDesign file. I can fix damaged Helix database files (www.qsatoolworks.com) because I understand the structure of the file and can find and fix the corruption. Usually there is data loss, but as you said, it's better to lose e.g. one page than the whole document.
If I had access to the native InDesign document format specs, I could probably (given time) figure out how to repair InDesign documents, but I doubt Adobe wants to give that information out. If they did, I'd be on it in a heartbeat, because I think a repair service would be invaluable.
But Adobe has to make the first move.

oh dear. i have my first ever unrecoverable indesign file on my hands. it's 70 pages or so, and i can't open it. i can't believe it. 2 days work. gone.

is anybody here actually able to help me?

was zak or anyone at adobe able to fix the UN file? or Casey's?

and Matt? are you saying you may be able to fix it at $120 p/hr? because that could potentially be cheaper than re-doing this entire thing......

anyone?

Zak Williamson wrote: "If the documents are fundamentally corrupt in some way, theres no way to repair them." and then later "As I mentioned to Casey, it's rarely possible to repair a truly corrupt document"
I definitely don't want this to sound like a flame or a whine, but I find that statement quite flabbergasting. Somebody at Adobe must understand the format of an InDesign file well enough to be able to edit out the specific element that is causing InDesign to complain about the document. I do file repair for another company (www.qsatoolworks.com) whose file format is probably more complex than an InDesign file. In over 10 years I've only had 1 or 2 files I could not repair at least to the point of recovering the textual data.

What led me to this forum is that a customer contacted me to help them recover an InDesign file. They just migrated from a PowerMac G4 with CS2 to a Mac Pro with CS3 and a few of their files won't open. ("ID may not support the file format, a plug-in that supports the file format may be missing, or the file may be open in another application.")
We have tried them on another Mac with CS2, and they won't open there either. "Something" must have gone wrong when the files were transferred to the new Mac.
(Naturally, the old hard drive has already been reformatted.)

Knowing what I do about file formats (but understanding that my knowledge is nearly worthless in an InDesign file) I have to assume an InDesign file contains an object map with pointers to the various objects in the document. The idea of telling the customer "your 32 page booklet is lost" when the problem could simply be a screwed up pointer is horrifying to me.
Here at QSA ToolWorks we charge $120/hour for recovery service, success or failure. We've saved lots of people from their own recklessness, and created a passionate user base in the process. We've made our product more reliable (and fixed some bugs) based on the knowledge gained through file repair; Adobe could do the same, but if they don't want to provide such a service, perhaps they should consider training third parties to do it.

I'd like to address one other comment above. Harbs wrote "I've been lead to believe that Adobe has utilities (which they use internally) to analyze and possibly fix corrupted files." Of course, I don't know whether Adobe has such utilities, but I suspect they don't. Because I can do Helix database repairs, people likewise assume I have "special utilities" that can fix corrupted files. (We've even been accused of keeping them secret so we can use file repair as a source of revenue!) I don't. What I do have is a deep understanding of the file format. Beyond that, a file editor and a couple of AppleScripts I wrote to display the object fields in a human-readable format are all the 'special' tools I have. If Adobe has any sort of tools for analyzing files, I suspect they are much the same. In other words, without extensive internal knowledge, they are worthless.