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lawb
lawb
Participant
January 21, 2020
Answered

InDesign PDF compatibility settings

  • January 21, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 984 views

I have a question that may be difficult to answer.

I have a number (10s of thousands) of old files that were created on the original InDesign CS program. I still have the old computers that run this version and they are used routinely.

I also use the newest InDesign CC for day to day work. However, I don't necessarily want to upgrade the old files where they are no longer able to be opened by the old computers.

So, I have been taking the files from the old computers, opening them in CC, doing what I need and exporting PDFs of the work. I could then take the PDF back to the old computer, add what I worked on and still export the final product on CS.

When I recently upgraded to Mac OSCatalina the PDFs I make on the new computer now crash the old ones on PDF export.

Is there a step I can take in the middle to "downgrade" my PDFs to be exported by the original InDesign?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com

    Quote: When I recently upgraded to Mac OSCatalina the PDFs I make on the new computer now crash the old ones on PDF export.

    I think the problem here is with Catalina. I'm not sure InDesign has worked out all the kinks with the new Mac OS. There are lots of posts here in the forums about the export-to-PDF utility crashing when the system is upgraded to Catalina.

     

    Quote: I don't necessarily want to upgrade the old files where they are no longer able to be opened by the old computers.

    This is an issue about the compatability version of the PDF, not necessarily "old computers" with old operating systems.

     

    When making a PDF, you can choose the compatability settings in the PDF conversion settings dialogue where you select the "lowest common denominator" in terms of what version of the reading Acrobat must be to open and read the file. Any version at that "lowest" version or newer can open and read the PDF.

     

    I hesitate dumbing down PDFs so low that they lose many critical features, such as live transparencies and live machine-readable (and accessible) text. These are important features for today's publishing and printing technologies.

     

    Instead of doing that, is there anything that prevents you from upgrading the Acrobat on the old computers? Even an ancient computer can run the new version of Acrobat Reader (free version) or at least Acrobat X/XI Pro. Upgrading Acrobat would probably eliminate the compatability issues.

     

    1 reply

    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.comCorrect answer
    Legend
    January 22, 2020

    Quote: When I recently upgraded to Mac OSCatalina the PDFs I make on the new computer now crash the old ones on PDF export.

    I think the problem here is with Catalina. I'm not sure InDesign has worked out all the kinks with the new Mac OS. There are lots of posts here in the forums about the export-to-PDF utility crashing when the system is upgraded to Catalina.

     

    Quote: I don't necessarily want to upgrade the old files where they are no longer able to be opened by the old computers.

    This is an issue about the compatability version of the PDF, not necessarily "old computers" with old operating systems.

     

    When making a PDF, you can choose the compatability settings in the PDF conversion settings dialogue where you select the "lowest common denominator" in terms of what version of the reading Acrobat must be to open and read the file. Any version at that "lowest" version or newer can open and read the PDF.

     

    I hesitate dumbing down PDFs so low that they lose many critical features, such as live transparencies and live machine-readable (and accessible) text. These are important features for today's publishing and printing technologies.

     

    Instead of doing that, is there anything that prevents you from upgrading the Acrobat on the old computers? Even an ancient computer can run the new version of Acrobat Reader (free version) or at least Acrobat X/XI Pro. Upgrading Acrobat would probably eliminate the compatability issues.

     

    |    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
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