Skip to main content
D
defaultx6ndbkfc9875
Participating Frequently
June 10, 2021
Answered

InDesign Won't Save - Says Files are Damaged When They're Not

  • June 10, 2021
  • 6 replies
  • 5355 views

When using InDesign over the last few days, I keep getting an error message that "InDesign is unable to save this file. We tried but it appears to be damaged." This has happened on multiple files all day long and I've lost work most times. Sometimes InDesign will crash and send an error report (and then sometimes my files will be restored) other times there's nothing I can do but close the file without saving my work. It's probably happened 15 different times today on several different documents both new and old and it's getting VERY frustrating. I've had this issue before more than a year ago and it miraculously got better when there was some kind of update. I really can't work in InDesign if this continues because these files are not damaged, InDesign just has some kind of issue. PLEASE FIX THIS ISSUE!! Also...for the record, Adobe Rush crashes ALL the time too. Please fix your programs! 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer steveh59717983

 Having the same issue. My solution was to save the file on a seperate drive - not on the computer itself where the indesign app resides. 

6 replies

S
steveh59717983Correct answer
Participant
September 24, 2024

 Having the same issue. My solution was to save the file on a seperate drive - not on the computer itself where the indesign app resides. 

L
Community Expert
LaubenderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 10, 2021

And another thing:
First install InDesign 2020, then InDesign 2021.

 

To do a clean install follow this:

After you installed InDesign 2020 as a first step, run InDesign 2020 once without doing anything, quit the application, then backup cache, preference, defaults and data folders of InDesign 2020, remove them and only then install InDesign 2021 to have a clean install. After that move the backups of cache, preference, defaults and data folders of InDesign 2020 back into place.

 

FWIW: I never migrate preferences from older installs of InDesign.

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

    L
    Community Expert
    LaubenderCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 10, 2021

    Before doing anything with your installation backup all cache, preference, defaults and data folders.

    You'll find the file paths here:

    https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/setting-preferences.html

     

    Make sure that you are seeing invisible folders and files in your file system, because the AppData folder in your user folder is invisible by default.

     

    Regards,
    Uwe Laubender

    ( ACP )

     

      L
      Community Expert
      LaubenderCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      June 10, 2021

      Well, I'm also on Windows 10, have the same version of InDesign 2021 running, also 32 GB of RAM and nearly no issues at all with InDesign 2021. Hm…

       

      You said: " … I am also occassionally getting a message when restarting InDesign that says "Preferences could not be read or migrated from the previous version and will be reset to default values."

       

      That would make me very nervous. To the point that I would uninstall all CC apps, even the CC Desktop App with the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tools and start from scratch with installing all the software again.

      https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

       

      Are other versions of InDesign also installed on your machine?

       

      Regards,
      Uwe Laubender

      ( ACP )

       

       

        D
        defaultx6ndbkfc9875Author
        Participating Frequently
        June 10, 2021

        Yes, I have Adobe InDesign 2020 as well as 2021. I could try doing that, i.e. uninstalling everything and start fresh. When I get that error message all my preferences are no longer there, although I can still choose my Workspace to get things to come back. I'll give it a go tomorrow and see how it goes. 

          L
          Community Expert
          LaubenderCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          June 10, 2021

          Hi defaultx6ndbkfc9875,

          how can you know that the documents are not damaged?

          Can you open the documents without error message on a different machine?

           

          What is your exact version of InDesign?
          What is your operating system? In case of Mac OS: are you on a machine with the new M1 processor?


          Apart from this:

          To minimize possible damage and lost work I'd export every document to PDF/X-4 with no downsampling of images as soon as possible. And also export to IDML. Open the IDML files and save the open documents to a new name.

          Maybe that will help.

           

          FWIW: You possibly need the exported PDF to check if all is ok and all elements are on the pages after you did the IDML roundtrip.

           

          Regards,
          Uwe Laubender

          ( ACP )

          D
          defaultx6ndbkfc9875Author
          Participating Frequently
          June 10, 2021

          I know the documents are not damaged because sometimes when I open them, I have no problems with saving, exporting etc. Then the same day, I'll have an issue where it says it's damaged. Then if I try later, no problems again. It's all very random and it's doing this on all kinds of different documents, some that I literally just started and others that are older where I'm updating something. I can't possibly have that many damaged documents! Plus this happened to me before over a year ago and once something clicked with Adobe (they updated something or did something) all was well again and those files that it claimed were damaged were working again. What causes a damaged file anyway? I'm using InDesign as intended and these are my files created in my version of InDesign, so why would they suddently become damaged? I also answered some of the other questions in my comment above. 

          J E L
          Community Expert
          J E LCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          June 10, 2021

          A lot of things can cause a damaged file, especially if any are files that are inherited or from templates that you didn't generate originally from "new document." Seems like two things going on: you can’t save documents all the time and it appears you have some damaged documents. Saving could be a separate configuration conflict with Box drive or you could have some Creative Cloud remnants running. Have you looked at your Task Manager to see what Adobe products and services are running and in the background processes as well? They take up a lot of resources. Try ending any tasks you aren't using (tread lightly if you aren't familiar with this process). You may need to uninstall and reinstall InDesign (a pain, I know) and or CC but I’m thinking that could be the problem especially since you are having that preferences reading error. Make sure you don’t have any Adobe products running on the start-up of your system. When is the last time you shut your computer all the way off for ten minutes or so and started up cold instead of a restart? I had a bios issue that I couldn’t figure out for the life of me and that did the trick.

           

          J E L
          Community Expert
          J E LCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          June 10, 2021

          @defaultx6ndbkfc9875 Wow, sounds awful. I have the latest version and haven't had any problems saving any documents so far. Are you updated now to 16.2.1? What operation system you are using? Is this a complicated or simple document?  Lots of large images? Is your preflight panel showing green? Strange that it's happening on multiple files. Are you able to do a "save as" to IDML or "save a copy" with any success? Have you quit (exit) all the way out of Creative Cloud and then starting up again? Tried opening and saving a file directly from a directory instead of within InDesign? Let us know what you've been trying and maybe there is a process of elimination we can figure out.

          D
          defaultx6ndbkfc9875Author
          Participating Frequently
          June 10, 2021

          I am using 16.2.1 and I'm using a PC - Windows 10 - 32GB Ram, 31.8GB memory. These aren't super complicated documents, most today have been 1 pagers with a few photos and some text, nothing crazy. I do appear to have a green dot that says no errors, although this is after I'm opening and not seeing the new work I created. I am also occassionally getting a message when restarting InDesign that says "Preferences could not be read or migrated from the previous version and will be reset to default values." I have not tried Save a Copy or Save as IDML. It just allowed me to do it...but it's been finicky...sometimes I'm allowed to save, other times randomly, my document is apparently damaged and can't be saved, which is of course after I've done a bunch of work. I'm using a desktop version of InDesign, i.e. I'm not entering from the cloud but from my desktop, not sure if that makes a difference. I have restarted my computer and restarted InDesign a few times now...nothing helps. I am also always saving my files to Box...the desktop version. I also recently tried saving to my desktop and that didn't work either. I am not saving documents to the cloud. 

          Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
          Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices