Issues with IDMLs being opened in Indesign CS6, causing crashes

Question

Hi folks,

I have an issue with a workflow problem - We are doing financial form design but our client is having to use form automation software (I think its called Expressions or something) - They only have CS6 for conversion into the software for whatever reason.

It's a very broad set of possible causes but can you let me know what could cause one Indesign IDML to crash CS6 vs another? We have found a solution whereby we create a new document and copy and paste all the design elements into a new file and resave the IDML. But now to do this across many documents and many pages is a major addition of time. So my query is, what kind of things would cause older CS6 apps to crash on opening an IDML? Are there log files created? We would like to try isolate the issue but have no idea what could be causing it.

The form design file contains a combination of text boxes and tables with no linked files and nothing esle that is that special. It does however contain some anchored elements. Hoping someone has been through this before and says something like "IDML doesnt handle anchors very well..." - Its weird though how you can copy to a new file and then it clears the issue. Almost like the problem is in the file header, or a redundant para / object style which isnt copied over when pasting content into a new doc?

Thanks in advance!

Cliff

Randy Hagan · Accepted Answer

Hmmm. That's odd. Perhaps the issue is with the "packaging" part of the solution.

I'd suggest trying this:

Create the .indd file. Package it, then close it.
Open the .indd file in the package.
Manually create the .idml file for the client from the .indd file inside the package.
Forward that package, with the "handmade" .idml and see if that fixes the issue.

I'm always amazed at how even the simplest of automated solutions (like auto-creating PDF and IDML files through packaging a job) can sometimes inject a wildcard that causes unusual issues. The good news — if you can call it that — is that at least it's happening consistently so there's likely a consistent problem which, if identified, can be corrected. The hard part, of course, is identifying said problem. Which is why I start by changing workflow variables and see if I can find a useful workaround past an issue before I spin my wheels trying to chase down an abstract cause.

I concur with Bob, though, that your client's insistence on working with InDesign CS6 is a blind alley. Firing a client is a pretty rude cure to your problem, but it might be worth your time to investigate the process on your client's end to explore solutions there, rather than shoot blindly at client issues from your end. If the test I offered here doesn't work, it provides you the perfect entrée to explore the issue in more detail from the client's side of the problem. I'd try to make that billable while I did it too; this is your client's problem that's being pushed off on you, and you should be rewarded for working to fix it for them.

Hope this helps,

Randy

Randy Hagan · Answer

How are the "source" .idml files being created? You say you're creating new InDesign files, then copying/saving to a new document from existing ones. Is the client generating the source files? How are they doing that? If you can share that with us, it'll make it easier for us to help you sleuth possible causes for your issues.

Also, you may have already tried what I'm about to suggest. But I've had really good luck side-stepping InDesign file anomalies with this workflow:

Open the source .idml file.
Save the file as an InDesign document file (.indd). This makes the file copacetic with my system, and reconstitutes/reconciles elements with my InDesign setup.
Use the File>Save As command to create a new .idml file and name it [filename]-revised.idml. This seems to work better than saving over the file with the same name, and makes it easier for me to maintain version control when working in a file-heavy environment.

The downside is there are now three versions of the file on the system instead of two. But this not only immediately gives me a .indd file I can use for further work — it's always safer to work with copies of client files than it is to work with the originals — but it precludes the labor and potential for error involved in meticulously copying/pasting elements from one file to another.

Hopefully this workaround will be a useful quick fix for your issues.

Randy

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