PDF export on M1 machines is crippled

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
November 23, 2022
3 replies
769 views

After moving from Apple Intel to Apple Silicon InDesign now only exports one PDF at the time while all other exports are just "Queued". I am exporting many heavy files and on Intel Macs it handles four exports simultainously. On M1 it takes forever to export using one single CPU core while all the other CPU cores are idle. This is horrible.

However: if i force InDesign to run in Rosetta it exports four PDFs at once againg, using ≈ 450% CPU as it should. But then again ... I don't want to run everything in Rosetta.

Same on Indesign v17 ("2022") and v18 ("2023").

Performance

Correct answer Bill Silbert

This sounds like something that should be entered as a feature request https://indesign.uservoice.com.

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @Håvard Graudo,

I understand how frustrating it is to have such a slowdown when exporting multiple PDFs, especially when the hardware is capable of much more. I'd like to check this further with the team, so could you confirm the exact macOS version and InDesign version you're using, and whether the slowdown happens with all files or only certain ones? Does it behave the same way in Safe Mode? If you haven't tested yet, you can follow these steps: https://adobe.ly/4m9b4IV. If possible, please share a short screen recording of your export workflow, so we can see how the jobs are queued and processed.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

H

Håvard GraudoAuthor

Inspiring

Production as in multi-language publications: lots of shared images and graphics on some layers, and then individual layers for each translated language. Export everything means making say 10 multipage PDFs. Identical images and graphics, but text in different languages.

Around 30 Macs working like this. InDesign has managed creation of 4 PDFs in parallell for ages, and we have output probably hundred of thousands PDFs this way over the years. But: when we started to buy Apple Silicone Macs and run the "Optimized" InDesign code this was no longer possible on any AppleCPU.

InDesign used to output 4 PDFs in parallel, using 400% CPU. Now it outputs one PDF at the time, using 100% CPU. All other cores are idle. All exports have to wait for this single core. What used to take 10 minutes now takes over an hour!

However; the same version running on Intel chips could still do it. This was InDesign v19/ 2024.

And we could just run InDesign in "Rosetta" mode on the AppleCPUs, ie run the Intel binaries and get it to process 4 files in parallell on AppleCPU, while the "optimized" code could not. So we have saved a lot of hours by just running in "Rosetta".

But only for about a year or so. Now InDesign only process one PDF at the time no matter what. On both Intel and AppleCPU — and in Rosetta. It seems like this part of the code was also removed from the Intel-binaries.

We use Applescript to load the exports to the Background panel. This is part of a lager script getting filenames, determine which layers should be exporter and other info from external databases, but the crucial part is a repeat that lines them all up:

repeat
--do stuff here, select different layers, get file names etc then
asynchronous export file format PDF type to targetFile using chosenExportFormat without showing options
end repeat

We have been working like this since the introduction of the Background panel (Indesign 5 in 2010 if random hit on Google is correct)

leo.r

Community Expert

asynchronous export file format PDF type to targetFile using chosenExportFormat without showing options

By @Håvard Graudo

Did you try regular export (not asynchronous)?

Sometimes it's faster than exporting several files at once asynchronously. And yes, it will lock up InDesign until all files are exported.

It can be a workaround for the serious issue you're describing (although it might as well not make any difference).

H

Håvard GraudoAuthor

Inspiring

This is still as bad on InDesign v19 ("2024").

I timed it on a typical job. 10 PDFs produced from one single InDesign file (juggeling layers). A script lines them up. Running on a M2 Studio. The slowdown is extreme:

Running InDesign as Apple Silicon "optimized" code: 57 minutes

Running InDesign in Rosetta: 8 minutes

H

Håvard GraudoAuthor

Inspiring

Now Adobe has also removed parallel PDF export from the Intel code. (The code has been working perfectly for years! And they just killed it!)

Every export of PDF is not done One By One. I can have 12 exports lined up and 15 free CPU cores, but Adobe InDesign can only handle one at the time. We export like this all the time. What used to take 10 minutes now takes over an hour. And I can no longer run InDesign in Rosetta to get the speed back.

Exporting multiple PDFs is really a perfect job for multiprocessing.

I am so old I remember I used to love Adobe.