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Juan Cano
Juan Cano
Inspiring
Jul 29, 2024 8:14 PM UTC
Answered

Suddenly, placed Vector logos have white background

A litle help here; today suddenly, I've placed several logos and icons created in Illustrator, and they are showing a white background instead of being transparent. I thought it was a redraw issue so I quit everything and sitll the issue. Then I restarted and I still see it. Have placed other logos and same issue.

 

Worst, the PDF is exporting with this white background!!!

 

• Display is set to high Quality Display

• Fill for placed logo is set to none, both on bounding box and object

• Other logos placed before today don't have the issue.

• Made a new file, placed a different vector, same issue.

 

What gives??? Any clues?

 

 

 

InDesign 19.3 (yes I know there's a new version but it was giving me the issue of not bveing able to save)

Mac OSX Sonoma 14.5

Appli M1 Max 32GB

 

 

    Scott Falkner
    Scott FalknerCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    Jul 30, 2024 2:18 AM UTC

    Hold Shift as you click Place in the place dialogue or click on Show Import Options. See if Transparent Background had been turned off. Changes in this dialogue are sticky.

     

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    18 replies

    trevor_b
    trevor_b
    Participant
    Jul 25, 2026 6:24 PM UTC

    When did this change? I had never before experienced this!

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    leo.r
    Community Expert
    leo.rCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    Jul 25, 2026 6:35 PM UTC

    Can you please describe exactly the issue you experience. Multiple issues are discussed in this thread, which started a year ago. Did you try various suggestions mentioned in this thread? What are your versions of InDesign, Illustrator, and the operating system? Can you post a screenshot (or several of them) that illustrates the issue.

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    JudithCherry
    JudithCherry
    Participant
    May 20, 2026 8:36 AM UTC

    Has anyone had issues with this lately where the Transparent Background option is selected and stille everything is showing up with a while background? .ai, .eps, .pdf and .svg are all not getting the transparent backgrounds they really do have. I don’t have any updates available at the moment.

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    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    May 20, 2026 10:05 AM UTC

    Hi ​@JudithCherry,

     

    Thanks for reaching out, and I’m sorry to hear you’re experiencing this issue.

    I tested this behavior on InDesign 21.3 using the mentioned formats like .ai, .eps, .pdf, and .svg with transparent backgrounds, but I was unable to reproduce the issue from my end.

    Could you please confirm the exact InDesign version you’re currently using and your OS details? Also, please let me know whether this happens with all placed vector files or only with specific assets.

    If possible, could you share one of the affected placement files so we can test it further from our side? If the file is confidential, you may also share it with me via DM.

     

    Looking forward to your update.
    Abhishek

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    JudithCherry
    JudithCherry
    Participant
    May 20, 2026 11:44 AM UTC

    Hi Abhishek,

    Thank you for the fast response! I’m working in InDesign version 21.3 as well, on MacOs Tahoe 26.2. 

    As of yet I have only had this issue with this file, but that may be because I have not done this kind of work for an event in a little while.

    I’ve attached the .ai file. My colleague made this event logo, so it may as well be an issue with something inside the file, but I have not been able to find anything.

    Hoping someone can shed some light on this issue!

    Kind regards,

    Judith

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    Scott Falkner
    Community Expert
    Scott FalknerCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    Jul 30, 2024 2:18 AM UTC

    Hold Shift as you click Place in the place dialogue or click on Show Import Options. See if Transparent Background had been turned off. Changes in this dialogue are sticky.

     

    Translate
      Juan Cano
      Juan CanoAuthor
      Inspiring
      Jul 30, 2024 3:47 PM UTC

      Sonofgun that was it. It must've been clicked at some point and turned transparency off. Duh. Simple fix, easy. Thank you for your help.

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        Robert at ID-Tasker
        Robert at ID-Tasker
        Legend
        Jul 30, 2024 4:17 PM UTC

        @Juan Cano

         

        You can / should mark @Scott Falkner's reply as a "Correct Answer".

         

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          Robert at ID-Tasker
          Robert at ID-Tasker
          Legend
          Jul 29, 2024 8:23 PM UTC

          Just in case - you use Place, not copy&paste from Illustrator? 

           

          Can you share a sample logo? 

           

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          Juan Cano
          Juan CanoAuthor
          Inspiring
          Jul 29, 2024 10:26 PM UTC

          Place, although copy/paste works well and never had an issue. Here is one, it's an .ai file. This is a newer (withing the last week) file, but the other ones have been created for years. 

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          Robert at ID-Tasker
          Robert at ID-Tasker
          Legend
          Jul 29, 2024 10:40 PM UTC

          You need to upload it somewhere and post a link - or change extension to TXT before uploading. 

           

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          Derek Cross
          Community Expert
          Derek CrossCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          Jul 29, 2024 8:23 PM UTC

          Have you tried exporting the images from Illustrator SVGs?

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          Juan Cano
          Juan CanoAuthor
          Inspiring
          Jul 29, 2024 8:28 PM UTC

          This is happening to any vector I have placed, is not an issue with a single file. The issue seems to be InDesign not reading the files suddenly? 

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