Inspiring

Answered

There is a strange symbol appearing next to a placed image. What is it?

Forum|Forum|1 month ago
June 10, 2026
6 replies
110 views

A curious symbol has appeared at the bottom left of a placed image. I’ve never seen it before. It’s not part of the image. What is it? I replaced the image but it’s still there. It disappears if I remove the image. It does not show up if I open the image in Photoshop.

Correct answer BobLevine

Alt text

G

Grundoon GroundhogAuthor

Inspiring

I suppose it has its moments, but as an artist I prefer the pencil in the hand to the commands on the computer. And it seems to threaten actual thought.

G

Grundoon GroundhogAuthor

Inspiring

I have a dreadful feeling AI is rapidly gaining control.

E

Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

I’ve no issue with AI. It can be great. But changing/adding/altering content of documents in InDesign shouldn’t be happening. It needs to be user controlled.

E

Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

Please vote and add a comment here
https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601021-adobe-indesign-feature-requests/suggestions/51277426-generative-ai-alt-text-and-other-ai-features

thanks

G

Grundoon GroundhogAuthor

Inspiring

Thank you. Another so called, undesired “improvement.” I tried deleting text boxes and the symbol remained. Useless clutter.

leo.r

Community Expert

I’m probably misunerstanding you but I’m not sure what text boxes you’re referring to… To simply hide the symbol, just use this menu I mentioned earlier: View > Extras > Hide Alt Text Badge. (I assume you disabled the Generative AI preferences due to all the reasons described previously.)

leo.r

Community Expert

To expand on Bob’s answer: disable Generative AI options in preferences. Also, View > Extras > Alt Text badge (if you do want the AI alt text for some reason but don’t want the badge).

G

Grundoon GroundhogAuthor

Inspiring

Many thanks. I despise AI in all its forms (yes, I admit I’m an elderly grouch). I wish InDesign would do something useful like make it easier to handle endnotes in a document, but that’s not glamorous enough.

BobLevine

Community Expert

Well, for what it’s worth, I too am an elderly grouch. I’m good with AI when I’m in control.

BobLevine

Correct answer

Community Expert

Alt text

G

Grundoon GroundhogAuthor

Inspiring

What does that mean? Wat is “alt text:? I’ve never seen it before. Why is it appearing next to images? Or perhaps it’s in the caption text box; I’ll have to check.

leo.r

Community Expert

In general, the Alt Text option can be found in the Object > Object Export Options dialog. (If you want to know more about the term “alt text” in general, then just google it. Evidently, you simply don’t need it in your workflow anyway.)

Recently, Adobe added an option to generate Alt Text automatically using AI, which proved to be a problem for many users. Here’s one thread on the subject:

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