Multiple Duplicated Layers show when I place an Illustrator file into InDesign

[Festive_Elixir4327]

Can anyone help please?

When I place an Illustrator file in Indesign, multiple duplicated layers show in the Object Layers Options window. I have 9 layers in the artwork but it shows athere's 27 layers as all are duplicated 3 times.

The top 9 Layers are correct, but I don't know why I have 3 x showing.
Note: I have blurred out my Company name layer intentionally for obvious reasons.

Thanks for reading

[Festive_Elixir4327]

PS - I'm using all the latest versions of Illustrator and InDesign.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Festive_Elixir4327,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I tried replicating this behavior on my end, but could not. Could you check if InDesign behaves this way with all files? If not, share a link to the file and a small screen recording of your exact workflow and the problem so we can investigate further.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

[Festive_Elixir4327]

Hi Anubhav M.
I've gone back to an older version of Illustrator. Thanks the same!

[Stabs81]

I'm having the exact same issue.
I have 37x Artboards in illustrator. With 9x layers. In Indesign I am seeing 333x layers. Extremely annoying trying to find out which is which and having to turn off the correct ones.

[Festive_Elixir4327]

Hi Stabs81.
I've reverted to using an older version 'till the issues are resolved. 

[Ondřej24793640d1mp]

The problem still persists. Please fix it. Thanks.

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for sharing your updates on this. Could you please confirm the exact versions of Illustrator and InDesign you're currently using? The latest ones are Illustrator 29.8.2 and InDesign 20.5. Are you on these builds? It would also really help if you could share an affected sample file where this duplication happens, so we can test it directly and check with the team.

Looking forward to your update and the file, so we can investigate further.

Abhishek

[Ondřej24793640d1mp]

My programs are up to date, so I’m using the same versions as you mentioned.

The problem is that when I create a new Illustrator file — for example, with 3 artboards and 3 layers — and save it as a .ai file, it shows a total of 9 layers when placed into InDesign.

I noticed that this doesn’t happen when saving the file as a .pdf — in that case, it correctly shows only 3 layers.

This issue didn’t occur in the previous version of Illustrator.

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @Ondřej24793640d1mp,

Thanks for confirming the versions and sharing your observations. I tested this on my end by creating a new file in Illustrator and placing it into InDesign, and the layers did not duplicate, everything displayed correctly. This makes me think the issue might be specific to the file or something within its structure. Could you please share an affected sample file, so I can test it directly and check with the team if needed?

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

[Ondřej24793640d1mp]

Hi, I’m sending the file. It’s a newly created file in Illustrator. When placing it into InDesign (command + D), it shows 9 layers. The file has 3 artboards and 3 layers. In the past, it correctly displayed 3 layers. The issue appeared after the latest update.

[Ondřej24793640d1mp]

TEST.ai

[Ondřej24793640d1mp]

It shows the following error. 

Correct the highlighted errors and try again.

• The attachment's test.ai content type (application/postscript) does not match its file extension and has been removed.

[Kurt Gold]

Abhishek,

as already posted in another thread, here is a very simple Illustrator file for inspection.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18KXOHa9kYzY7AJ9B294USJ-NmuK_MYiA/view?usp=sharing

It contains 3 artboards and 3 layers. Place it in InDesign while Show Import Options is turned on. In the Import Options dialog go to the Layers tab and see how many layers are listed there.

Do you see 3 layers or 9 layers (duplicates)?

The other thread is here:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/trouble-with-duplicated-layers-when-importing...

[luiz_4122]

I have the same exactly problem.  culd find a solution so far. already downgraded the indesign version. 
on top of that sometimes the Indeseign change the colors of the Illustrator files. or mess with the masks. 

since last update i am having this issue.

[Kurt Gold]

I can also confirm the problem as per the descriptions above (latest versions of InDesign and Illustrator).

Not quite sure if it is an InDesign issue or an Illustrator issue.

By the way, the issue does not occur if you save the Illustrator document to an older format (e.g. Illustrator CC or Illustrator CS6).

[Lea26905664d7vy]

This issue started happening for me exactly as others have described here, and using the current InDesign and Illustrator versions available: Illustrator 29.8.2 and InDesign 20.5. In addition, the InDesign will no longer maintain the layers changed to visible/invisible after using the Object Layer Options. This is very disruptive to workflow. I hope a solution comes soon.

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @Lea26905664d7vy,

Thanks for sharing your experience and confirming the behavior. We've tried reproducing this issue internally, but haven't been able to so far. To help us investigate further, could you please share an affected sample Illustrator and InDesign file where this duplication and visibility issue occurs? You can upload them to a cloud service like Google Drive or Dropbox and share the link here, or via DM if the files are confidential.

Once we have the files, I'll check them with the product team and update you.

Looking forward to your response.

Abhishek