adobe indesign 18.1 preview not showing in mac os 12.6 finder preview pane

[albertof72196494]

Suddenly my mac os 12.6 preview pane does not show previews of the InDesign icon or the document

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

What are your settings in Preferences/File Handling?

If you select the item in your Finder window and get Info, does it show "Open with InDesign 2023"?

[albertof72196494]

Yes it is (see my prefs attached) these have never changed. It recently started happening out of the blue, not sure why? I did noticed that much older IND files do show the IND icon in the preview pane.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @albertof72196494,

Sorry to hear about this experience. Would you mind trying to reset InDesign's preferences by following the steps shared in this article (https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/setting-preferences.html#:~:text=Restore%20all%20preferences%...) and sharing your observations?
Disclaimer: Please note that resetting preferences will remove all custom settings, and InDesign will launch with the defaults. You may take a backup of these settings from the location mentioned in the article.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
Anubhav

[onq]

Hi I have the same issue. I resent all prefs and restarted the computer with no difference still no previews

On Mac os 12.6 and INDD 18.1

[edie.m.w.]

I have the same issue. "Always save preview..." is checked in preferences but to no avail.

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Did this start happening after an upgrade to 12.6?

[albertof72196494]

I don't beleive so but if anything, it started happening when Adobe InDesign updated to 18.1

[HARSHIKA_VERMA]

Hi @albertof72196494,

Thanks for sharing the info. Is it possible for you to update the operating system to the latest version i.e 13.1?

If so, please update and let us know if the issue persists.

Thanks,

Harshika

[lissaw36745955]

I have the same issue, so I just upgraded to 13.1 as you suggested. The issue is persisting. It's a shame. I've only had this file preview option for a month or so (when I updated InDesign recently) and I've already gotten attached to its existence.

[albertof72196494]

I upgraded to 13.1 on my machine as well as two other collegues. Their IND preview is fine, mine continues to be missing!

[albertof72196494]

After installing OS 13.1, I still had the same issue. I then restarted InDesign and reset the preferences as instructed in the link above. Still not resolved.

[albertof72196494]

One oddity I noticed, as I checked various other ID files, I noticed that one file I have that was created in 2019, does have a preview! Anything later than that does not have one. I also noticed that IDML files at least show the generic icon.

[atomicvibe]

This randomly happened to me today. I'm using Mac OS 13.0, and just did the InDesign update today to 18.1.0.51. The "Preview not saved" issue started happening directly after this update. Like others, the "Always Save Preview Image with Documents" dialogue box was checked (that's its default setting). I've tried quitting and relaunching InDesign, as well as rebooting my Mac, but nothing has worked.

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @lissaw36745955 @albertof72196494 @atomicvibe,

Would you mind resetting InDesign Cache & Preferences manually (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5szDRbo23kI)? If that doesn't help, would you mind sharing a sample file for which the preview is not generating and checking & confirming if the same behavior is happening in a new admin user account (https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-help/mchl3e281fc9/mac) or not?

We will be looking forward to your response.

Thanks,
Anshul Saini

[atomicvibe]

Hi @Anshul_Saini I did as you suggested, and reset InDesign's cache and preferences manually, and I also created a test admin user account, and the issue persists.

I would also like to point out that this issue is hapening globally across most InDesign files stored both locally and on external drives, regardless of the version of InDesign used to create them.

However, it's not a consistent issue. Some files actually do display a preview, though the preview is noticeably extremely low-res compared to what I have been accustomed to:

Whether or not the InDesign file displays a preview seems to be totally random. For example, in the above directory of 13 InDesign files, 4 of them display very low-res previews — specifically the file names ending in 02, 03, 07, and 08.

[HARSHIKA_VERMA]

Hi @atomicvibe,

Thank you for trying the steps suggested. Could you please share a file with us so that we can investigate on our end? If yes, please upload the file to a shared location such as Creative Cloud or Dropbox and share the URL with me over a private message.

Would you mind also checking if there are any pending operating system updates like 13.1? 

We will try our best to help.

Thanks,

Harshika

[atomicvibe]

Hi @HARSHIKA_VERMA I just updated to Mac OS 13.1, and the problem still persists.

As for sharing a file, I'll do that momentarily over DM.

[nanjat18950080]

Same problem here on Ventura 13.1 and Indesign 18.1

Preview shows 'Preview not saved'.

But.. when browsing these indesign files with Adobe Bridge, the preview shows! So, the preview is saved but not shown by OSX.

[albertof72196494]

I can confirm the same....preview shows in Bridge but again, not in OSX Finder preview.

[HARSHIKA_VERMA]

Hi @albertof72196494 and @nanjat18950080,

Thanks for confirming, Albert. Would you mind sharing the file with us so that we can investigate on our end? If yes, please upload the file to a shared location such as Creative Cloud or Dropbox and share the URL with me over a private message. 

We will try our best to investigate.

Thanks,

Harshika

[atomicvibe]

I can also confirm that with Mac OS 13.1 and InDesign 18.1, the preview displays in Bridge but not in the Mac Finder pane.

In Finder:

Same directory in Bridge:

[HARSHIKA_VERMA]

Hi @atomicvibe,

Thank you for confirming and sharing the screenshot. Is it possible for you to share the file with me over a private message so that we can check on our end? Please upload the file to a shared location such as CC or Dropbox and share the URL.

I will try my best to investigate the issue.

Thanks,

Harshika

[HARSHIKA_VERMA]

Hi All,

[Edited Response]

As rightly pointed out by Kevin and Atomic, sharing the summary of the steps/workaround suggested that you may try if you haven't tried yet-

• View the InDesign files in Adobe Bridge.
• Please ensure the "Always Save Preview Images with Documents" box is checked when saving InDesign files. 
• Ensure the "Always Save Preview Images with Documents" box under InDesign Preferences > File Handling is checked.

Also, please share the impacted InDesign file with me over a private message so that we can investigate and escalate the issue.

We will try our best to help.

Thanks,

Harshika

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Hi @HARSHIKA_VERMA the solution outlined in that post are to purchase third-party software to generate the ID previews. Not sure that is a good alternative to what appears to be a bug with the 18.1 InDesign build.