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amycollier
amycollier
Participant
August 15, 2023
Question

CAD Drawing PDFs slow/crash InDesign

  • August 15, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 818 views

I am importing CAD file PDFs into InDesign to place in a presentation. The files are around 5mb and are stored locally. Every time I place them InDesign becomes excrutiatingly slow or stops responding completely.

 

I'm running on an M2 Max 64Gb MacBook Pro so it's not a case of my machine not being able to handle it. 

 

This is an ongoing issue on InDesign and Illustrator when working with exported CAD drawings.

 

Anyone else had issues similar and able to find a solution?

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    Willi Adelberger
    Community Expert
    Willi AdelbergerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 15, 2023
    1. Save the CAD in a compatible file type to Illustrator.
    2. Open in Illustrator
    3. Reduce Anchor Points (Object > Paths > Simplify…)
    4. If you can, join paths. It may help to fill the areas with white. Therefore make a interactive painting group. Then it easier to apply paths. Object > Live Paint > Make …
    5. Save as PDF/X-4 or AI
    6. Place that
    Luke Jennings3
    Community Expert
    Luke Jennings3Community Expert
    Community Expert
    August 15, 2023

    Try saving the pdf from Acrobat as an optimized pdf using the settings on the attached screen shot (File> Save as other> Optimized pdf). If you are still having issues, try a Preflight Profile to discard hidden layers and flatten visible layers (Tools> Print Production> Preflight> Fixups). If you are still having issues, there is likely some very complex vector pattern information giving InDesign a hard time, one fix for this is to save your pdf as a high-res image (from Acrobat).

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