Can't place Illustrator file in Indesign

[han_7184]

Hi!

I'm working in an InDesign file where some illustrations are imported from an Illustrator file. This file is linked in the links tab. For some weird reason, the file suddenly says they can't open PDF. But it isn't a PDF it's an Illustrator file. And so I try to place or link my Illustrator file again, but the same pop-up that says can't open this PDF keeps coming up.

Does anybody know what's going on? 

Thanks! 

Cheers,

Han

[Willi Adelberger]

If you can place an Illustrator AI file, it must have a PDF fork. InDesign can only use the PDF.

Can you save the file as PDF directly and place this?

But you wrote that you cannot open the PDF. Did you accedently try to open instead of placing/importing the file? This would cause this message.

[han_7184]

Hi, I can open the PDF if I make it a PDF, but I don't want to do that. I used to always be able to place an Illustrator file in InDesign so don't understand why it's not working now. It worked Thursday and then on Friday I got the issue. I want to keep it an Illustrator file so I can easily update it. 

Thanks for helping tho!

[Eugene Tyson]

Are you using File>Place?

[han_7184]

I tried file > place. I also tried just dropping it in. Both don't work unfortunately. 

[Jeffrey_Smith]

Make sure to select "Show Import Options" when you place.

[han_7184]

Hi, 

Thanks for helping. I always do this when placing Illustrator files in InDesign, so unfortunately this didn't work.

[leo.r]

InDesign refers to Illustrator files as "PDF", which indeed can be misleading if you're not aware of this.

[han_7184]

Hi, 

That definitely was misleading me, yes. Good to know! 

[Scott Falkner]

Illustrator files can be saved without the embedded PDF resource. Those files can only be read by Illustrator. You cannot place them or rasterize them in Photoshop. Try re-saving from Illustrator with Save As and see if the PDF portion was disabled.

[han_7184]

Hi, 

Thanks for helping. unfortunately it didn't work.  I checked it on, but it didn't work. I checked it off, but it also didn't work. 🥲

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @han_7184,

I hope the suggestions from the experts helped! Were you able to resolve the issue by ensuring the Illustrator file has an embedded PDF or using File > Place with Show Import Options checked?

If it's fixed, could you confirm the solution here? It’ll be helpful for others facing the same issue. If not, let me know what’s still not working, and we can assist further!

Looking forward to your update. 

^

Abhishek

[han_7184]

Hi! 

No, I already tried all these suggestions before posting my problem here. Still no idea what is going wrong. 

Cheers, 

Han

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @han_7184,

Thanks for getting back! I tried reproducing the issue on my end, but everything worked fine without errors. Could you confirm the version of InDesign you’re using and your OS details? Also, is this happening only in this particular InDesign file?

Try creating a new InDesign document and placing the same Illustrator file there. Does the error still appear? Also, try placing a different AI file in the same document and see if that works. Let me know what happens, and we’ll do our best to resolve this.

Looking forward to your update.

^

Abhishek 

[han_7184]

Hi @Abhishek Rao ,

I'm using Adobe InDesign 2025. When I try to post this Illustrator file in a new InDesign file, I get the same issue. But when I try to place a different Illustrator file in the same InDesign file, I don't get the issue. However, when I tried to make a different Illustrator file, copy pasting the content from the old file, I still get the error. So I think there has to be something going wrong in Illustrator. I'm also using Adobe Illustrator 2025.

Thanks for helping!

[Willi Adelberger]

Do you save your AI file with PDF compatibility.

Or save as PDF and use that.