Data Merge images crashing InDesign on Preview or Create Merged Document

[darrenj27851139]

InDesign Version 17.2.1

M1 Ultra Mac Studio

macOS 12.3

I can preview and create documents as expected, but as soon as I add an image and try to preview or create a document, InDesign hangs and needs to be force quit.

I'm using absolute paths with a colon as a seperator, e.g.

Column name: @My_image

Data: Users:daz:Documents:MyProject:Images:my_photo1.jpg

Same format I've always used, only now it's crashing

[darrenj27851139]

Additionally, opening a previous .indd that was generated with the same master file, the image renders corrupted in InDesign, and exporting to PDF gives an error that files/URLs are not accessible. There's only one linked file, and it's clearly accessible because I can right click it in Links, and click Reveal In Finder, and Finder jumps straight to the image. It's not a crazy image format either, same thing is happening with images from multiple cameras.

These errors are only since upgrading to an M1 Mac on Monterey, from a 2014 iMac on Big Sur. It appears image links are entirely borked, whether that's an InDesign version issue or M1 compatibility, I'm not sure.

[darrenj27851139 · Accepted solution]

Update:

You need to open System Preferences > Privacy > Full Disk Access, and add InDesign.

[maelone]

That did not work for me....still crashing upon merging data. 

[joyo4486240]

Is there a fix for this yet? merging data still crashes for me on the preview of multiple records

[Abhishek Rao]

Hello @joyo4486240,

I'm sorry to hear you're still experiencing crashes with Data Merge. To better assist you, could you please share the version of InDesign you're using and the details of your operating system?

In the meantime, if you haven't tried this already, you can grant InDesign Full Disk Access, which has helped resolve similar issues in the past. Here's how:

1. Go to 'System Preferences > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access'.
2. Add InDesign to the list and restart the app.

Could you also share a screen recording of the workflow you're following that leads to the crash? Additionally, is this issue happening with a specific file, or are multiple files affected?

Let me know if this helps or if you're still facing issues!

Thanks,
Abhishek Rao