Document presets are missing in Indesign 19, 2024 version

[Image27159536nro3]

Hi,

Two days ago Indesign updated to version 2024 (v.19). The software reset all the settings but I was able to restore my settings (workspace, shortcuts, etc) except for the document presets.

Documents presets are all missing! I also searched in the library folder for previous versions but couldn't find them.

I hope someone can help me to fix this. Thx!

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[Pamela310706668is7]

I attached a screen shot that I receive everytime I try number 3. Edit< Migrate previous local settings. It asked me to restart and I do and then I get this error message attached.

[Barb Binder]

@Mike Witherell may have a better idea, but I'm thinking you might want to completely uninstall version 19.0 with the CC Cleaner tool to remove the application and the files it leaves behind. Then reinstall it without migrating the preferences/removing the old versions and then try the Edit > Migrate command again.

~Barb

[Mike Witherell]

Preferences and Presets, Styles, Automations	Migrate	Don't	Migrate After
1. Open Recent List	Yes	No	Yes
2. Workspace Presets	Yes	No	Yes
3. Menu Customizations	Yes	No	Yes
4. Document Presets	Yes	No	Yes
5. New Page Sizes	Yes	No	Yes
6. Autocorrect Presets	Yes	No	Yes
7. InDesign Shortcut Presets	Yes	No	Yes
8. Stroke Styles	Yes	No	Yes
9. Word Doc Import Options Presets	Yes	No	Yes
10. RTF File Import Options Presets	Yes	No	Yes
11. Glyph Sets Presets	Yes	No	Yes
12. Animation Motion Presets	Yes	No	Yes
13. Find/Change Text Queries Presets	Yes	No	Yes
14. Find/Change GREP Queries Presets	Yes	No	Yes
15. Find/Change Glyph Queries Presets	Yes	No	Yes
16. Find/Change Object Queries Presets	Yes	No	Yes
17. Find/Change Color Queries Presets	Yes	No	Yes
18. Transparency Flattener Presets	Yes	No	Yes
19. Print Presets	Yes	No	Yes
20. Color Settings File (if in PS & synced)	Yes	Yes	Yes
21. File Info > Import/Export Metadata §	Yes	Yes	Yes
22. Preflight Presets	Yes	No	Yes
23. Scripts Panel	Yes	No	Yes
24. Export to Adobe PDF Presets ‡	Yes	Yes	Yes
25. CC Libraries	No	No	No
26. Custom Style Mapping ^	No	No	No
27. Adobe Swatch Exchange	No	No	No
28. ToC Style Presets*	No	No	No
29. Trapping Presets*	No	No	No
30. XML Structure Tag Presets	No	No	No
Edit > Preferences	Yes	No	Yes
§ ... Application Support or AppData > Roaming > Adobe > XMP > Metadata Template ‡ external to InDesign, ^ copy/paste frames using Style Mapping, * document to document load only

[Barb Binder]

Wow! That's a great list, Mike. 

~Barb

[Mike Witherell]

[framstudiotest]

So does anybody know if I can get them back? I have 2 Time Machine backups but it appears that when files are deleted from your drive they are also deleted from backup. Apparently this type of backup only stores old versions of files you still have.

I'm just back after 6 1/2 weeks of sick leave and the first things I did was to update a lot of applications. All of my preflight presets are gone from InDesign and I have a book to send off to printing.

[Steve Werner]

I'm afraid that you're going to have to rebuild them. If you don't have a backup, no one else will because you no doubt customized it. Consult with your printer about what to be included.

[framstudiotest]

OK, thank you! I was afraid of that. I have sort of given up asking printers about anything as they generally answer in a completely different terminology from Adobe's software settings. At least here in Norway where they will have their own traditional terminology using vocabulary from before digital desktop publishing. Oh well. I'll figure it out. It's just that these settings have evolved over time and been tweaked whenever something has gone wrong or almost gone wrong in printing. So for a few years now I have felt secure just using my presets. Now the nerves will be back.

[Steve Werner]

So the thing to learn is to backup your presets (when possible) in addition to your Time Machine backup. I've learned over time the utility of backing up more than one way when possible.

[leo.r]

I have 2 Time Machine backups but it appears that when files are deleted from your drive they are also deleted from backup. Apparently this type of backup only stores old versions of files you still have.

By @framstudiotest

Just in case: no, that's not exactly true. When you delete files from your drive they're not being automatically deleted from your Time Machine backup. Although there could be other reasons why you can't find certain deleted files in your Time Machine anymore. Regardless, as @Steve Werner said it's always better to back up more than one way when you can.

[framstudiotest]

I could use some hint as to where the preflight profiles are kept on a Mac hard drive. The fold er I thought was the correct one was overwritten on my TimeMachine backup. It said "last updated today" even though we are in December and I was browsing back to a Time Machine copy of the folder from October.

But maybe I'm looking in the wrong place?

[Steve Werner]

@Mike Witherell could probably tell you more precisely but I think they're they are not something that can be backed up unless you've saved it as a Preset file. If you go to File > Document Presets > Define, you see there is an option for saving the presets as a .dcst file. This can be copied to a backup folder and saved and that could be backed up by your backup workflow. Otherwise, I think the document presets are stored an internal location in InDesign.

[Mike Witherell]

Both Document Presets and Preflight Profiles are alike in that you have to take the time to save them somewhere. In my "InDesign 2024 the 30 Presets" report guide, I suggest to save them to subfolders you make under the en_US folder where all other preferences go to live. Under that folder you would make both a "Document Presets" folder and/or a "Preflight Profiles" folder. InDesign will not make these automatically. But if you do, the migrate feature sees these things and migrates them forward to your next year's version of InDesign (if you choose to migrate settings).

[Steve Werner]

Thanks, @Mike Witherell  Very helpful.