epub having problems showing up in validator

[Mahava]

I have InDesign through Adobe Cloud and keep it up-to-date.

I am trying to create an epub and have run into several snags: 

1) When I export I get the message:  "Custom Layout settings in Object Export Options have not been honored for group children, button states and inline objects."

How do I resolve this?

2) The ebook looks great and works great on calibre etc.  But when running it through an epub validator, I get the following:

"ERROR(RSC-012): OEBPS/content.opf(54,109): Fragment identifier is not defined"

"ERROR(RSC-012): OEBPS/toc.xhtml(103,98): Fragment identifier is not defined"

"ERROR(RSC-012): OEBPS/toc.xhtml(104,98): Fragment identifier is not defined"

How do I locate and resolve these issues?

I also get:

"INFO(RSC-004): OEBPS/font/Georgia-Bold.ttf" could not be decrypted"

"INFO(RSC-004): OEBPS/font/Georgia-BoldItalic.ttf" could not be decrypted"

"INFO(RSC-004): OEBPS/font/Georgia-Italic.ttf" could not be decrypted"

"INFO(RSC-004): OEBPS/font/Georgia.ttf" could not be decrypted"

"INFO(RSC-004): OEBPS/font/OCRAExtended.TTF" could not be decrypted"

"INFO(RSC-004): OEBPS/font/Wingdings3.TTF" could not be decrypted"

These "INFO(RSC-004)"s do not seem to be creating a problem uploading the book but would love to know how to fix them as well.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Validation is a necessary step for the legacy methods of creating an EPUB, where the individual components are created separately and then combined to create the EPUB file. There are many, many mistakes that can be made in the files, naming, structure, metadata etc. when "building" an EPUB this way.

When exporting from a modern tool like InDesign, not so much. Validators are a seldom-needed diagnostic tool at best, because much of what they check is done flawlessly by InDesign, with no need to "validate" it.

If your doc "looks and works great on Calibre" — and kudos for choosing a standard, "vanilla" reader to proof your work! — then I'd say you're done. Nits found by a validator are largely meaningless. (If you're not using EPUBcheck, which is the equivalent standard validator not dressed up with extra help and a paywall, you might try it for an alternative view.) But the EPUB world is so variable that expending much effort to resolve these minor INFO issues would be lost in other incompatibilities with the wide array of EPUB readers that will be used.

But it looks as if you do have a few genuine problems that can and should be resolved in InDesign (that is, not by exporting a broken file and then trying to patch it up, old school style, in something like Sigil). But it looks as if you are exporting to (1) fixed layout EPUB (FXL) and (2) are embedding fonts... which are both obsolete practices. FXL is almost impossible to fix; you either export it perfectly or you don't. And fonts are usually encrypted for use with that document and no other, and many things can go wrong with every reader on every platform decrypting them properly. (Your doc probably works because you still have those fonts on your system, and Calibre is drawing them from there. Any user who did not have those fonts would see a substitution, or garbled text.)

I infer that you are also including (3) interactive elements. Those, too, can be problematic in the variety of readers out there, including the "plain standard" ones like Calibre and Thorium. My recommendation is to use only reflowable EPUB format; to not embed (or even spec) fonts at all; and to avoid any interactive elements beyond simple cross-doc links. If that won't work for you/your project, all fixes will have to be done within InDesign to get the fixed layout and/or interactive elements to work correctly. There are many subtle aspects to those, especially the latter. Other experts here have walked users through the interactive issues, though.

[Mahava]

Thank you for responding to my inquiry.

I exported the ebook as a reflowable epub.

With that in mind, where do I start to fix the errors?

[Mahava]

The ebook looks and works great on readers, but is rejected when I try to upload it to Ingram because of the three errors...

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

The first error (export warning) is probably with an image file that's not anchored properly, or is combined with other objects. Images should be anchored to the end of the paragraph they are meant to follow, and should not be grouped (such as with a caption text box). Do you have any elements like that?

The three errors are related to the TOC and its links:

• Simply re-generating your TOC, which should always be the very last step before export, might fix them.
• I'd suggest getting rid of an in-text TOC if you use one. They're obsolete with the power and flexibility of the dynamic TOC.
• Create a specific TOC 'style' for the dynamic TOC and leave out things like page numbers.

Re-generate the TOC and try again; the validator might be a quick test rather than trying another upload. If you keep an in-text TOC, create a separate 'style' for it and optimize it for that purpose. (That is, don't just one one default TOC style for both, or for the dynamic TOC.)

[Mahava]

I will try those things - thanks!

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

You might find this more comprehensive list of 'things to know about EPUB' useful —

https://nitrosyncretic.com/DPR/dpr_indesign_epub_basics.php

[Mahava]

Thank you - I will look that over and hopefully it will help as I move forward!

[Mahava]

I eliminated all the images and it solved the issue.  So now I can just narrow it down to which image was the issue.  Thank you!  You have helped tremendously!