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Exporting location issue

New Here ,
Oct 31, 2017 Oct 31, 2017

I have just updated InDesign through CC to v13.0, before the update... if for example, I went:

File --> Adobe PDF presets --> Smallest file size

The location for exporting the file was the same location as the InDesign file.

However, since the update, it exports to the last location I used.

So, if I export document A which is stored in folder X to folder X, then go to export document B, stored in Folder Z, it opens folder X as the destination for the export, and I then have to browse through the files to select the correct destination folder.

Hopefully the above makes sense.

I work with so many files and at a rapid pace, so this is a really big inconvenience.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you

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Community Expert ,
Oct 31, 2017 Oct 31, 2017

I think I understand where you're coming from.

The issue comes into play with the last "relative" reference InDesign makes as it addresses the file system. So yes, when you save the PDF for Document A in the "X" folder, it wants to place the PDF for Document B in the "X" folder too -- unless you tell it otherwise.

It's always dangerous to make assumptions. But one I'm going to make here is that you have multiple InDesign documents open, from multiple locations, at the same time. InDesign allows you to do this, of course, as a matter of efficiency. But that causes you complications when you're looking to shuffle content around multiple locations.

With my students, I generally deal with this problem because the program wants to store "Save As" InDesign files and PDFs in the same location where they last placed content into the document, rather than the folder containing the source InDesign document.

Unfortunately, this is how InDesign is, well, designed. I can offer three workflow/workarounds for you, none of which may be entirely palatable to you:

1) Open one InDesign file at a time, from within the InDesign File>Open... menu command. This gets you the "relative" reference to your document folder, but defeats the efficiency of working with multiple files at the same time.

2) Set up a separate "repository" folder for your PDFs, and if need be, distribute the contents back to the respective document folder(s) at the end of the day/week/production cycle. That results in extra work and the possibility that PDFs get mis-filed in the wrong folders.

3) First save your InDesign file, then create an InDesign Package using the File>Package... menu command. If you're using InDesign CC2015 or later, that lets you create a PDF with your latest settings while you create the InDesign Package. By first saving the InDesign file, you set the "relative" reference to the folder the InDesign document is in. But Packaging the file creates a sub-folder inside it which will contain a duplicate of the InDesign document, the PDF file and, if you don't uncheck the fonts and graphics check boxes, duplicates of those files used to generate the document as well. So this results in some redundancy which may or may not be acceptable to you.

Of course, you can also keep on doing what you are to place the PDFs in their respective document folder(s). I wish I had better answers for you, but I believe these options are as good as it gets.

Randy

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Community Expert ,
Oct 31, 2017 Oct 31, 2017

If your OS is OSX checkout Default Folder:

Default Folder X

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New Here ,
May 03, 2018 May 03, 2018

Adobe's pure lack of Customer Support is a real crazy part of how they care ZERO about their customers.

I check the Preference section and there is no little checkbox to save folder where the working file is located.

You wanna know a crazy thing. LIGHTROOM has this as a default. Doesn't Adobe know how to fix this little interface problem?

If you create a new document and you go to save it, the default should be, "where do you wanna save this file" Dah!

If you open an Indesign file and you choose to export it as a pdf, an easy default would be put it where the working file is located.

I can't imagine that some working with this program would store all their pdf files in one part of their computer and their Indesign files all over the rest of their computer network storing area.

ADOBE! Get a working customer service number!

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Community Expert ,
May 04, 2018 May 04, 2018

Hi,

do you mind working with scripts when it comes to PDF Export?

If so you could try my ExtendScript code I've written a couple of years ago:

ExportPDF_in_Foreground.jsx

Re: InDesign CS6 crashes during PDF export

Written in 2010, but should work with InDesign CC 2018.1 as well.

Regards,
Uwe

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Community Expert ,
May 04, 2018 May 04, 2018

Ahem. Just inspected my code after giving advice. Should have done that before. The script does not support what you want, but it could be changed, that the folder of your InDesign file will be the target folder of the exported PDF. Should I do this for you?

Regards,
Uwe

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New Here ,
Oct 29, 2023 Oct 29, 2023

I'm having the same issue with InDesign 2024. Does Adobe have a solution? I would love a way to change the default location of the exported file to the same folder as the InDesign document. 

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New Here ,
Nov 08, 2023 Nov 08, 2023

Same! I updated to InDesign 2024 (actually I didn't get a choice) and InDesign has now changed behaviour to saving in the last location rather than the folder the .indd file is located. This is a huge problem for us because we create a template folder, copy this per customer request then edit each copied .indd file and need to export files into that specific folder. This is for hundreds of folders.

 

Before this update, InDesign saved in the same folder as the .indd file - why has this changed? Is this a bug?

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 07, 2023 Dec 07, 2023

Having the same issue with InDesign 2024! super annoying. Hope it gets resolved soon. 

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New Here ,
Jan 07, 2025 Jan 07, 2025
LATEST

Recently upgraded to InDesign 2025, and I have the same issue. I open a particular InDesign document that we use as a base for resumes. When I export the new resume as a pdf, it ALWAYS defaults to the FIRST resume location that was created from that indd document. Even when the indd is opened in a new employee folder. Utterly ridiculous that I can't choose a default setting, one option could be 'original document folder'. 

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Community Beginner ,
Aug 21, 2024 Aug 21, 2024

There's a work-around, but it isn't a great one, but it works .... Before you do this, save your workspace if you have a custom one.  Then, on Windows, open Indesign and as you do IMMEDIATELY hold down Ctrl+Shift+Alt. This will bring up a command prompt asking if you want to delete all you preferences files. Voila, done.  Now, this CAN revert back after some adobe updates, but do this trick again and you'll be right back in business!  

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LEGEND ,
Aug 21, 2024 Aug 21, 2024

@BRN Media Production 

 

Or there is an option in Preferences / General:

RobertatIDTasker_0-1724256884409.png

 

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