Files turn into alias. Original file vanished

Report · May 30, 2011

We are experiencing a scary problem on some of our machines. We are using intel macs with 10.6.7.

They were using InDesign CS5 (7.0.3) at the time of the problem. Both machines have been updated to 7.0.4 and have not had the problem since.

However this has been a periodic error the whole time, so its not easy to replicate it...

This problem is as follows.

During working in InDesign it quits unexpectedly and we need to open it again.

When we locate the file (on a windows server connected with smb) it has turned into a shortcut or alias witch points to nothing.

The original file is nowhere to be found. Also, the file has been labeled with the red label from OSX...

We managed to get the log from one of these incidents:

27.05.11 13.00.11 [0x0-0x1f01f].com.adobe.InDesign[198] Fri May 27 13:00:11 MACHINENAME Adobe InDesign CS5[198] <Error>: kCGErrorIllegalArgument: _CGSFindSharedWindow: WID 7023

27.05.11 13.00.11 [0x0-0x1f01f].com.adobe.InDesign[198] Fri May 27 13:00:11 MACHINENAME Adobe InDesign CS5[198] <Error>: kCGErrorIllegalArgument: CGSGetWindowTags: Invalid window 0x1b6f

27.05.11 13.04.09 [0x0-0x1f01f].com.adobe.InDesign[198] Fri May 27 13:04:09 MACHINENAME Adobe InDesign CS5[198] <Error>: kCGErrorIllegalArgument: _CGSFindSharedWindow: WID 7078

27.05.11 13.04.09 [0x0-0x1f01f].com.adobe.InDesign[198] Fri May 27 13:04:09 MACHINENAME Adobe InDesign CS5[198] <Error>: kCGErrorIllegalArgument: CGSGetWindowTags: Invalid window 0x1ba6

27.05.11 13.04.36 [0x0-0x1f01f].com.adobe.InDesign[198] Fri May 27 13:04:36 MACHINENAME Adobe InDesign CS5[198] <Error>: kCGErrorIllegalArgument: _CGSFindSharedWindow: WID 7088

27.05.11 13.04.36 [0x0-0x1f01f].com.adobe.InDesign[198] Fri May 27 13:04:36 MACHINENAME Adobe InDesign CS5[198] <Error>: kCGErrorIllegalArgument: CGSGetWindowTags: Invalid window 0x1bb0

27.05.11 13.12.12 [0x0-0x1f01f].com.adobe.InDesign[198] Fri May 27 13:12:12 MACHINENAME Adobe InDesign CS5[198] <Error>: kCGErrorIllegalArgument: _CGSFindSharedWindow: WID 7168

27.05.11 13.12.12 [0x0-0x1f01f].com.adobe.InDesign[198] Fri May 27 13:12:12 MACHINENAME Adobe InDesign CS5[198] <Error>: kCGErrorIllegalArgument: CGSGetWindowTags: Invalid window 0x1c00

The machinename has been altered. The error occurred 13:04:09.

So far I have not been able to find anyone else with the same error. And in was not mentioned as a fix in the 7.0.4 update we ran.

At this point we do not know when we will loose the next file, and thats not a fun situation...

Has anyone else heard of this error?

At this point even someone else with the problem but no solution would be a comfort..

Thanks

Report · Apr 16, 2012

Technically they are not alias files as they are not small KB files, they retain the same amount of information as the original Indesign files, so I wonder if there is an easier way to change them back rather than emailing them (which is a great fix though when in need). Will ask my IT guy again and see if he has any other deductions. Thanks for the update!

This is weird. Perhaps you could post the technical details.

Output of "ls -l", "file", and "xattr" on these files? Maybe other tools too.

Report · Apr 20, 2012

Add us to the list. We just upgraded to Lion (10.7.3) and CS5.5 and are now experiencing the same "InDesign file appears as alias" problem. These are not the result of crashes. Still gathering data, but in one case at least, File>Open did still work while double-clicking the document does not (since it can't resolve the "alias").

Looking at the "alias" in Finder shows no "Original" path to the real file, but "Kind" claims to be "Alias".

% ls -l 90582_SessionSurvey.indd

-rwx------@ 1 strees CARYNT\Domain Users 5439488 Apr 18 15:34 90582_SessionSurvey.indd

% xattr -l 90582_SessionSurvey.indd
com.apple.FinderInfo: IDd2InDn????? N?????????????
com.apple.ResourceFork:
00000000 00 00 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1E |................|
00000010 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000020 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000030 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000040 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000050 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000060 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000070 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000080 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000090 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000000A0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000000B0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000000C0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000000D0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000000E0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000000F0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000100 00 00 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1E |................|
00000110 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1C 00 1E FF FF |..............|
0000011e

Report · Apr 20, 2012

% xattr -l 90582_SessionSurvey.indd
com.apple.FinderInfo: IDd2InDn????? N?????????????

Well, that's pretty weird since normally an alias should be alis/MACS and not IDd2/InDn.

What about GetFileInfo on it (assuming you have the developer tools installed)?

Was this on a network filesystem?

Report · Apr 20, 2012

% GetFileInfo 90582_SessionSurvey.indd
file: "/Volumes/ActiveJobs/OpenJobs/SIM/90582_SessionSurvey_RUGS_at_SGF/documents/90582_SessionSurvey.indd"
type: "IDd2"
creator: "InDn"
attributes: AvbstcliNMEDZ
created: 04/10/2012 16:43:14
modified: 04/18/2012 15:34:41

Yeah, these files aren't really aliases, they're just pretending 😉 But according to GetFileInfo, they do have an alias attribute.

As an experiment, I ran "xattr -c" to clear all extended attributes and that seemed to fix the problem. I don't know the full implications of blowing away the extended attributes, but it seemed to me the resulting file would be analogous to an InDesign document written from a Windows machine. (Exercise proper caution if you try this "solution" on your own files!)

Report · Apr 20, 2012

Further technical details ...

Our file server is a "NetApp" network appliance (dual-protocol NTFS/NFS) file server. It has worked very well with our Macs for over 5 years, until now.

We mount all server shares as smb:// mounts.

Report · Apr 20, 2012

Well, it seems to be something that only happens with InDesign and NetApp machines...

I would probably start by trying to turn on some debugging or protocol tracing on the server side and try to confirm whether the file type was being changed by the client or not.

And then trying to figure out what process on the client was doing so...

I don't think there are any problems clearing the attributes on the InDesign files, for exactly the reason you specify -- they're platform-independent.

Report · Aug 13, 2012

Had this same issue today with a "press today" job.

My quick fix for this corrupted file was to rename the extention to ".indd", emailed the file to myself, then open the attachment in InDesign.

Report · Aug 14, 2012

I just started having similar issue of InDesign documents turning into Aliases. Am on a Mac connecting to a Windows server, newly upgraded to Lion, and it appears my Mac in our department only one affected. The only thing I can put this down to so far is an extension called Q2ID (as my Mac only one with that extension), but haven't fully tested yet. My fix, and I couldn't see whether this was mentioned above so forgive me if so, was to backup the Alias (just in case), and open the alias from within InDesign. so far has worked fine, hope this can get sorted somehow!

Report · Aug 14, 2012

We continue to have this problem. We're still using CS5.5. Are folks also experiencing this now with CS6 as well? So far, the workaround of opening it directly in InDesign via File>Open is working for us.

Report · Aug 14, 2012

We also work on Macs that connect to a Windows server (via SMB://), and as with mikleydiley above, this appears to be isolated to one machine. (CS5.5 running under MacOS 10.6.8)

I was not able to open the "alias" from within InDesign. My original plan was to open the "alias" through HexEdit and change the file "kind" from alias to InDesign® CS5.5 Document, but I could not get HexEdit to open the file.

Report · Nov 14, 2012

We had the same issue today - My solution was to view the same file on a PC - Make a Copy of the file - on a PC - the newly created file was no longer an alias when I view it on the Mac.

First time this happened to us - and we too are using a networked folder via SMB.

Report · Nov 30, 2012

I am also having this issue though with Adobe Illustrator CS5 (15.0.2) on Mac OS X 10.7.5. I did a quick search for the issue on the Illustrator forum but didn't find anything there.

My art-department also saves files directly to a Windows Server via SMB. No others in my department have reported this issue other than me, but I am also the only station running OSX Lion (others are on Leopard or Snow Leopard). The files retain the correct file-size but still appear as an Alias on other stations and cannot be opened.

My workaround to access the file-data is much like others; I move the "Aliased" document to my Dropbox folder, allow enough time for it to upload to dropbox.com, and then download the file through the browser.

I hope this helps and that Adobe or Apple can resolve this problem. It occurs randomly and usually at the most inopportune times.

Report · Jul 23, 2013

I found that my computer's wired network connection to the server had failed and defaulted back to a wifi connection to the Windows SMB server. It seems that as others have reported these Aliased files are the culmination of latency issues between the originating computer and the server. Mine specifically caused by the reversion back to the slower wifi connection.

Others experiencing this alias issue should check their connection to their server and correct that or change their workflow to save to desktop and then use the Finder to copy files to the server.

Report · Jul 23, 2013

In our case, we exeprienced these problems with our standard corporate wired network to a NetApp file server. Network latency should not have been an issue.

Saving to the desktop and the using Finder to copy files back to the server is not an option when using a server-based InCopy workflow.

Report · Jul 23, 2013

Its not what we think what proper "network latency" is rather than adobe ID thinks what is fast enough.

Report · Jan 17, 2013

I did this terminal command to "fix" some files that we had turn into aliases (and ours are colorized orange not red).

xattr -d com.apple.FinderInfo (then your file path here)

-d deletes an attribute and I saw our files had 2, com.apple.FinderInfo and com.apple.ResourceFork

We are using an SMB windows files server to house our files, and this app "DPS AdTracker" handles the file opening. It does some "shuffling" around because files are not opened directly from the server, they are copied to our local drive first and then opened from there.

Report · Mar 06, 2013

We are experienceing the same issue with InDesign CS6 8.0.1 and Acrobat PDFs. Using OSX 10.8.2 (Dual Quad Core) & OSX 10.6.8 work stations connected to a PC Server running Windows Server 2008. Now it has also converted some folders containing files into alias files. This seems to be more of a communication error between computers. Has anyone found a way to undo this?

Report · Mar 06, 2013

My workaround these days is to use the "SetFile" command line tool from the Apple Developer tools:

SetFile –a a filename

will clear the erroneous "alias bit" that makes OS X believe the file is an alias.

Report · Mar 06, 2013

where do you find the Apple Developer tools?

Report · Mar 06, 2013

According to:

https://developer.apple.com/xcode/

these are now packaged as part of Xcode which includes a new "Downloads" preference pane to install optional components such as command line tools, and previous iOS Simulators.

Alternatively, it looks like you can download the "Command line tools" only from here:

https://developer.apple.com/downloads/index.action

In either event, you'll need to sign up for a free Apple Developer ID.

Report · Jul 11, 2013

Same issue here with indd files. They tun Orange and Alias. Can somone from Adobe update us on this?

Report · Jul 12, 2013

Will Adobe Confirm if they do not support SMB Servers? Like Others here working local or dragging files down from a PC each time are not feasible. They must know what they support and dont support and what info to take back to apple or to microsoft????

Report · Jul 23, 2013

We had our external party check Netapp and found out that the application (ID) is taking too long to save the files, thus marking it as corrupt and changing it into alias. We just upgraded a whole department with CS6 and this started to happen with a few users. We did not encouter similar issues with cs5. All systems running osx 10.7.3 or 10.7.5

Report · Sep 09, 2013

We found that if you just copy the file to a different folder. delete the alias from the folder you just copied from. then open indesign perform a file open of the file you copied, then perform a save as to the original folder you want it in, the alias will dissappear. we've had to do this evertime the file turns into an alias. We don't know why this happens, but this is how its fixed.

if it doesn't work the first time, try it again, it will work.

Report · Oct 03, 2014

This just happened to one of my InDesign files this morning (on Mac, CS5, and on a network). I was able to get the file to behave correctly by uploading it to my Dropbox account, and then re-downloading. It worked—alias arrow was gone!