Persistent Error in Adobe InDesign: ‘There Was an Error Updating the Artifact

I investigated the issue and identified the lowest common denominator — it was reproducible across multiple systems, tested in both InDesign 21.2 x64 and InDesign 21.3 x64 Beta. To set up the test, I only needed 1 PDF and 1 JPG file on, for example, a two-page spread in (e.g.) DIN A5.

The error must lie in a certain quantity of elements/pixels/rendered areas — I’ve created a short 3:45-minute video that clearly demonstrates and analyzes the symptoms and variations. (may be more understandable than my write-up below ;))

Here is a brief summary of the findings:

• Once the content reaches a certain level of complexity/"volume", the error "There Was an Error Updating the Artifact" occurs when the review-link is updated.
• If you reduce the number of (or more precise: area of rendered) objects in the file, the error disappears.
• In my example, I’m using a somewhat complex PDF with some QGIS vector elements—just to trigger the error more quickly. With mixed content and simpler embedded PDFs/images, the error occurs later/with more objects in the project.
• The PDF is placed full-page on a spread and then duplicated to a total of 8 instances, with the copies simply stacked on top of each other. (The number of duplicate layers required may vary depending on your machine.)
• A review link is then generated -> which works.
• Immediately after that, click "Update Content" -> Error: "There Was an Error Updating the Artifact"
• If you then hide one of the layers, updating the content works again without errors.
• If you show the layer again, the error reliably reappears.

Now it gets weird:

• With all 8 layers visible: If I reduce the width of all frames from (in my example) 296 mm to 281.163 mm (determined by trial and error), the content can be updated without errors.
• At 281.164 mm, the "Updating the Artifact" error is generated. (+0.001 mm)!
• At 281.163 mm, any image can be added in a separate frame on the same spread — provided the image isn’t too large (this refers not to the file size but to the area it occupies on the page in the layout), the content will update without errors.
• If you then enlarge the frame and the JPG, the error is triggered again.
• If you reduce the size again, the update goes through.
• You can also push the limits to the point where individual text fields containing placeholder text trigger the error mentioned above. If you then reduce the visible area of the placed image (or the PDFs behind it), the update will complete successfully again.
• The update also works with any number of placed images, provided you hide one or more of the PDFs below.
   
• So there must be some kind of buffer overflow (or similar) that causes the updates to fail.
   
• If you are in a state where an error occurs (e.g., 15 duplicate PDFs + 10 images, etc.) and delete the review link, you can regenerate it once (without errors); however, if you click "Update" immediately afterwards, the known error occurs again. If you then hide 8–9 of the PDFs again, for example, the update will work without any issues.
   
• Comments or pasted graphics were not present during the tests.

The test files shown in the video can be downloaded here (just a zip) if anyone would like to experiment.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning again: The error isn’t caused by the PDF file used — it merely serves as a diagnostic tool (besides, it wouldn’t work with 7 instances of it and would stop working with 8). With enough other "normal content", the error occurs anyway; it’s just harder to reproduce.

I’ve been having this problem for ~1 year now. On all the InDesign versions. The initial link works fine, however the update will not work and gives the error everyone else is receiving. Others in my office struggle with this too. Sometimes the previous link won’t even be there and I am forced to create a new link. It’s not effecient and not professional to send so many links to clients when this is supposed to be a solution for multiple files being sent back and forth for review. 

My images are all linked. I have yet to see if there are any copy/paste images (if there is an easy way to find them in a huge document i’m all ears). THis is beyond frustrating. 

Absolutely the same problem here - March 2026. 
 

OS/Hardware information:

Mac Studio 2023 - M2 Max 64 GB

macOS Tahoe

Edit to add: This is using Enterprise Adobe.. which has kinda sucked for internal sharing lately as it’s been so buggy!!! It’s not helping us look good when sharing across to clients outside of the ecosystem when there’s so many glitches with the review and we’re not even sure if they’re seeing the correct things. 

Hi guys, I found the solution, at least in my case. In my document I had couple of objects (images) pasted into my document not as a link, but via CtrlC and CtrlV. Sometimes I use this as placeholder for future HQ images. Turned out, these objects broke the file so there was this “Error updating the Artifact” error. I deleted these objects (and replaced them with proper linked files) and the error went immediately away and my document updated successfully. Hope this helps some people to figure out what is causing this. 

This is showing as “Answered” but can it be re-opened? It’s still a problem, and when I see the error message, “There Was an Error Updating the Artifact” the client still sees an old version of the file. 

Deleting / making a new link works but then the comments are gone. And it only works once because as soon as you update the error message appears again. 

I have also been having this issue with one of my files for the past 2 days. I've tried many of the things suggested here, am using 21.01.1 Indesign and macOS Tahoe 26.1. For one of my cloud files, after I updated the review link it no longer opened and crashed Indesign every time I tried. I was able to duplicate the file and continue working in that version, but every time I try to update the link it has the 'There was an error updating the artifact' error message, and the updates don't push through. The only thing that seems to work is deleting the link and generating a new one, but that is extremely disruptive for our process (and embarrasing). I have tried packaging and using the indml which I then convert to indd, and that also ends up having the same issue.

Coming back to share something interesting after a few years. Seems my PC will update the file, even when it says it can't. My Mac, however, says it cannot update the artifact, and does not update the file. *le sigh* I'm tired.

I am having the same problem here from InDesign. I updated to the latest version too.