ID 18.4 PDF Export using Printer's Marks & Document Bleed shows incomplete rendering opening in Acro

[Astronomie-Québec]

Hi,

I have updated to the new version (18.4) of InDesign, but while some documents export properly to PDF, some others don’t.

Windows 10.

Not too sure how to detail the problem better without attaching a file…

<Title renamed by moderator>

[Peter Spier]

You'll need to give us some more details, perhaps some screen shots...

[Rishabh_Tiwari]

Hi @Astronomie-Québec ,

Sorry to hear about the trouble. As suggested by Peter, please share a few more details, like is there is any pattern with the files not getting exported? To share the file you can add the file to a shared location like Google Drive or DropBox and share it with us. You can also check this article and let us know if this helps.

Thanks

Rishabh

[Astronomie-Québec]

Hi @Rishabh_Tiwari,

Here are the bad and good PDFs (Mauvais.pdf and bon.pdf, respectively). As you can see, most elements are missing from the bad one.

I would include the packaged and zipped InDesign file, but ZIP files are now allowed. 😞 

The problem is also present on Mac, at least with the same file.

Also, I have not tried with other files. When I saw the problem with this file, I immediately removed 18.4 from my system and went back to 18.3.

Thanks!

[Laubender]

@Astronomie-Québec said: "I would include the packaged and zipped InDesign file, but ZIP files are now allowed."

Hi @Astronomie-Québec ,

best put the zip-file on Dropbox or a similar service and share the download link.

Thanks,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Laubender]

Oh! And please also share the PDF Export settings file, this is a *.joboptions file.

Thanks,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[JohnRedBeard]

I'm having a similar problem. I work at a commercial print shop and since I updated to 18.4, I've started having problems with PDFs. They look file when I open them in Acrobat, but when we send them to the wide format printer, sometimes elements of the document disappear. One job got delivered to a customer with something missing.

I was able to fix one of the PDFs by optimizing it in Acrobat, or by saving an idml, opening it in InDesign 2022, and exporting the PDF from there. But until this issue is resolved, I'm going to have to use ID 2022 to be safe.

[Laubender]

@Astronomie-Québec ,

how did you do image compression when exporting to Adobe PDF (Print) ?

By using option "ZIP Compression" perhaps?

Try to avoid the issue by doing either No Compression for images at all or JPEG Maximum Quality.

This should work for the PDF Presets – High Quality Print, PDFX3, and PDFX4.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Astronomie-Québec]

Hi @Laubender,

My PDF settings are just the regular “Press Quality,” now with compression set to None per your instructions, but to no avail: The issue still persists with no compression.

I have uploaded the InDesign package at https://we.tl/t-bf1l2i7vZL

Thank you!

[Laubender]

Hi @Astronomie-Québec ,

"Press Quality" is a very ugly export preset for PDFs.

I would either suggest PDF/X-1a with using image compression with JPEG high quality or PDF/X-4 with the same image compression. Or no image compression at all.

FWIW: Now I am not sure at all, if the issue with ZIP compression applies to your problem.

I'll be back after testing your document with my Windows 10 machine and InDesign 18.4.0.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Laubender]

Hi @Astronomie-Québec ,

did some tests with your document, but could not recreate the issue.

Could you please save your PDF Export Preset file, the *.joboptions file and make it available through WeTransfer?

Below a link to a zip file that contains three of my joboptions files plus the exported PDFs that show no issues as far as I can see:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4m892me7f1qi1xu/230708-1-INDD%2018.4.0%20Issue%20with%20PDF%20Export.zip?d...

230708-1 > PDF/X-1a with compression set to ZIP

230708-2 > Press Quality with compression set to ZIP

230708-3 > PDF/X-4 with compression set to ZIP

In all cases, downsampling to 300 ppi if the image effective resolution is higher than 400 ppi.

All tests done with my German InDesign 18.4.0.56 on Windows 10.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Laubender]

Sorry. Had it wrong with 230708-1 that used PDF/X4 just like 230708-3.

Here the right one for PDF/X1a:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mildo5288dbquaz/230708-4-INDD%2018.4.0%20Issue%20with%20PDF%20Export.zip?d...

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Laubender]

Hi @Astronomie-Québec ,

another question. If you open that malformed PDF in Acrobat Pro, do you see the following error pop up:

Error: Insufficient data for an image in Acrobat or Acrobat Reader

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/insufficient-data-image.html

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Astronomie-Québec]

Guten Abend Uwe,

I have narrowed down the cause of the problem: It happens ONLY when I ask for “All Printer’s Marks” AND “Use Document Bleed Settings.” Selecting none or only ONE of these options creates a good PDF (whether I select compression or not), but selecting BOTH options makes the “bad” PDF.

My joboptions settings are at https://we.tl/t-0NaXmMJyXs. They’re just Print Quality plus “All Printer’s Marks” AND “Use Document Bleed Settings” as mentioned above.

Freundliche Grüße und vielen Danke,

[Laubender]

Hi @Astronomie-Québec ,

thank you for the joboptions file.

Now I can see the bug with missing elements in the exported PDF. Exported the PDF with your joboptions in InDesign 2023 version 18.4.0.56, this time on macOS Monterey version 12.6.5. Exported to the Desktop of my machine. Here a screenshot of the exported PDF that I did with your joboptions:

I think this bug could be a different one compared to the one with the ZIP compression we see elsewhere in the forum. Of course it could be related. But one symptom of the ZIP compression bug is missing: There is no error message in Acrobat Pro at all when I open the PDF. No "Insufficient data for an image" error message like this one:

In your case the missing elements are not written to the PDF. In the other case as shown in my screenshot above the data is written incorrect to the exported PDF.

I will do more tests during the day.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Laubender]

Also did another test with your joboptions file.

This time I disabled ZIP compression and used JPEG Maximum Quality instead. All other settings remained. Same result: Elements are missing in the exported PDF.

So I confirm your findings:

"I have narrowed down the cause of the problem: It happens ONLY when I ask for “All Printer’s Marks” AND “Use Document Bleed Settings.”"

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Astronomie-Québec]

Great, thank you so much! I trust someone at Adobe will work on finding a solution for this bug…

Be well,

Pierre

[Laubender]

@Astronomie-Québec said: "I trust someone at Adobe will work on finding a solution for this bug…"

Hi Pierre,

I'm not sure about this. Tried other documents with your export settings and I can see no issue.

You should report the bug at Adobe InDesign UserVoice:

https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Karolína24743753jwwm]

I have the same issue on Mac. 12 indd files in a book, 750 pages of technical data and drawings. 20k Euro print job and on some pages objects are missing, text frame, picture frames doesnt matter. 150 pages are OK and the 151 is bad! When I turn off the crop marks, everything is OK. When I turn on the crop marks and bleed, objects are missing, still on the same pages. Had 3 hours stress how to send it to the printer. Then I tried to export it on another computer which has 18.3 InDesign and everything is OK right after the first export! 

[Laubender]

Thank you Karolina for your feedback!

I'm going to do an update on the related discussion at InDesign Prerelease.

Well, now I'm thinking, that either the bug should be fixed immediately or InDesign 18.4.0 should be withdrawn from Creative Cloud Desktop App until a fix is present!

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Karolína24743753jwwm]

I tried to export the whole book, each chapter (file) and also the problematic page itself and all the time same result, missing objects - the same objects on the same page. In my 750page document I nocited first missing objects on page 165. If I did not do a page to page check because of the expense of the print job, this would be a big trouble.  I immediately downgraded the other Mac to 18.3 and tried the export and everything is ok. Adobe should send some newsletter or press release not to upgrade to 18.4 cause it make a lot of damage and cost a lot of money.

[saschak38136531]

Hello,

I also have a similar issue on windows with indesign version 18.4. PDF files genereated with the standard settings "High Quality Print" cannot be uploaded to our database. If you open the file in Adobe Reader and save as a new PDF file, the import to the database works fine. I think there must be a difference in these indesign version or the standard joboption-settings... PDF files generated with indesign 18.3 also work fine.

[Laubender]

@saschak38136531 said: "… with indesign version 18.4. PDF files genereated with the standard settings "High Quality Print" cannot be uploaded to our database. "

Hi Sascha,

are there any specific error messages from the import module of the database?

What database are you using?

Thanks,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[saschak38136531]

Unfortunately, there are no specific error messages from the database. I can't say much about the database (specific newspaper publishing tool), but I think it's an Oracle database. I also reported the error to our service provider and hope to receive an answer soon...

[HARSHIKA_VERMA]

Hello everyone,

We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the PDF export issue in InDesign, and we appreciate you bringing it to our attention. We want to inform you that we have successfully reproduced the problem on our machines.

We would request you to please submit the feedback on our InDesign Uservoice and share the link with us here for tracking purposes. 

We have logged a bug with the team, and they will be investigating the issue further. We will provide updates as soon as we receive more information from the team.

We want to thank @Laubender  for actively assisting in reproducing the issue. Your insights and efforts are greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your collaboration and patience.

Regards,

Harshika