InDesign 2019 does not open file made in 2018

[R.Silva]

I just downloaded InDesign 2019, and luckily I kept InDesign 2018.

I have a book of 3.2 GB in my hard drive. When I open it with ID 2018 it loads quick and I can work without a problem.

The new ID 2019 tries to convert it, but it never seems to finish converting and just gives up. No dialog box or error reported. It simply doesn't open it.

I have other books of smaller data size, and they open just fine with ID 2019.

Is there a problem with big data size books in ID 2019? and why the app doesn't give me an error dialog box?

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

[Scott Falkner]

Try exporting to IDML from CC 2018 and opening that file.

[R.Silva]

Hi Scott: I tried doing that and a dialog box said that the software wasn't able to open the IDML file and that it may need a plugin.

As far as I know, there is no plugin needed to do that, and it should be a built-in feature to open files from other ID versions through IDML. -The IDML file was only 600 mb.

Thanks for the help, though, but I believe the problem is related to the size of the file, because when I open the file in ID 2018, it opens perfectly fine in less than 2 or 3 seconds, and ID2019 is not even able to convert it or give me an error message.

I have also saved the file as a Template and try to open it with ID2019 and it does exactly the same (tries to convert, but it doesn't do it without any error message or anything that indicates a problem). –The template size is 2.6 GB

I have opened other smaller files with ID 2019 and they open just fine.

I hope there is an option in the Preferences that I can enable to open the file even without the graphics linked.

[BobLevine]

Are you embedding your graphics in the file? That's the only way I can imagine a file being that large.

If so, that is a recipe for disaster.

[R.Silva]

Yes. Many graphics are embedded.

Is that a kind of file that ID2019 is not able to open?

[BobLevine]

As I said, that is a recipe for disaster. If you can still get the file opened in CC2018 do so and unembed all of the graphics so they are linked instead.

[R.Silva]

I will follow your suggestion indeed. Thank you.

However it still puzzles me why the new ID2019 version cannot read the file while it is readable and error free with ID2018.

[BobLevine]

Because it's trying to convert the file format at the same time it's trying to open a file that is way too bloated.

Be grateful you can still fix it. It's just a matter of time before it blows up in your face and you can't get it open in any version.

[R.Silva]

Thanks for the great advice and help. I already converted all of the embedded images to linked, but I couldn't find a way to convert all of the "pasted" images into usable files, except by exporting the book as PDF and opening them in Photoshop and relink them by hand (that's going to be a lot of work).

My temporary solution though, was to break the file in 2 parts, and they were converted and opened fine with CC2019, put the parts together and now the file is usable in ID2019.

I understand your comments and suggestions and I guess I will have to do that as soon as possible before "it blows up in my face".

Thanks again.

In my opinion, Adobe should add a feature to convert pasted images into linked images, just like it is possible to convert embedded into linked images. And yes, I know, the pasted images are probably an undesired resolution and quality for many people, but then there are many people that probably do that, and then they pass the project to me, with hundreds of these images already "pasted" into a document with no solution at hand. That's a bummer 😞

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

… but I couldn't find a way to convert all of the "pasted" images into usable files …

Hi R.Silva ,

there is a script by Peter Kahrel that can do this. It's working with InDesign on Windows or on OS X:

Dump/unembed (and link) pasted images | Peter Kahrel

And there is another script by Rob Day for the OS X version of InDesign that will do this.

Here one version for InDesign CC 2014. Just edit it to your needs for addressing InDesign CC 2019:

Re: Can't unembed link

Regards,
Uwe

[R.Silva]

Hi Laubender :

Wow, that worked great. All of the images were converted to JPGs and PNGs and re-linked to their correct place, even while using ID2019.

Thank you very much for the help.

You guys rock!!!

[rob day]

The new ID 2019 tries to convert it, but it never seems to finish converting and just gives up. No dialog box or error reported. It simply doesn't open it.

How much time are you giving the open? It might be opening quickly in 2018 because it has been cached.

Maybe try setting the 2019 Display performance to Fast before you try the open?

[R.Silva]

Hi Rob day:

I don't need to give it any time to open because the "convert" dialog box is up for about 5 seconds and then it goes away without me knowing if this is working or not. I do wait to see what happens, but nothing happens.

I try to do the same open command once again, and the software starts to "convert" again for about 5 seconds and then the dialog disappears.

Then, repeat again.

I also turned the display performance to Fast, disabled the OpenGL function, changed some other preferences to see if anything would help. And still nothing.