indesign cc 2018 won't open a document

[Deborah54]

i just upgraded to cc 2018. i have a large file that was working in indesign 2017. now it won't open. the app doesn't quit and no error message comes up. i am at a complete loss.

how can i reinstall indesign 2017 or is that not an option. i am working on a mac and this file has been problematic before but was opening fine last time i worked on it.

deborah

[Barb Binder]

You can reinstall 2017. See instructions below. I'm curious if you can open up other 2017 documents.

Open the CC Desktop app and click on Apps. Click the triangle next to InDesign and choose Other Versions. CC 2017 will be in that list.

[Deborah54]

hi! thanks for the quick answer. i can open another file with 2018 but it took longer than it should have given that it is only text. any ideas what is going on?

[Barb Binder]

No, I don't. As you can see from my screen shot, I'm still waiting for the all-clear to install 2018. What OS are you using?

[Deborah54]

i am running macOS Sierra version 10.12.6 on a MacBook pro Retina , mid 2014

it is a large file 4.16 gb

i have a 2.8 GHz intel Core i& with 16 GB memory

[BobLevine · Accepted solution]

How in the world did you create a document so huge? The only possible explanation I can come up with is that you embedded all images and artwork.

That is a very risky workflow and the chances of you saving this file aren’t all that great.

If you can open it in CC2017 do so and unembed the images immediately and then do a save as so the images are linked.

[Deborah54]

thanks! when i do the unembed it asks me if i want to link to the original. do i do that?

[BobLevine]

Not unless you know where the originals are. Otherwise, create a new folder for the links and unembed them to that folder.

[Deborah54]

hi bob!

thank you so much! i had no idea why this document kept corrupting and crashing and now i understand - it was way too big because of the embedded images which are all high resolution for a book. i always thought embedding the images was a good thing to do. thanks for letting me know it isn't. you have saved me! can't thank you enough. now the file is 96.8 mb!

[BobLevine]

I’m glad you were lucky enough to rescue it. We’ve seen a few reports in the past like this where the file was toast.

[Deborah54]

i was keeping more than one copy on different hard drives. when one crashed i had back up. i had no idea that embedding files was so problematic and increased the file size. i was actually nervous to work on this file because of the crashes and corrupting. i am so grateful for your help.

would you mind explaining why embedding is such a problem and when is it safe to embed an image? thanks again!

[Jongware]

It should not be a problem and it should always be safe to embed an image. If it weren't, Adobe would not have included the very option.

However: it is to be expected that your overall file size increases dramatically. A single typical high-resolution bitmap image can be as large as (wait, let me check) 21MB, which happens to be a relatively small (at 100% size) PSD image with a few layers. There is a cap on the amount of actual memory an application can use, and so InDesign has to rely on the hard disk to read and write those huge chunks of data when called for.

With that, you are at the mercy of your operating system (which may help or hinder) and your hard disk. An even worse case is when you are working over a network connection as it may introduce further random delays and lagging, where InDesign actually can't wait because you are scrolling through the document and you want to see the next page.

Furthermore, I've long suspected there are one or more tiny bugs somewhere in InDesign's memory management ... Even with a good OS and an otherwise reliable HD, people have reported damaged files for as long as I have been on this forum. And it always turned out they embedded their huge images -- it can hardly be pure coincidence. [A point in favor of that theory is that despite the addition of various new features such as a dark UI and Publish Online, the very kernel of InDesign file management has not changed a single bit since at least InDesign CS, and its files are virtually indistinguishable from CC 2018's.]

I've never (well, hardly ever) willfully embedded images and always have relied on linking. That has some pitfalls on its own. Our local network sometimes lags so much that InDesign fails to load a high-res image on demand when creating a high-res printing PDF, and it then silently may include the bitmap preview instead. Fortunately that's a rare occasion ...

But it doesn't mean I am immune to the Inflating File Syndrome: there is a weird internal calculation ID pulls off to guesstimate a good preview size, and for some combinations of size, scaling, and resolution, the preview (which is always stored inside the file!) is as large, or even larger, than the original file.

[stuartm54046563]

Bob,

why would the document open in ID2017 with no problems and not in ID2018?

Cheers....Scotty

[SanyamTalwar]

Please email your InDesign file to santalwa@adobe.com and I will take a look at the document. You can zip (and password protect) the file and upload to Creative Cloud account (or Dropbox) and send us the document link.

[keniaz98269052]

I'm having the same problem. Everything was working fine on CC2017.

I just reinstalled all my adobe programs to a new computer and a high end monitor. My Photoshop was crashing because I had the wrong media card. Problem solved .But now I cant open indesign.

[Barb Binder]

Start by resetting preferences. If the first method outlined in the link below doesn't work, try the second one:

Troubleshooting 101: Replace, or "trash" your InDesign preferences

~Barb

[laureng270291]

Hello, I have the same problem with my file! Is there any chance you can assist?

[vidaljm2014]

I had the same problem today after installing the update. I followed the instructions in the link above about resetting preferences and it worked. I'd recommend trying that.

[Laubender]

laureng270291  wrote

Hello, I have the same problem with my file! Is there any chance you can assist?

Hi laureng270291 ,

did you also embed your placed images?
How huge is your InDesign document in file size?
What OS are you one?

Regards,
Uwe

[carycrusiau]

I have the same problem. I use to embed my placed images because I encountered many problems with links and packages (lost links). My files are between 2 and 3GB. They open in just a few seconds in CC 2017 and won't open in CC 2018

[BobLevine]

Documents that size are prone to corruption. Open it in CC2017, unembed those links and do a save as to a new file.

[carycrusiau]

Come on! The file is not corrupted. It opens in CC 2017 in under of one second. And I never encountered any so-called "corruption" until CC 2018. Why allow embedding if a 2GB is "that big" it's "prone to corruption"

[BobLevine]

Why are cars capable of 120 MPH speeds if it's illegal on 99.99% of roads in the world.

Embedding a few small graphics is fine. Blowing up a file to 2-3 GB is just a horrible workflow.

Sorry you don't like the answer but that's just the way it is.

[carycrusiau]

CC 2017 is working fine. CC 2018 is not. But, ok, it's not Adobe's fault, it's my horrible workflow. Well noted!

[BobLevine]

You got lucky up til now. I've given you the best advice you're going to get, but if you want to keep playing with fire, that's your business.

Good luck.