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Participant
November 21, 2018
Answered

Indesign CC 2019 - PDF export automatically opening in Illustrator

  • November 21, 2018
  • 6 replies
  • 9984 views

Ever since updating to the new CC 2019, I am having trouble with exporting a PDF from Indesign.

It used to open automatically in preview or Acrobat to view, and now it is automatically opening and importing into Illustrator.

Super annoying and time consuming!

Do you know how to set it back so it pops up just as a preview?

Thank you!

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Eugene Tyson

    Seems like at some point you set your default application for PDFs to be Illustrator.

    Change default programs in Windows 10

    1. On the Start menu, select Settings .
    2. Select Apps > Default apps.
    3. Select which default you want to set, and then choose the app. You can also get new apps in Microsoft Store. ...
    4. To choose default apps by file type (for example, .pdf files), scroll down and select Choose default apps by file type.

    https://www.imore.com/how-set-mac-app-default-when-opening-file

    6 replies

    juliae68860090
    Participant
    June 21, 2019
    Participant
    December 19, 2019

    (On a Mac) Changing the default program worked for me. 

    1. In your Finder, right click on the file and select "Get Info"
    2. Scroll down to "Open With" and select Adobe Acrobat in the dropdown. 
    3. Click the "Change All" button

    Should fix the issue. 

     

    I now see that this is the same info as in the link that juliae68860090 posted, merp. Well here's the steps written out. Hopefully they're useful for someone. 🙂

    hebas95762306
    Participant
    November 25, 2021

    This worked for me, thank you

     

    Participating Frequently
    April 18, 2019

    Having this same issue in Mac OSX 10.12.6, so the Windows fix doesn't work. It was fine one day, just started making Ai PDFs the next day. In the Finder icon view window, they appear as normal PDFs. In the list view, they appear as Illustrator icon documents even after making sure that Acrobat is the preferred application for opening the file. Something weird is going on Adobe.

    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    April 18, 2019

    Right click, choose get info, change the file association there.

    Participating Frequently
    April 18, 2019

    Have done that. But it still doesn't stop Indesign from exporting a PDF with the Ai app icon.

    Participant
    April 3, 2019

    I had to uninstall the actual Illustrator app ( cc 2019) after that I didn't have any problem saving my InDesign document as pdf. Might not be the ideal solution if you need to use illustrator cc but temporary it works for sure, hope this helps.

    Participant
    March 25, 2019

    The answer marked correct doesn't really solve the issue. This is something that happened in the latest Adobe update and using that solution still means those PDFs have the illustrator icon.

    Adobe... any update???

    Participating Frequently
    November 21, 2018

    For me it happened only after updating Illustrator... Clearly something in the Creative Cloud installation process:

    #InDesign PDFs with Illustrator icons #CC2019 Problem - YouTube

    Participant
    November 25, 2018

    Your tip is great but the file is still an ai file, so it's not annoying on my computer, but when i'll open this file on an another computer which have not ai, i can't...

    elinajidekrans
    Participant
    March 12, 2019

    Did you figure it out? I have the same problem

    Eugene TysonCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    November 21, 2018

    Seems like at some point you set your default application for PDFs to be Illustrator.

    Change default programs in Windows 10

    1. On the Start menu, select Settings .
    2. Select Apps > Default apps.
    3. Select which default you want to set, and then choose the app. You can also get new apps in Microsoft Store. ...
    4. To choose default apps by file type (for example, .pdf files), scroll down and select Choose default apps by file type.

    https://www.imore.com/how-set-mac-app-default-when-opening-file