InDesign Crashing When Importing PDF Comments

Hey folks,

since the crashes keep happening, I kept  searching for a better solution, less time consuming than exporting the PDF from the ID file which may take quite some time. I think I may have found a more viable solution, simple to do and very quick. Let's say between 30s and 1 min. Through the use of scripts it may even become quicker, but using script in Acrobat is a bit cumbersome to me.

The sequence is :

- From Adobe Acrobat, export the comments as Data File, ie .fdf (from the menu in the comments panel.)

- Delete the comments, either manually or via script (see below). I didn't find any easy way to delete them. "Select all" shortcut doesn't seem to work apparently.

- Save the PDF as PDF/X (for some reasons, I get an error if I try to save the PDF if there are still the comments in it. Therefore, comments have to be exported/ deleted before creating a new PDF/X)

- Import the .fdf Data file and save the PDF (usual way)

- Go to Indesign and import the pdf comments. There should be no crash. I had none so far.

Code for deleting the comment all at once:

syncAnnotScan();              // Force Acrobat to scan/synchronize the document's annotations
var annots = getAnnots();     // Retrieve all annotations from the active PDF
var i; 
for (i = (annots.length - 1); i > -1; i -= 1) {
    annots[i].destroy();      // Delete each annotation (one by one, starting from the end)
}

Hope it will help someone at some point ^^

Fred

Hey there,

I'm jumping in to share my expericence about it.

I had this issue many (like, a great many) times. Going for PDF/X-4 doesn't work very well for me. However going for PDF/X-3 does solve it most of the time.

Which means, practically speaking:

- Export the ID file using PDF/X-3

- Export .fdf from old PDF

- Import .fdf in the new PDF/X-3 generated

- Import PDF comments of the new PDF in ID

I understand that importing comments in smaller sets may help as well, but it's a no go when you have hundreds of comments in a pdf. It would very time consuming. I wish we could also import a .fdf file in ID, rather than just a PDF. That would help as well.

We are a company that makes books for the game industry and the use of PDF comments is extensively used. I would say I'm dealing with about 300 commented pdf per year. Some of the pdf may have as much as 400+ comments in them.

Being able to import comments in an ID file is a HUGE help for saving time. 

Thank you for having this feature in Indesign. It's gold!

Hi @INSTITUTO25076188l1zi,

I’m sorry to hear that you’re experiencing issues with importing PDF comments into InDesign. To help troubleshoot, could you please share the following details?

1. Version of InDesign you’re currently using.
2. Operating System (OS) details.
3. Is this issue occurring with a specific PDF file, or are you experiencing it with multiple files?

Additionally, it would be helpful if you could share a screen recording that demonstrates the entire workflow leading up to the crash. This will give us a clearer picture of what might be causing the problem.

For now, here are a few steps that might help resolve the issue:

1. Sometimes, certain PDF comments can cause issues. You can try importing the comments in smaller batches to identify if any specific comment is causing the crash.

2. Try resetting preferences of InDesign. To do this, hold down Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows) or Cmd+Option+Shift (Mac) while launching InDesign. Reference: https://adobe.ly/40hOqWY

3. If the issue persists with a specific file, try recreating the PDF or saving it with a different PDF version (e.g., PDF/X-1a) and then attempt the import again.

Let me know if any of these solutions work or if the issue continues. Looking forward to your response!

Best,

Abhishek Rao