InDesign CS6 crash when open a PMD (PageMaker) file

[Thong Al]

Hello,

I have a PMD file from an old friend, whose hobby is writing. His lifetime work is a 1000-page book, written by PageMaker 6.5 on an old Mac. However, when I try to open it in InDesign CS6 to see and probably publish it, InDesign CS6 on both Mac and Windows crashes while opening. I have the crash log from my Mac, which can be found at: (add later).

The crashed process is com.adobe.MPS. Is it safe to assume that this is due to the lack of font on my computer?

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

After all the technical exchanges, I am thinking that the odds of getting this file to a usable ID format through any kind of simple import or conversion are just about nil. Or at a minimum, far from the efficient workflow.

I'd go back to the author and ask for a save/export in a more universal format like PDF, then reconstruct the book in ID from components. Or export the PM file to components (like a clean text file) and work from there. At a certain point, remodeling becomes a lot more work than just rebuilding. A 1,000 page book with embedded illustrations from PM6 is... not a stable foundation.

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[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

It's doable. The OP and I are just waiting for the author to approve me to look at the file. If it turns out it's truly corrupted, then all options are out anyway.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

You're one of the last people I'd question on that. 🙂

I've just learned over many such projects there's a time to quit expending effort trying to take the short route.

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[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Just an update:

Yah, this was at toughie, but I was finally able to convert the file to InDesign and extract 99% of the images (there were over 400 in the file). The new files are on their way to the OP!

It turned out the file was created with the Japanese version of PM6.5 (the file is in Vietnamese), and that was probably the root cause of it crashing, as many of the links included non-western characters in the file names.

Regardless, the PM file was definitely corrupt, but what I was finally able to do was convert it to [shudder] Quark of all things using PM2Q (still had that!!) and was able to determine from that file which images were causing a concern. Once I sorted out the suspect file links, I was able to convert directly to InDesign without it crashing!

Fun stuff.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

1) I know exactly what you mean. But.

2) You spell "fun" strangely. 🙂

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[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

"2) You spell "fun" strangely. 🙂"

Ha! Yah, I do.

Blame the pandemic for me having a lot of free time on my hands.

Plus, I like the challenge of it.

Others do needlepoint.