InDesign does not save PDF export settings

[KCH LTD]

InDesign (InDesign 20.5.0.48). no longer saves file-specific PDF settings. Every time I attempt to generate a PDF, InDesign defaults to the settings used most recently (from an unrelated file). As a result, I have to manually set my PDF settings every time I generate a PDF. Is there a fix for this? Thanks.

[leo.r]

Yes, I can reproduce it. Definitely a new bug. 

EDIT Aug20/25: ...or maybe not new! see discussion below.

[stevej61370215]

It's not a new bug for some of us. This feature has NEVER worked for us since it was introduced. InDesign always just remembers the most recently used settings from another unrelated file, so we've had this bug for around 6 years.

So, that's the behaviour we have been seeing since the 'feature' was introduced back in 2019 or whenever it was. We have tried many times to find out why it didn't work but have never had any success.

While I don't really wish this inconvenience on other people, from a purely selfish point of view if it does raise the issue with Adobe again then perhaps they'll fix it this time… hopefully.

[leo.r]

It's not a new bug for some of us.

By @stevej61370215

Yes, I remember that recent discussion:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/last-export-format-not-being-remembered/m-p/1544...

The bug discussed in this new thread is still a bit different though as it only affects PDF settings. I still can't reproduce the specific issues you described (that is, the last used format is still saved for me for each particular document, as expected). But it could be a part of the same problem.

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @KCH LTD,

Thanks for sharing the details. I was able to reproduce the behavior you described with PDF export settings in InDesign 20.5. I'm currently checking with the product team to understand whether this is expected or a potential bug.

I'll update you as soon as I have more information.

Thanks for your patience,
Abhishek

[Eugene Tyson · Accepted solution]

It's always been like that in InDesign. It doesn't remember the PDF settings of the files. 

I think it does in Illustrator. 

[KCH LTD]

Hmm … that’s not been my experience, Eugene. For me (and other users, I presume) InDesign saved PDF settings when I saved the file. I never used to have to reconfigure them unless I wanted to change something.

[leo.r]

It's always been like that in InDesign. It doesn't remember the PDF settings of the files. 

By @Eugene Tyson

Hmm... You're right! I just checked both InDesign 20.4 and InDesign 2024, and PDF export settings indeed are not saved with files (the last used settings are always used regardless of the file). Admittedly, I never noticed that (maybe due to specific patterns of my PDF export usage). So I corrected my earlier post that it's "definitely a new bug".

However, @KCH LTD does claim that his experience has been different so I'm not sure what it all means.

[KCH LTD]

To clarify, my experience is that until Id 2025, Indesign would save unique PDF settings with every file. With Id 2025, that feature has disappeared.

[leo.r]

To clarify, my experience is that until Id 2025, Indesign would save unique PDF settings with every file. With Id 2025, that feature has disappeared.

By @KCH LTD

I wonder if you can confirm that it does work for you as you describe in InDesign 2024 right now? You can install InDesign 2024 from the Creative Cloud app (as you know anyway). Like I mentioned, I've just tried InDesign 2024 and it also didn't save unique PDF settings for each file.

[Eugene Tyson]

You're mistaken unfortunately - it's the way it always has been.

[KCH LTD]

Thank you Eugene. But that’s simply not accurate in my case.

[Eugene Tyson]

Well nothing else I can say to convince you - there's another person saying the exact same thing. I can't force you to believe me. There's no way to force InDesign to use the same PDF settings per file. It always has the last used PDF setting as the one selected in the options. 

Nothing you or I or anyone else can do about it. 

P.s. I'd be surprised if there is a case where it is remembering the PDf settings per file. 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/document-doesn-t-retain-pdf-export-settings/m-p/...

It's in the help files
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/exporting-publishing-pdf.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com

It says it's solved here
https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601021-adobe-indesign-feature-requests/suggestions/20396314-th...

But I am not using 2025 version

I'm still using 2023 - so I might not have come across the 'feature' yet. 

[KCH LTD]

Eugene, I’m not sure what you’re trying to convince me of here. Is it that what I (and others, apparently) formerly experienced didn’t really happen?

[leo.r]

Eugene, I’m not sure what you’re trying to convince me of here. Is it that what I (and others, apparently) formerly experienced didn’t really happen?

By @KCH LTD

Something indeed seems to be uncertain with this behavior...

As @Eugene Tyson mentioned, it's actually in Adobe docs:

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/exporting-publishing-pdf.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com#:~:text=...

However, as evident from other threads, some users had a different experience.

I also now recall that many years ago, around 2007-2009, some users specifically asked me to use the existing PDF export settings of each InDesign document (that is, the settings saved with each document) for certain batch export projects.

Like I already asked, I wonder if you can confirm that right now you experience the same behavior in InDesign 2024? This would help get further to the bottom of this issue.

[davecourtemanche]

Eugene's statement is true in my (and my team's) case. I'll one up you and say that it's not even the last PDF export. I use the same PDF export preset 90% of the type. On random occassions it will default to an Interactive preset, or even a JPG export, when I have been doing either of those that day...

[Eugene Tyson]

As I mentioned earlier, Illustrator does retain the PDF settings, but InDesign doesn’t.

It’s possible you might be remembering it differently, or I could be mistaken myself. There are a few threads about this already, and the Adobe help docs also point in that direction.

If I’m wrong, I’m happy to hold my hands up, but in my 25 years of using InDesign I’ve never seen the PDF settings stored with the file. In fact, it’s something that’s even been raised in the official feature request forum.

I’m not trying to say one of us is right and the other is wrong. I just think the evidence, along with my own experience and what others have shared, supports the idea that this is how InDesign has always worked.

It might be different in 2024 and 2025 i can test tomorrow. 

Again if I'm wrong that's fine. I'd like to know too.

[KCH LTD]

Thanks, everyone, for your help. It remains an unsolved mystery.

[Eugene Tyson]

I still can't find any evidence to support that InDesign files ever stored PDF settings. Maybe you had a plugin or a script or something. 

Everything indicates InDesign files don't store PDF settings.

[KCH LTD]

I don’t use plug-ins or scripts. My only evidence that this existed previously is my own experience (and that of other users).

Sidebar: it makes little sense that this feature would be built into Illustrator and not InDesign. I have generated countless PDFs for release to printers or other third-party vendors since migrating to InDesign from Quark (which I migrated to from Freehand … which I migrated to from Pagemaker), and maybe 2% were Illustrator files. InDesign needs this feature; Illustrator does not (granted, everyone’s workflow is different … ).

Again, thanks everyone. I can’t solve a problem that nobody acknowledges exists.

[leo.r]

I can’t solve a problem that nobody acknowledges exists.

By @KCH LTD

I'm still curious what kind of behavior you witness right now under the current conditions in InDesign 2024 (19.x).

[KCH LTD]

Thanks, leo.r. I haven’t had time to re-download Id 2024 to see if it works. I need to do that.

[Eugene Tyson]

Sidebar: it makes little sense that this feature would be built into Illustrator and not InDesign. I have generated countless PDFs for release to printers or other third-party vendors since migrating to InDesign from Quark (which I migrated to from Freehand … which I migrated to from Pagemaker), and maybe 2% were Illustrator files. InDesign needs this feature; Illustrator does not (granted, everyone’s workflow is different … ).

Again, thanks everyone. I can’t solve a problem that nobody acknowledges exists.

By @KCH LTD

They are two different sets of teams, they are not collobarating on how things work. Each team make their own decisions. 

For Illustator, you can save it with a PDF compatible in the background for previews in other apps. But I doubt this would keep any PDF settings as it hasn't been saved as PDF. 

They only thing I can think of is Illustrator saving the PDF with Illustrator Editing Capabilities, (that is now the opposite of above with a .ai structure saved with the PDF. 

For these PDFs saved from Illustrator that can be edited back in Illustrator, I have noticed it retainst he PDF settings. 

I haven't witnessed it elsewhere in any other Adobe software.