InDesign Export is creating empty folders instead of PDF files

[jfraze]

Why is ID exporting only empty folders instead of PDF files? This is only happening (so far) with one document, but it's unfortunately one of our template files from which we produce a lot of our pages. I get no error message. It goes through the normal process as if it's exporting the PDF, but nothing is created but an empty folder with the name of the layout.

I've tried restarting ID and rebooting the computer. I've tried exporting to a different drive. I'd hate to have to rebuild this entire template with all it's master pages to fix this. Any idea what might be wrong?

[BobLevine]

You can start with version of InDesign and operating system along with PDF export settings.

[jfraze]

Is this normal behavior in some versions of InDesign?? Since ID can only be used by subscription, is it possible I could be working in something other than InDesign 2024?

The splash screen says its v. 19.3 if that makes a difference. The icon in the Dock asserts it's 2024.

OS is Mac Monterey 12.7.4

Here's the summary of export options. Anything weird in there I may have inadvertently changed?

Description
[Based on '[High Quality Print]'] Use these settings to create Adobe PDF documents for quality printing on desktop printers and proofers. Created PDF documents can be opened with Acrobat and Adobe Reader 5.0 and later.

PDF Preset: [High Quality Print] (modified)

Compatibility: Acrobat 5 (PDF 1.4)

Standards Compliance: None

General
Pages: All
Spreads: Off
View: Default
Layout: Default
Full Screen: Off
Generate Thumbnails: Off
Optimize PDF: On
Create Acrobat Layers: N/A
Export Layers: Visible and Printable Layers
Include Bookmarks: Off
Include Hyperlinks: Off
Export Nonprinting Objects: Off
Export Visible Guides and Baseline Grids: Off
Create Tagged PDF: On
Interactive Elements: Do Not Include
&Create Separate PDF Files: On
Include Hidden Spreads: Off

Compression
Color Images
Bicubic Downsample at: 300 ppi
for images above: 450 ppi
Compression: Automatic
Tile Size: N/A
Quality: Maximum

Grayscale Images
Bicubic Downsample at: 300 ppi
for images above: 450 ppi
Compression: Automatic
Tile Size: N/A
Quality: Maximum

Monochrome Images
Bicubic Downsample at: 1200 ppi
for images above: 1800 ppi
Compression: CCITT Group 4

Compress Text and Line Art: On
Crop Image Data to Frames: On

Marks and Bleeds
Crop Marks: On
Bleed Marks: Off
Registration Marks: Off
Color Bars: Off
Page Information: On
Page Mark Type: Default
Weight: 0.25 pt
Offset: 0p6
Use Document Bleed Settings: Off
Bleed Top: 0p0
Bleed Bottom: 0p0
Bleed Inside: 0p0
Bleed Outside: 0p0
Include Slug Area: Off

Output
Color Conversion: No Color Conversion
Destination: N/A
Profile Inclusion Policy: Include Tagged Source Profiles

Simulate Overprint: N/A
Output Intent Profile Name: N/A
Output Condition: N/A
Output Condition Identifier: N/A
Registry Name: N/A

Advanced
Subset Fonts Below: 100%
Omit PDF: Off
Omit EPS: Off
Omit Bitmap Images: Off
Transparency Flattener Preset: N/A
Ignore Spread Overrides: N/A
Display Title: File Name
Language: English: USA

Security
N/A

Warnings

[BobLevine]

Nobody is forced to upgrade so yes, there are plenty of folks using older versions. Two things to try:

1. Since this is only happening with one files, export it to IDML and then try working with that.
2. Current version of ID is 19.4 so run that update to get yourself up to date.

[jfraze]

No, still not working, either from the idml file or from a new indt file created from the idml file. Still just makes an empty folder with the name of the document.

Our IT guy normally handles upgrades. I thought the subscription was set to automatically keep up to date. Will it work with Monterey if I take the initiative? (Photoshop 2024 seems to want Sonoma.)

[leo.r]

@jfraze 

> &Create Separate PDF Files: On

Try to disable it - will it make a difference?

[BobLevine]

The major issues with Sonoma seem to be worked out so that should be safe but of course, a full back up is not a bad idea.

You say it's creating a folder? I think Leo is on to something here with the separate PDF files. Try the suggestion of turning it off and saving a single PDF.

[jfraze]

That stopped it from making the folder, anyway. Still not making any PDFs. Now it just closes the dialog and nothing at all happens.

I did notice that if I look at the folder where I'm saving it, the PDF appears for a second or so then disappears, presumably as ID is attempting and failing to save it. Wish it would at least give me an error message.

Also, I can open the idml file in QuarkXPress and it will save a PDF without a problem from there. But it makes changes to the layout in the conversion so that's not really a practical solution.

[leo.r]

I did notice that if I look at the folder where I'm saving it, the PDF appears for a second or so then disappears, presumably as ID is attempting and failing to save it.

Also, I can open the idml file in QuarkXPress and it will save a PDF without a problem from there

By @jfraze

If you save from InDesign to your user Documents folder, will it make a difference? 

Also, try to grant InDesign Full Disk Access in System Settings > Privacy & Security.

[jfraze]

It's only this document. Other ID files make PDFs as expected, so it's not the save location or disk access.
I think I'm just going to have to start from scratch and re-build this one page at a time.

[BobLevine]

Were these originally Quark files?

[jfraze · Accepted solution]

Turns out it's the font Frutiger Roman. I've tried replacing it with three different versions, TrueType, OpenType and even our old Postscript Type 1, but if any Frutiger Roman of any kind is in any page it fails to make a PDF. I'll just find a different font, I guess. (And yes I know Adobe no longer supports Type 1, it was just an experiment to see if the results or warnings might be different.)