InDesign Not Exporting Images

Forum|Forum|8 months ago
June 4, 2025
2 replies
889 views

I've already had this issue before... InDesign export PDF refuses to export any images. Some are PNG embedded and some are linked PDFs both don't show up. Why does this keep happening?

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @superbloom421,

Thanks so much for sharing these updates and the screenshot. I completely understand how frustrating this must be.

I recommend moving your InDesign file along with all linked assets to a fully local drive and making sure the files are completely synced and available offline (not stored as 'online-only' or on-demand). Once everything is local, try exporting the PDF again to see if the images export correctly on the first attempt.

Could you also confirm your exact InDesign version and OS details? Please let me know if this happens with brand-new files as well, or only with specific existing ones. If possible, it would be really helpful if you could share a sample file for us to test. If the file is confidential, you can send it via DM on the community. Before sharing, please package the file using this guide: https://adobe.ly/4eTyuPN

Looking forward to your update!

Abhishek

BobLevine

Community Expert

Are they set as non-printing? Are they on a non-printing layer?

Can you post the file?

superbloom421Author

Known Participant

No issues like that. I just keep exporting it over and over and eventually it will include the images. No idea why. Another one of the many joys of CC... /s

Joel Cherney

Community Expert

Yes they are on Google Drive and Creative Cloud Library. Any ideas?

I keep exporting it over and over and usually on the 5th try it exports properly.

Yes they are on Google Drive and Creative Cloud Library. Any ideas?

Never heard of anything like this, to be honest.

I read Anubhav's comment as suggesting that you try all the permutations. That is, if your files are local, have you tried moving them to Google Drive? If they're on an external or removable drive, have you tried moving them to your local hard drive? Have you tried a PDF export run with all links moved to your local drive? Or just Google Drive, or just the CC Library?

My gut feeling is that they will all export correctly if you have your InDesign file and your Links folder on your local hard drive. That doesn't solve your issue, but at least it would narrow down the cause.

Something else to consider: roughly what size PDFs have you placed in your INDD? Some workflows accidentally create huge PDFs, and I can imagine attempting to grab the image data for a 3-gig PDF from Google Drive might time out without a meaningful error when exporting a PDF.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded