indesign publish online cover image not displaying in Facebook

[Deborah Slater]

Hi. I've used the Publish Online capability for many InDesign documents, and this has never happened before. When I choose to share this document on Facebook, instead of the cover image, I get a generic image. Why? I'm not doing anything differently than ever before....

[Whtlions333]

Just thought I'd add this... its June 2025 and still no solution to this question.  Adobe Indesign Publish can't share thumbnail images on social media, period.  As the other members said, it used to.. but I've exhausted every possible solution and I dont want to use Canva and learn all over again, but this is just ridiculous.  Thumbnails are so important on SM and its misleading that Publish says it can when it cannot.  Has ANYONE been able to share a thumbnail from Indesign Publish on Social Media in 2025?    Just a straight up answer would be so nice. 

[leo.r]

Has ANYONE been able to share a thumbnail from Indesign Publish on Social Media in 2025?

By @Whtlions333

Unlikely:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/why-isn-t-my-cover-thumbnail-appearing-when-i-po...

[rvdebby]

Nope. It's one of the things that kept me as a subscriber and it hasn't worked for 3 years now. Other companies do not have this issue.  It is pricier than other options, but I have a lot of files that have been created that I still want to use. This might be the deal breaker. 

[SUPAYADA]

I'm having trouble with my cover thumbnail not showing up when I share my content on Facebook.
Could you please help me understand why this might be happening and what steps I can take to fix it?

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

What EXACTLY are you sharing - and how? 

[numbernine]

"I'm using the "Publish Online" feature within InDesign and when I share to Facebook, the cover thumbnail image doesn't appear. I've tried everything, including reducing the image file size." 

[Derek Cross]

Take a screen shot of the page you wish to display from the document (or a separate JPG) and add that to the Facebook post with the Publish Online link.

[numbernine]

I understand, but I want it to show up when I post. I've tried to find a solution countless times but can't fix it. I want to use Adobe Publish Online and have it display a Cover Thumbnail when I share it.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@numbernine

Link you paste - is just a bunch of characters. 

Previews are "fetched" from the source by the website / service you place your link on - if they can't / are unable to extract this preview - there is nothing else you can do.

[numbernine]

Even if I set it in the Advanced tab when I Publish Document Online, it still doesn't show? I've attached a picture. Why?

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@numbernine

Those are the options in the "source" - service that hosts your file.

It's up to the "destination" - website / service where you place your link - to be able to "fetch" this preview. 

You can make a test - don't finish posting your reply here - but take any YouTube link and place in the body of your message. 

At first, nothing will happen, it will be just a link in the text form - but after a few seconds - THIS forum will show you preview served by YouTube. 

But it happens ONLY because this forum have an option to recognise that your link is a YouTube link and knows how to extract preview from YouTube. 

So, if after placing your link on Facebook - Facebook doesn't have "import filter" / module to extract preview from Adobe's Publish Online service - there is nothing you can do. 

[numbernine]

Thank you very much for the explanation, I understand. But does that mean there's no solution? Because the problem is that the image can't be pulled from Adobe Publish Online to show. Should I look for another publishing channel that can display a cover thumbnail?

[Peaceful_videographer98C6]

I'm having the same issue and came here to find a solution.  I don't understand the suggested explanation and I am a novice and cutting and pasting is way beyond my skill set.  Is this just a bug that has to be ironed out?

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

I'm having the same issue and came here to find a solution.  I don't understand the suggested explanation and I am a novice and cutting and pasting is way beyond my skill set.  Is this just a bug that has to be ironed out?

By @Peaceful_videographer98C6

"ai" looking for a better explanation? 

[Derek Cross]

Why can't you post the Publish Online link in the Facebook page field then add your image using the Add Photos/Video button ?

[rvdebby]

We can do that part- but it doesn't work.. just some text that does not attract attention from readers. 

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@numbernine

Image can be pulled out - is available - but Facebook can't do this.

So you need to either find a different "source" - or just place image yourself.

[leo.r]

You may need to use Facebook's Sharing Debugger first:

https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/

I know I had to do this for the previews of my own web pages to show up on Facebook.

[numbernine]

I've tried this method and looked for answers in other forums, but I haven't found a solution. I still want to use it for publishing because it would be very convenient for sharing and editing files.

[leo.r]

I've tried this method and looked for answers in other forums, but I haven't found a solution. I still want to use it for publishing because it would be very convenient for sharing and editing files.

By @numbernine

I can reproduce the problem you report, that is that previews of Publish Online files don't appear on social media.

I tried both the First Page and Upload Image options in the Publish Online settings.

In both cases, the Facebook debugger eventually showed this error (although it doesn't look like you got this particular error):

Naturally, I have no idea what it means. But, apparently, whatever causes this error is the reason why the preview doesn't appear on social media.

You can try to submit it as a bug to Adobe:

https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs

Maybe they at least will look into this and clarify whether the problem is on their side or on the other side (whatever that other side is).

[SUPAYADA]

I sent this issue to Facebook too. Thank you for help.

[Abhishek Rao]

Hello @SUPAYADA & @numbernine,

Thanks for reporting this issue. I'm currently checking with the product team to get more insight on this behavior with Publish Online links not displaying a thumbnail when shared on Facebook.

I'll follow up here as soon as I have more information to share.

Abhishek

[SUPAYADA]

Thanks for helping me figure out this issue. I've tried everything, but I'm still unsure if the problem lies with my InDesign file, the cover image (thumbnail) I posted, the Facebook sharing system, or my internet connection.

[leo.r]

Just for a fuller picture: this issue affects not only Facebook but all major social media (that is, Twitter and LinkedIn). 

[Atapp]

Here’s a bug I found.

When uploading a JPG as a separate cover image the Publish online converts it to cover.png. This PNG is not converted correctly. The file meta data says it's a JPG.

1. Posting the direct link to the cover.png on Facebook is not resolving the image

2. I download and open the cover.png in Photoshop and look at the File information panel. It says Format: Image/jpeg

It this special use case (JPG separate uploaded cover image) the Facebook Sharing Debugger is actually correct.

Provided og:image URL, https://indd.adobe.com/view/publication/67dd8819-f972-476b-ae65-18a7066a2516/8s89/Thumbnails/Share/s... could not be processed as an image because it has an invalid content type.

The bigger mystery is that when using the first page as cover image (the default setting) the produced cover.png is NOT having meta file type problems. But the Sharing Debugger still shows the same error. 

I grab the cover.png URL and paste in Facebook the image is NOT resolved. But downloading it, then uploading it as image to Facebook, they accept it. So the standard use case produces a PNG with no file type problem, it's accepted by Facebook outside the Adobe envorinment, but not accepted when read inside the same.