Linked InDesign 20.5 Files Rasterize When Exporting from InDesign 21.0

[grupa 3 druks45568294]

Good morning,

I’m having an issue with Adobe InDesign 2026 v21.0.
In my project, I have two linked InDesign files – one created in the newest version of the program, and the other in an older version 2025 v20.5.

When exporting to PDF, I noticed that the file originating from the older version of InDesign is exported as an RGB bitmap with a resolution of 72 PPI, while the newer one exports correctly and retains vector data.

In InDesign’s preview, everything looks fine – the issue appears only after exporting to PDF.


<Title renamed by MOD>

[Anubhav M]

Hello @grupa 3 druks45568294,

Thanks for reaching out. Could you share a link to sample files after uploading them to a file-sharing service, so we can check this behavior on our end?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

[grupa 3 druks45568294]

I’m sending the complete set of files. 
avocado_print.indd is the main file that contains links to the other InDesign files.

[grupa 3 druks45568294]

I can`t send AI files.. 
The attachment's avocado21.ai content type (application/postscript) does not match its file extension and has been removed.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @grupa 3 druks45568294,

Sorry for the late response. Could you upload all of the files to a file-sharing service and share a link to the folder here, so we can check it on our end?

Note: While sharing the files kindly make the link public and enable the option to Save a Copy or Download (if any).

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

[grupa 3 druks45568294]

Sure, link below
https://we.tl/t-YtOQJRKlkv

[Abhishek Rao]

Hello @grupa 3 druks45568294,

I appreciate you sharing the files. I have tested your workflow on my side, and I noticed that both of my linked files (linked from 20.5 and 21.1) are being rasterized in the exported PDF. To help identify the issue, could you please save the 20.5 document as an IDML, then open that IDML in InDesign 21.0 and save it again as a new INDD? After that, relink it in your primary 21.0 file and export to PDF to see if the problem is resolved.

It would also be very useful if you could provide a brief screen recording demonstrating how you are linking the 20.5 file and the 21.0 file within the main 21.0 document before exporting to PDF. This way, I can verify the exact export settings and align the workflow on my end.

I look forward to your response.

Abhishek

[jasonj9348717]

Since updating to InDesign 2026 all placed InDesign files have exported at an extremely low resolution regardless of what PDF preset is used. It never happened in previous version sof InDesign. We place all of our advertising as InDesign files and now we are unable to produce a usable PDF to send as a proof or as a print ready file.

I've attached screenshots here of the placed InDesign file which previews perfectly clear in InDesign and also the resulting PDF when exported using the High Quality Print preset.

Nothing has changed at all for us other than updating InDesign. The placed InDesign files have also been made using the same version of InDesign.

[tonks_the_auror]

Windows or Mac, OS version?

On my MacBook Pro, Ventura 13.7.8, I get the same result as you. Export the original InDesign file to PDF looks good. Place the original InDesign file into InDesign and export, looks low-res.

On my Windows 11 desktop, exporting an InDesign file containing a placed InDesign file to PDF results in a blank page.

Sorry I can't help, all I can do is confirm that this is happening to me also.

[jasonj9348717]

Mac OS both Sonoma and Tahoe

[leo.r]

Just to confirm that this is an InDesign 2026 problem: please try to export the same file with exactly the same settings from InDesign 2025 (you can download it from the Creative Cloud app, if needed). I know you already mentioned you didn't have issues with earlier InDesign versions, but this test will help confidently associate this issue with InDesign 2026.

[jasonj9348717]

We can still export using InDesign 2025 files placed inside another InDesign 2025 file.

We can't export either InDesign 2025 or 2026 files placed in an InDesign 2026 file.

We've also tried saving the files as idml and saving again, but that gave us the same pixellated results. We've tried it on multiple Macs and two different OS. All other placed files export as expected, it only appears to affect placed InDesign files. We've had to replace all placed INDD files with a PDF and were able to export the documents with success. 

We prefer using placed INDD files as if we make any changes to the source file the lnk will display as modified in the links panel. If we have to switch to using PDFs, this will mean we'll need to make sure we export all ads as PDF every time a change is made. It is far more convenient and reliable to only have to update one file.

[Abhishek Rao]

Hello @jasonj9348717 and everyone participating in this discussion,

I appreciate all the information shared thus far. I have also tested this issue on my end and can confirm that the low-resolution output occurs when exporting PDFs from InDesign 2026 with embedded INDD files. I have reported this as a bug to our product team, and they are currently investigating it.

I will continue to monitor the situation internally and will provide updates here as soon as we receive further information from the team. Thank you for your patience, and I appreciate you bringing this to our attention.

I look forward to keeping you informed here.

Best regards,
Abhishek

[Ewen_Cameron6812]

Summary of Issue

I’m experiencing severe image corruption when exporting PDFs from brochures that contain imported InDesign files(INDD placed into an INDD layout). The corruption appears as multi-colour stripes running across images.

This began recently—something has changed between now and earlier InDesign versions.

What I’ve Already Done

• Resaved every imported InDesign file into the latest InDesign version

• Replaced/updated all linked INDD files

• Re-exported the brochure to PDF — this initially worked

• One week later, after making a single text update to the main brochure and re-exporting, the image corruption returned, even though all files are already in the latest format.

• Previous versions of InDesign (2018–2025) exported these same projects without any issues.

Impact

This is a production-critical problem. Large brochures with placed InDesign documents can no longer be exported reliably. The problem appears to occur randomly—working one week and failing the next—even with no structural changes to the linked files.

Request

Please investigate and release a patch. Something in the current InDesign release is causing corruption during PDF export when documents contain placed INDD files.

This issue did not exist in earlier releases, and upgrading/resaving linked files does not permanently resolve it.

[leo.r]

For a full picture: What's your operating system version and is your InDesign 2026 updated to its latest version?

[Ewen_Cameron6812 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for responding...

Mac OS 15.6.1 (latest ver)
InDesign 21.0.2

Thinking about this, it may well have been caused when I updated InDesign from ver 21.0.1 to 21.0.2.

I have resaved all the imported INDD files once again to ver 21.0.2 and it's now working again.

However, if every small update causes this issue, it's going to be a nightmare and hours of extra work. So it really needs to be sorted plz

[Ewen_Cameron6812]

Although you've marked my answer as a solution, it really needs to be looked at by Adobe. This was never an issue on previous releases, and if every time there is a small InDesign update, all imported files also need updating, it's adding hours of extra workload.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Ewen_Cameron6812,

Our team is currently investigating this issue. We will update this thread as we have more information to share. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions or require assistance. We'd be happy to help.

Anubhav