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hammer0909
Community Expert
hammer0909Community Expert
Community Expert
November 19, 2020
Answered

Live or Static Captions in InDesign 2021

  • November 19, 2020
  • 9 replies
  • 4032 views

Is anyone else having issues generating Live or Static captions in InDesign 2021? I was trying to use the feature and it was just displaying an empty text frame. I'm grabbing metadata from the Description field of an image. When I switch back to InDesign 2020 it works like a charm. Can anyone confirm the same? Trying to figure out if this is on my end.

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Correct answer hammer0909

That's a good suggestion but no, there is no character style appled. So on a whim, I decided to delete the preferences file and voila! It now works! Should have tried that from the very beginning! You'd think after using InDesign for 20+ years I'd know better! Thanks for your help guys!

9 replies

L
Community Expert
LaubenderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 15, 2021

Hi Jain,

opened your IDML file from your package.

 

Note: Caption setup was totally reset to default.

Seems that InDesign cannot save the setup to IDML or cannot read the setup from the IDML file.

That should be considered a bug, I think.

 

 

Next thing: Opened your InDesign file where the Caption Setup seems untouched:

 

Next step: I redid all captions with your InDesign document.

Page 1, same issues as before:

 

Page 2, all went well:

 

Hm…

Have to leave the office now.

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

J E L
Community Expert
J E LCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 15, 2021

Hmmm is right. Also from your package, I had to reset the Caption Setup as it was also untouched. I think that is a bug for sure. Until next...

 

Oh, meant to add that I am also on Windows 10 and not Mac.

L
Community Expert
LaubenderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 15, 2021

Jain said:

"I couldn't duplicate it on my end and now we've done a bit of elimination. Maybe it has to do with the vendor files and how they are delivering them to you. I also wonder if it might be document specific. "

 

Hi Jain,

we could test the following: I place the image and prepare how static or dynamic captions should be set up.

I will also do both in my document. Then I'll package it all up and post the download link of the zip that contains the package folder.

 

You do the same and I'll test your packaged document in my German version of InDesign 2021.

I'm on Windows 10, you are on Mac OS, I think; this could also be a contributing factor.

 

Here is my setup:

 

Here is my zip file of the packaged folder:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5u5l9mmrvxvgzzf/210715-1-StaticCaption-Issue-INDD-2021.zip?dl=1

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

 

J E L
Community Expert
J E LCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 15, 2021

Okay, wow, @Laubender, check this out. With the downloaded jpg file from the button you showed me, I couldn't get the caption to work either static or live. As a tif file, both worked fine. But when I tried the same with the browser jpg I inadvertently downloaded the first time, the caption worked. Crazy! How do you explain that? Here's my packaged file with the browser-downloaded jpg. See if it works on your end.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sekepy2xqjgdm9k/JainTest-StaticCaption-Issue-INDD-2021%20Folder.zip?dl=0

L
Community Expert
LaubenderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 15, 2021

Hi kimh567,

do you have an American version of InDesign?

I really think this is a bug with all non-american versions…

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

L
Community Expert
LaubenderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 15, 2021

Hi Jain,

this is the way I saved the attached JPEG image:

 

 

Firefox browser on Windows 10.

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

    J E L
    Community Expert
    J E LCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 15, 2021

    Okay! I just used the browser download. Missed that little icon on the first glance. Thank you!

    L
    Community Expert
    LaubenderCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 15, 2021

    Hi kimh567,

    there is some contents in the Description field of the posted image:

     

    Beautiful Flowers & Butterfly
37" XL®
110669 110670
$P35 Pkg $P35 Flat

     

    Opened the JPEG in my German PhotoShop.

    The contents of the field "Beschreibung" (Description) is the one I like to see as caption in InDesign:

     

     

    Dynamic caption fails, static caption fails.

    Tested with InDesign 2020 and 2021, also with InDesign CS6

     

    What finally worked: saved the file to the TIFF format and placed the TIFF image:

     

    An old bug with InDesign…

     

    Regards,
    Uwe Laubender

    ( ACP )

    L
    Community Expert
    LaubenderCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 15, 2021

    FWIW: I was using a German version of InDesign.

    Could be that the bug is not visible in the English/International version.

     

    Regards,
    Uwe Laubender

    ( ACP )

    L
    Community Expert
    LaubenderCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 19, 2020

    Wow. Never experienced this.

    Thanks for the screenshot, Chad.

     

    Could it be that a character style is applied that is using an unusual formatting like 1% character width and a point size of 0.1 Pt with a fill color set to [None] ?

     

    Regards,
    Uwe Laubender

    ( ACP )

    hammer0909
    Community Expert
    hammer0909Community ExpertAuthorCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    November 20, 2020

    That's a good suggestion but no, there is no character style appled. So on a whim, I decided to delete the preferences file and voila! It now works! Should have tried that from the very beginning! You'd think after using InDesign for 20+ years I'd know better! Thanks for your help guys!

    Steve Werner
    Community Expert
    Steve WernerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 20, 2020

    I'm glad you figured it out, Chad!

     

    It's a good teaching moment: The three most common troubleshooting tips for InDesign I give: (1) Try rebooting your computer; (2) restore your preferences and cache files; (3) Save as an IDML file to remove file corruption.

     

    hammer0909
    Community Expert
    hammer0909Community ExpertAuthor
    Community Expert
    November 19, 2020

    I tested with a .jpg on the left and a .psd on the right. I highlighted all of the text in the caption on the right and you can see the appearance. In the Story Editor, it shows up but visually isn't appearing in Layout view.

     

    L
    Community Expert
    LaubenderCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 19, 2020

    Hi Chad,

    maybe the placed file type makes a difference?

    best post a link to a sample where you see the issue.

     

    To Steve:

    thank you very much for posting this image. Been there a couple of years ago.

     

    Best,
    Uwe Laubender

    ( ACP )

    Steve Werner
    Community Expert
    Steve WernerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 19, 2020

    Chad, I just tested in InDesign 2021 and had no problem generating a static caption:

     

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