Missing required parameter from for method open & shortcut for export not working in InDesign 2020

[Forms Maker]

I have the message in indesign show Missing required parameter 'from' for method 'open' each time I double click on any indesign file. At the same time I  use shotcut keys and would normally use apple+E for export files to pdf. I have not updated anything. Current Indesign is 15.1 and running MacOS Cataline 10.15.2.  I have searched everything and find no solution

{Renamed By MOD}

[Guest]

Moving to the InDesign forum from Get Started

[Laubender]

Hi,

does the issue persist if you quit InDesign and restart your machine?

Does it work if you are using the Open… dialog from the File menu instead double-clicking a file?

Please post a screenshot of the message.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[Forms Maker]

The only way to use indesign to open a file is to go to open, find my file and then click open. If I just double click on my file that is when I get the error message

[Rishabh_Tiwari]

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about the trouble you are facing with InDesign. Regarding the error message, could you please confirm if your file name includes symbols like (#)? If yes, please remove and then check again if you are getting the error. Regarding file exporting shortcuts, please try the steps below:

1. Close all the applications and only launch InDesign and check if the shortcuts are working.
2. Please check if you have any application by the name Webroot, if yes, please turn it off and test again.
3. If nothing works, please try resetting InDesign Preferences:

• Close all Adobe applications 
• Go to Locations:  
• ~/Library/Caches 
• ~/Library/Preferences 
• Rename Adobe InDesign and com.adobe.indesign to Adobe InDesign.old and com.adobe.indesign.old 
• Launch InDesign from the CC 

Disclaimer: Please note that resetting preferences will remove all the custom settings and InDesign will launch with default settings. This way all your old settings will be saved in .old folders and InDesign will recreate new folders with default settings.  

Regards

Rishabh

[PeterFinneyJr]

When I click on an InDeisgn page icon in Adobe Bridge (with InDesign open), I get the warning message: Missing required Parameter 'from' for method 'open.' This has just started. It has never happened before when I have tried to open a page from Bridge. Can you help?

I am running Catalina 10.15.7.

[queerlycomplex]

I did this and it didn't work. 

[Atapp]

For me the Missing required parameter 'from' for method 'open' problem started a few weeks ago and it's now so frequent that I need to look for answers. I see it in two different Macs I use (one at home). They both run latest MacOS and Indesign.

- I've only seen it on my desktop, never when opening files from the network, though I seldom do that, but I've seen it work a few days ago.

- I can open these files from within Indesign, then save it, and the next time I try to double click it it's the same problem.

- If I save a copy of the file to the same folder, and then try to double click the new file, it will also fail.

I read the comment about illegal characters in the path. I can't see that I'm using anything like that but I am using Swedish MacOS and we have some special vowels. But that hasn't been a problem since MacOS first was released in Swedish back in who knows when. But I decided to test it since the folder I am testing now is using Swedish character.

So I change the vowel to a standard a and now it works!

I change back to the original name and guess what, now it works too.

Really strange... 

[Laubender]

@Atapp said:

"So I change the vowel to a standard a and now it works!

I change back to the original name and guess what, now it works too."

Hi @Atapp ,

did you change the name of the InDesign document in your file system or did you do it with "Save As" in InDesign?

Also: what do you know about the origin of the document? Was it perhaps saved with that "special character(s)" on a Windows machine and later moved on to macOS ?

For this check generate the history of the document:

Hold the CMD key and go to menu InDesign > About InDesign…

There you get all information of the history of the document that you can save to a text file for further inspection.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Atapp · Accepted solution]

It's my own file and I'm only using Macs, both at work and at home. And still just one example of many occurencies like thses the past weeks. I could collect more data.

Most importantly, I think you missed one detail about the Swedish vowel. This was in the folders name, not the files name. Like this:

FOLDER USING Å (not working)

  Filenamn.indd

FOLDER USING A  (working)

  Filenamn.indd

FOLDER USING Å (changed back and now this works too)

  Filenamn.indd

[Atapp]

When the problem occurs it often followed by the macOS dialog. It's also new from the same time period of last month or so. It translates to "Siffror.indd can't be found". So typically I stumble upon a file that wont open and try another file in the same folder. This one shows me the macOS popup (not the InDesign one).

[Laubender]

Hi Peter,

what exactly is the file name of the InDesign document?
Could be that the underlying ExtendScript script code is tripped by an unusual character in the file name.

Or an unusual character in the whole path of the document in the file system.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[manngroup]

I am having the same exact problem as @PeterFinneyJr . No matter the file name, no matter the InDesign file, if I double-click to open I get the same error message (Missing required parameter 'from' for method 'open'). This began happening after I upgraded to BigSur. 

[manngroup · Accepted solution]

Update: I've been able to narrow down the issue to files that I'm trying to open over a network. When the InDesign file is sitting on my actual computer, it opens by double-clicking on the file name/icon. If I do the same via the network - whether connected by ethernet or Wifi - I get the same error.

[R. Sinclair]

I'm having the same issue. For me it's happening when I try to open an older InDesign file (created or modified 1+ year ago).

My filenames are standard with no special characters. Very frustrating, as I can't access the important info in these documents!

[Laubender]

Hi R. Sinclair,

what's your exact version of InDesign, what's your operating system?

Thanks,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[R. Sinclair]

I'm running the latest version of InDesign 2021 (16.1) on mac OS Big Sur 11.2.2.

I did discover I can open some problematic files by using InDesign's File > Open menu rather than my usual double-clicking the file in Finder to open it. So perhaps the problem is related to newer versions of the InDesign app installed by Creative Cloud (especially when a 'new' version of the application is installed) and mac OS having a problem with the file association.

[queerlycomplex]

I'm having a similar issue. I am running InDesign 16.4. I am on a Mac running Big Sur 11.5.2. 

All my files are on a Synology external drive. I didn't have any of these problems yesterday. 

When I click on them in a finder window, the error message "Missing required parameter 'from' for method 'open'" pops up. 

I can open them when in InDesign. 

BUT I cannot export them as PNGs or JPGs. 

And when I create a new file, I can save it to my Synology drive. But it will not export. And I cannot open it from the finder window. 

[braml9516793]

Same issue - nothing seems to resolve it - making work harder.

[Kathleen27126965nttr]

Recently ran into this myself. As manngroup reported below in 2021, it only occurs when I'm trying to double-click on icons of files located on network drives. Current workarounds include 1) opening the file through the File-->Open menu then navigating to the file in question OR 2) copying the file onto a local drive and working on it there. No unusual characters are present in the filenames.

This feels like an InDesign issue, and it's somewhat frustrating that this is still a problem almost three years after it was reported here by shirtfactory.

[nathana]

This issue just started for me and I am having a hard time finding any answers. What did you finally end up doing?

[itstheforce]

Having same issue, files open fine from desktop but getting the error when opening files from the server.

Have not seen any 2022 or 23 issues resolved.

[daveb75792932]

Same issue here. Just started out of nowhere

[Eva__]

So 3,5 years later I am facing the same problem after updating to Ventura. Would be great if Adobe could give support on this issue to paying customers. 

[Eva__ · Accepted solution]

I think I figured it out. In my case it was the german character ("ä") in one of my main folders which has never caused any problems in the past six years. However now I changed it and that fixed it.