PDF öffnen mit InDesign

[dominikh4801863]

Guten Tag und Happy 2025

Ich habe einen Fotoatlas mit InDesing erstellt. Dieser wurde dann als PDF exportiert und durch andere als bearbeitet (Änderung Layout, Ergänzungen). Das nun bereitgestellte PDF wollte ich als Vorlage für einen zweiten Fotoatlas verwenden. Leider kann ich dieses PDF jedoch nicht mehr in InDesign öffnen. Es bräuchte da ein zusätzliche Modul. Ich finde jedoch kein solches Modul. Gibt es eine Möglichkeit, dass ich dieses PDF als Vorlage wieder mit InDesign nutzen kann? Besten Dank im Voraus!

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @dominikh4801863,

Happy 2025 to you too! Thank you for reaching out about your issue. I understand how important it is to use your PDF as a template for your next project. 

Could you please provide the following details?

1. The version of InDesign you are using.

2. The operating system (Windows or macOS, along with the version).

3. Is the issue specific to this PDF, or do other PDFs also not open in InDesign?

4. Was the unedited version of the PDF opening in InDesign before the layout changes were made?

If possible, could you share the PDF with us for testing? You can upload it via a public cloud service such as WeTransfer or Dropbox and send the link via direct message on the community platform.

In the meantime, here are a few suggestions:

• Open the PDF in Acrobat or another PDF viewer to ensure it’s not corrupted.
• Use Adobe Acrobat to export the PDF to a compatible format, such as an InDesign-friendly IDML or editable content for reuse.

Looking forward to your response!

Best,
Abhishek Rao

[BobLevine]

In the meantime, here are a few suggestions:

• Open the PDF in Acrobat or another PDF viewer to ensure it’s not corrupted.
• Use Adobe Acrobat to export the PDF to a compatible format, such as an InDesign-friendly IDML or editable content for reuse

By @Abhishek Rao

This is news to me. How would one save as IDML from Acrobat?

[Frans v.d. Geest]

The same one at it again with nonsense advice, terrible isn't Bob 😫

[dominikh4801863]

Thanks for your replays until now. Find hereby a dropbox link for the requested documents, i. e., original uploaded PDF (generated with InDesign) and the final fieldguide. Processing with Acrobat works fine.

InDesign: 20.0.1
MacOS: Sequoia 15.1.1

ad 3.: No PDF can be opened with InDesign, so it is probably not made for that...
ad 4.: No information about this issue and no idea, what program is used by the editor (located in Chicago, USA) of the

fieldguide.

Here is thr dropbox link:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/btsuxkwznxu5egfhdp04j/AEmLvSRmO4eQnKbew2HLnYg?rlkey=s4gnyt4q75205ohr1...

Remarks:

1. It seems the the decision to use InDesign was not really a good idea for further handling and processing?

2. I am not really comfortable with InDesign and Acrobat, but I can edit PDFs with Acrobat, although with a lot of limitation, as I noticed.

3. The template, meaning the final fieldguide does not need much changes, only replacing pictures, editing text and finally deleting pages.

4. Most important for me is adaption of the size of photographs within the PDF, without changing the layout. I tried this, but it also change the scale and layout.

So, if somebody has a better option or program for doing such kind of documents, I would be happy to know. I have planned many of such fieldguides with different kind of insects, so a master template would be very helpful for me. 
Thanks again and best regards
Dominik

[Monika Gause]

---

@dominikh4801863  schrieb:

So, if somebody has a better option or program for doing such kind of documents, I would be happy to know. I have planned many of such fieldguides with different kind of insects, so a master template would be very helpful for me. 

---

InDesign is the correct application for creating this. But the workflow is not.

What you can do:

Create the basic layout with maybe 4 pages (different ones: the title, the TOC, the index, a content page)

Send them to the other people as PDF (or share for review) and have them make comments (not changes)

Import these comments into your InDesign file into the comments panel

Make the proposed changes

Send them another PDF for Review

Then creat ethe document

Again send for review, have. them make comments. If they do not know how to use PDF comments, instruct them. It's not just stickies ...

Alternative: use InCopy. They won't be able to make changes to the layout with that. Most of the time that benefits everyone anyway.

[BobLevine]

Are you saying that you provided a PDF and that PDF was edited and now you want to use that in InDesign? You can place the PDF and then edit your original InDesign file using it as a guide but if you're expecting to be able to open that PDF in InDesign and use it immediately that is simply unrealistic.

If you really want to try, download and install the beta version of InDesign and try opening the PDF with that. The PDF capabilities however are very limited and will only allow you to open a PDF created with InDesign so depending on how the PDF was edited, it may or may not work.

[Willi Adelberger]

Es ist wohl möglich PDFs in der letzten Version von InDesign zu öffnen. Es geht nicht mit allen PDFs und als Vorlage eignen sich diese Daten nicht, da keinerlei Formate erkannt werden, keine Ebenen, keine anderen technischen Infos. Deshalb ist es besser, wenn du in deine originäre INDD gehst und diese entsprechend anpasst.

[Frans v.d. Geest]

Nein Willi, nein: nur mit the beta version!

[Laubender]

@Frans v.d. Geest schreibt: "Nein Willi, nein: nur mit the beta version!"

Hallo Willi,

das ist auch mein derzeitiger Informationsstand.

Was aber noch erschwerend dazukommt, die Beta-Version muss das englische Interface haben ( also wenn ich mich recht erinnere… ) .

Gruss,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Willi Adelberger]

Ich habe es bislang nur mit einem Gerät mit US Interface probiert und da funktioniert es oft, aber nicht imer. Für Templates ist es so oder so ungeeignet.