PDF exported from Indesign show up with 0 bytes on Google Drive

Report · Feb 02, 2023

Two of our colleagues are experiencing the same problem: when exporting a PDF from Indesign directly into Google Drive Desktop, the files for other colleagues are showing up as 0 bytes.

So when exporting to PDF, the PDF is always 'damaged' because it has 0 bytes, while the 'background tasks' in Indesign aren't showing any problems.

Next, when the owner duplicates the '0 byte file', it's working fine (🤯). The file get's synced and can be opened by all other users.

It's only an issue with PDF files exported from Adobe Indesign directly on Google Drive Desktop.

When we export to .jpg, .png there is no trouble at all.
When saving an indesign of illustrator file (not a PDF), it just works.

Does any one else have or have had the same problem?

Some info:

Macbook Pro m1 2020 - Ventura OS 13.2 (22D49)
Adobe Indesign CC 18.1
Google Drive Desktop version 69.0.0.0

Feedback I've received from Google:

I was able to check our internal database and I see that we are aware of this problem when saving PDF files directly with Indesign. It seems that the problem is caused by Indesign itself since it does not occur with other programs. But I hope the problem will be solved as soon as possible with an update of Google Drive for desktop or an update of Adobe InDesign. I think it would be useful to periodically check both programs for updates. Unfortunately there is no solution at this time. My advice for the time being is to save the PDF files locally and then move the file to a location in Google Drive.

My ticket: https://support.google.com/drive/thread/199174521/pdf-exported-from-indesign-show-up-with-0-bytes-on...

Other users experiencing the same issue:

Report · Mar 17, 2023

Almost every issue with cloud storage/sharing services that I've seen reported here is with Google Drive. OneDrive, Dropbox and even Adobe's own CC storage and sharing do not have the same issues.

Report · Mar 21, 2023

Google deleted my thread. Apparently, they didn't like the traffic of users with the same issue :(.

Report · Mar 22, 2023

Problem Solved! Was having same issue on my mac. My pdf worked fine on my mac, but showed as 0kb on my synced google drive. I simply clicked, dragged and dropped the file from Finder onto my google drive in chrome. It said it already existed and asked if I wanted to replace it, and I clicked yes. Now it's there and showing the expected MB value. Cheers!

Report · Mar 23, 2023

@Shawn29018615wzw0 Thank you for sharing that hack! Hopefully Google and Acrobat will implement a real fix so that we can have a one-step process of exporting a pdf instead of a 2-step process.

Report · Apr 12, 2023

I still have a user that creates corrupted files with this two-stop process of saving locally and copying to Google Drive via the Finder. Has anyone tried an alternative to the Google Drive for Desktop app such as ExpandDrive?

Thanks!