PDF to Indesign

[elisabettab1798902]

Hello,

I have pdf files for which the source Indesign files were lost. I found this interesting tutorial on how to convert pdf files to indesign directly from the program.

https://www.adobe.com/learn/indesign/web/convert-pdf-to-indesign-document?learnIn=1

Unfortunately in my fully updated Indesign it does not work, even with the file provided as an exercise. Do you have any ideas what needs to be done for this to work?

[Bill Silbert]

There is a third party plug-in available from Markzware called PDFMarkz that does a really good job of converting a pdf back into a fully functioning InDesign file. I have tested it and been really impressed with the conversion. See https://markzware.com/products/pdfmarkz/ for more information.

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @elisabettab1798902,

Thanks for the details. To better understand what might be going wrong, could you please confirm the version of your operating system and the exact version of InDesign you're using? Also, when you try the steps in the tutorial, are you seeing any error message or does the option simply not appear at all?

If possible, it would be really helpful if you could share a short screen recording showing your workflow up to the point where the issue occurs. Also, does this happen with all your PDFs or just with a specific file?

Let me know, and I'll gladly check this further.

Abhishek 

[elisabettab1798902]

Hello Abhishek,

These are the system details:

Windows 11 Enterprise 64 bit

Version: 23H2

The Indesign version is 20.4.1 x64

When I open the file, whether I drag it or open it from the menu, simply the program does nothing and returns no error message.

This happens with my pdfs, with my colleagues' pdfs, and even with the tutorial author's pdf.

[BobLevine]

Fully updated? The current version of InDesign is 20.4.1 so first you'll need to confirm that.

Secondly, doesn't work tells us very little. What exactly happens when you use the file>open command and choose the PDF to open?

[elisabettab1798902]

The system is fully updated in both the operating system and Adobe programs.

The only thing that happens when I open the file, there is no pdf among the readable formats so I have to force indicating all type of files.

[BobLevine]

If you're fully updated to 20.4.1 and PDF is not showing as a file type that can be opened, the first thing to do is trash your preferences.

[elisabettab1798902]

I already tested also this option. It doesn't work.

[Frans v.d. Geest]

Is your version English or in another language?

[elisabettab1798902]

My version is in Italian but I also teste on a colleague's computer who has the English version. same result.

[BobLevine]

If PDF is not showing as a valid file type something is seriously wrong with your install. Do you have admin rights on the computer?

[Jay26079195ii3f]

Well its been said in similar other posts that its flawed and many a times doesnt work so nothing strange here. I would just stay away from this. Its sad that a video was posted showing this given the negative feedback to date. Just use Canva, the 3rd party tools like PDF2ID, Leguptools and the other mentioned above or plain simple PDF to Word.

[elisabettab1798902]

I understand your point but I don't need to simply extract text from the PDF but to have a usable indesign. If there is this feature within the software already installed I think it might be useful to find out how to make it work and avoid having to buy other 3rd party tools. However if I don't find a solution I will consider purchasing PDF2ID.

[Jay26079195ii3f]

Just as an FYI... refer to this posting...InDesign (Beta) PDF conversion to indd 

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi everyone, 

Thanks so much for confirming the details and for testing it on different systems. I am not able to reproduce this with my PDFs. 

To look into this further with the team, could you please share one of the PDFs that isn't opening for you? You can either attach a sample that's not confidential here, or if it contains sensitive content, feel free to send it to me via DM on the community.

Once we have the file, we'll test it on our end and see what's going wrong.

Looking forward to your update!

Abhishek

[BobLevine]

I don't think it's the PDFs since PDF is not showing as a valid file type for opening. Seems to be something unique to that install.

[Jay26079195ii3f]

I don't think @Abhishek Rao understands the underlying problem here. As @BobLevine said its not the PDF file.

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @elisabettab1798902,

Thank you for confirming the details, and @Jay26079195ii3f, I appreciate your follow-up and correction. Since the PDF option isn't showing in the File > Open dialog, this likely points to an installation issue. I recommend fully uninstalling InDesign using the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool and then reinstalling the latest version to see if the PDF option appears.

If the issue continues after reinstalling, please share a short screen recording showing the steps up to where the PDF option is missing. This will help me check with the team and pinpoint.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

[elisabettab1798902]

at this time it is not possible for me to do the uninstallation but it seems like a viable route. In the meantime the need to open pdfs has returned, so I will try to solve it at another time. Thanks for the suggestions and support.