Problems exporting to PDF (InDesign 2026)

[Henk Holders]

Problems exporting to PDF (InDesign 2026). We always create newspapers in which InDesign documents are placed. This always worked fine. But since InDesign 2026, I get error messages or the PDF contains empty pages. How is this possible?

[Abhishek Rao · Accepted solution]

Hello @Henk Holders,

I'm sorry to learn about the issues following the update. Please attempt to save the file as an IDML from the previous version, then open that IDML in the most recent InDesign 21.0.1 and save it again as a new INDD file. Afterward, try exporting the PDF and inform me if it performs any better.

I look forward to your update, so I can assist you further.

Abhishek

[Henk Holders]

Thanks for the tip. This works. But again: is this a bug and will it be fixed? I now have to convert hundreds of ads this way! That's a lot of work…

Met vriendelijke groet,

Henk Holders
Wonnink Holders

(Personal information removed by moderator)

[nikunj.m]

We have not received any reports from other users regarding this issue. Could you please tell us where your files are stored, and is it possible for you to share an affected file? 

This may happen due to embedded files, missing/corrupt fonts, among other reasons. We might need to test with an affected file. 

Thanks,
Nikunj

[colbythor]

This is definitely an issue and I'm surprised you're not receiving A LOT of feedback regarding it. For any studio working in publications this is a very standard workflow and the inability to export PDFs without errors is a major glitch.

[maryl91873679]

This solution doesn't work. I have tried other suggestions. Same Results. Please view my issue and pics in this thread - i'm ready to jump ship. HELP.

[Ewen_Cameron6812]

I also have this issue.

Brochures containing imported InDesign documents, now export with corrupted images, (multi-colour stripes through the images).

I followed the advice provided after resaving about 15 imported InDesign Docs to the latest InDesign Version.
This worked and produced a clean PDF.

I have just had to make a single change to the brochure a week later, and re-exported the brochure as a PDF, only to find that corrupted images are throughout, once again!! All files are already saved as the latest version and worked only 1 week before.

This is a major problem - previous InDesign versions 2018-2025 produced PDF's from imported InDesign files without issue, something major has changed and is casuing problems when importing InDesign documents into InDesign layouts and exporting to PDF.

Please release a patch to sort this out.

[maryl91873679]

I work on a weekly project with problems starting with the upgrade to Indesign 2026. I create a page, with grocery items which are placed as individual .indd files within my new indd page.

When i create a pdf, it misses ALL THE PLACED .INDD files.  We have worked this same setup for over 7 years. We never had this problem before 2026. I'm even looking at other pdf exporters that can work with .indd files. yikes! here is a sample of my indesign page showing all the placed .indd files  and the results 

get upon exporting as a pdf. exporting as Jpgs, pngs export as expected.. 

i'm so hopeful for a quick fix!

[Ewen_Cameron6812]

HI - Your current options are... go back to the 2025 version.

Or update every place InDesign file that is place in the document so they are all saved using the same version.

Apparently, Adobe is now aware of this issue, but I have no idea how long it will take them to fix it.

In your case, with many imported INDD files, I would probably go back to using the 2025 version.

[maryl91873679]

thank you for your reply - it actually is an issue into 2025. I do know I can export all those files in a batch format to got to idml. If i end up doing that, i will be switching to affinity. I have tried them and they won't accept .indd files, but will idml.  Thank you again.