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Text and images are missing on PDF exported from InDesign

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
August 7, 2019
7 replies
29395 views

I have a 24 page doc consisting of basic text and images. Everything looks fine and there are no preflight errors. When I export to PDF the majority of the document is fine and then sporadically from pages 6-11 some text and photos go missing. I have cleared all preferences, I tried turning texted into outlines, I tried deleting images and exported to see if i could find a bad file. I've got nothing. Ideas?

When I view the exported PDF I get "An error exists on this page. Acrobat may not display the page correctly. Please contact the person who created the PDF document to correct the problem." I created the PDF and there were no errors.

What it should be:

What is exported:

(Renamed by MOD)

Correct answer renaemp

Try saving the file as an idml. Sometimes that can flush out the bad juju.

_scott__

Brainiac

Really old thread, I'm aware.

I hit this today for the first time with InDesign CS6 (v8)... 4 page doc set up as 2 non-facing spreads [4-1], [2-3], export to PDF as pages using "Smallest FIle Size" Modified.. to use Actobat 5 PDF 1.4 and CMYK Web Coated v2 (SWOP)....

There's a cover page, then the other 3 pages have a common masthead of 3 placed .ai files and a few graphic elements (rules). Basically | • • • | with a rule below it.

Page 3 of the PDF is missing a its' mastehead without any rhyme or reason.

Opening PDF in Acrobat shows no page 3 masthead. Opening in Apple's Preveiw shows no page 3 masthead. It's not a display issue. Opening Page 3 of the PDF in Illustrator shows the mastehead elements simply are not there.

- Exporting ONLY page 3 with the same PDF job options.. the masthead is fine.

- Exporting as PDFx-1a spreads.. the masthead is fine.

It's only when all 4 pages are exported using the settings descibed above that the page 3 masthead disappears.

Anyway.. I know its older software.. but I felt like digging.....

- I tried saving as idml, no change.

- Checked color profiles/overprints.. no change.

- Deleted other art on page 3, no change.

- Deleted everything but the masthead on page 3, no change

- Deleted all other (non-brand related, so logos) art in the file, no change

- Created a new page 2-3 spread with *only* the parent/master page contents... no change.

- Deleted the fist page of the document [4]... masthead shows up. So more testing, undo so page [4] is back, delete second document page [1].. mastehead shows up.. delete first spread entirely leaving [2-3] spread.. masthead is fine.

So for some reason, the first 2 pages in the InDesign file are causing this. If both pages in spread [4-1] are present, then page [3] loses its masthead (page [2] is fine in all instances)... again, no apparent rhyme or reason for it.

Ultimately, I exported all 4 pages (as PDF pages - no spreads), then exported page 3 by itself (which exports fine by itself). And then swapped page 3 in the primary 4pg PDF using Acrobat.

What a bugger.

leo.r

Community Expert

I hit this today for the first time with InDesign CS6 (v8)

By @_scott__

And does this happen with the current InDesign versions (2025/2026) as opposed to the one that's 13 years old?

M

Marc Andrews

New Participant

I just ran into this issue, I created an asset that has the Google and Apple app store logos. When I output the the pdf's, I got the error everyone is familiar with, everything else was fine but the app store logos were missing. After trouble shooting for two days and reading, I had a thought. The app store logo's were vector artwork that I brought in from Illustrator, what if I brought the images in as pixel artwork. I saved them as a .png, brough them into my InDesign file and saved out the PDF with no issues.

BobLevine

Community Expert

And I'll bet the text was white in Illustrator and set to overprint.

L

Laubender

Community Expert

@jaloha22 said:
"I had this problem today and tried the idml solution above with no success.

… As soon as the image was not 100% opacity the error occured and would not show up after export. Ex. Changing an image to 85% opacity = not visible on exported pdf (PDFx-). …"

Hi @jaloha22 ,

what's your exact version of InDesign?

If InDesign 2023 version 18.4.0 it could be a bug that sneaked in.

You could either go back to 18.3.0 or forward to 18.5.0.

What's your operating system version?

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

jaloha22

Participating Frequently

InDesign version 18.5

Mac OS Ventura 13.5.1

Running on 5K 27 2019 iMac

3 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i5

Graphics Radeon Pro 570X 4 GB

Memory 96 GB 2667 MHz DDR4

L

Laubender

Community Expert

Hi @jaloha22

Thank you very much for the details!

Could be a new bug with InDesign 18.5.0. To proof that we need a small sample from a document where this happens. Please share an InDesign document and attach it to a reply here. Also your PDF Export preset file, the *.joboptions file.

Or run File > Package , zip the result folder, put it on Dropbox or a similar service and share the download link. Either in the forum or in private. Click my name to send me a private message. But do not forget the *.joboptions file.

File > Package

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/how-to/save-share-projects.html

PDF Print Export Presets

File > Adobe PDF Presets > Define

Save the one that you are using to disk.

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/exporting-publishing-pdf.html#customize_adobe_pdf_presets

Thanks,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

L

Laubender

Community Expert

Hi FamaBr,

could you make the PDF available so that we can inspect the PDF itself?

Best put in on Dropbox or a similar service and share the download link.

Thanks,

Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

Peter Villevoye

Community Expert

There might be a file corruption in one of the images.

Judging loosely by the elements being correctly displayed and the probable order of the bottom-to-top construction of the page's content, I suggest removing the logo(s) for the sake of testing and then see what happens. Can you export the PDF without the logo(s) ?

If this turns out to make the change, then copy this exact image frame to an empty new document and see if it yields the same problem. If it does, then there's absolutely something wrong with the image itself. If it exports with no problems, then there's a conflicting element in the rest of your original page, making the problem a bit harder to deduce.

Srishti Bali

Community Manager

Hi Daniel,

Sorry to hear about this error. That's definitely not a typical experience with InDesign/ Acrobat. Let us make this right for you. I would need a few more details like:

OS and version of InDesign/Acrobat
Is it happening with this particular file? Is yes, could you please share the file with us.

In addition to the suggestion shared by Renae, I would request if you can try the steps shared here: Troubleshoot damaged InDesign documents and then export the PDF again.

Regards,

Srishti

D

defaultnbp6ciqy8epy

New Participant

Yes, actually it is.

This happens to me all the time, especially with newer versions of InDesign. 2019 is the only version that doesnt give me this problem. 2020, 2021, 2022 all do it too. Not sure whats going on but as the products get newer, they seem to be having more and more problems with basic functions...