Text in a link gets searchable in PDF even if it's not visible in InDesign

Report · May 04, 2023

Hi,

I'm working in InDesign 18.2.1.

I have a document where I have a linked PDF placed into a frame.
The content of the PDF is cut with the frame and only the parts of the PDF that I want to show in my document is visible.

However, after exporting the document to PDF - words that are in the linked PDF (but not visible in InDesign or in the exported PDF since they are outside the frame) is searchable.

Is there a setting or another solution that I can use to make text outside the frame (and not visible) not searchable?

Or is it a bug?

Thank you!

Report · May 04, 2023

I can add some screenshots:
1. Indesign - how it looks in indesign
2. Indesign_extended frame - how the linked PDF looks if I extend the frame
3. Indesign_in bluebeam - how it looks in Bluebeam when I search for a word in the linked PDF

Report · May 04, 2023

Hi @Marcus29726468xigl ,

that's no bug, I think.

Just a side effect with a placed and trimmed PDF page.

The solution:

Remove all not necessary elements from the PDF with Acrobat Pro DC.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

Report · May 12, 2023

Sounds crazy - we have never experienced this before, but now everyone seems to get the same problem.
We are moving to another software for our presentations of drawings for now. Hopefully it gets fixed / better in the future.
Thanks for your answer!

Report · May 12, 2023

Hi @Marcus29726468xigl ,

I don't hope this is a change in behavior with the recent version of InDesign.

Could you test this with a previous one like InDesign 2022 or even earlier?

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

Report · May 12, 2023

This seems normal and what I'd expect. You'd need to delete the unwanted content from the PDF before placing it, and I don't know of tools to do that.