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Julián296801782en7
Participant
May 22, 2025
Answered

Unable to download InDesign cloud file

  • May 22, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 430 views

Hello! I designed a book in Indesign, saving it in Cloud Document with no problems. Im currently backing up all the files on a local server but i cant download the main Indesign document, the downloading wheel keeps spinning until it says that couldnt be downloaded. The file itself is still working fine on Cloud Documents. Also tired saving it with the Save As feature but after doing that Indesign crashes and wont let me open the file that it saved.

 

I need to locally back up the file.

 

This is the error that displays when i try to open the file saved with the Save As feature:

 

Correct answer Lively_Sunbeam5D99

Hi @Lively_Sunbeam5D99,

 

Thanks for sharing the details and the screenshot. Since Save a Copy is greyed out, please try opening the document directly from the Cloud Documents section and then use File > Save As > InDesign Markup (IDML) to export it to your local drive. Once you have the IDML file, reopen it in InDesign and save it again as an INDD locally. If the issue continues, please share the file with me here or via DM if it's confidential. You can create a public shareable link and send it across. Ref: Organize, manage, and share cloud documents

 

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek


Hi Abhishek,
thank you so so so soooo much! I finally managed to save my InDesign document! I just saved it as an IDML file locally, opened it (IDML) and saved it in normal InDesign again. Some of the information about the layer options in the PSDC document was lost (I just selected a few layers to show in the document, but after I saved it through IDML, it showed all the layers). But that's just a small issue that I could fix quickly. So it works wonderful. Thank you so much!

I just have one question: my document is getting pretty small. It was 298 MB on the cloud. It got only 3 MB as I saved it as an IDML file. It got ca. 44 MB after I saved it as a normal InDesign document locally. After working on some images in InDesign document, it got 56 MB (I guess because of the cache for preview images).

 

 

I wonder why this document is so much smaller than the one on Clout. Do you have any idea why? Have I lost something? From my perspective, everything in my local InDesign document is there; nothing has been lost.

Kind regards
Daha

1 reply

Abhishek Rao
Community Manager
Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
Community Manager
May 22, 2025

Hi @Alice373165806dlw,

 

Thanks so much for sharing the screenshot and all the details. I’m really sorry you’re facing this issue. To help you safely back up your file, I'd recommend trying this: open the document from the Cloud Documents section and use File > Save a Copy instead of Save As, then choose a location on your local drive. 

If the issue still persists, could you please let me know which version of InDesign and macOS you're using? Also, is this happening with just this one file or others as well?

Additionally, could you confirm if you're using the Typeface font management tool on your Mac? And if possible, it would be super helpful if you could share the file with us so we can test it on our end.

 

Looking forward to your update!

Abhishek

    Lively_Sunbeam5D99
    Lively_Sunbeam5D99
    Inspiring
    August 31, 2025

    Hello Abhishek,

    I have exactly the same problem as the author of the article.

    As you advised, I tried to use 'Save as a Copy' to back up my InDesign cloud document.

    However, I am unable to click 'Save as a Copy' in my document (see screenshot).

    Could you help me?

    I am using InDesign 20.5 on a Mac M2 with OS Sequoia 15.6.

    The same thing happens with other InDesign documents as well, if they are bigger than about 30 MB.

    The document I want to download is 299 MB.

    I don't use the Typeface font management tool on my Mac.

    I would be very grateful if you could help me.


    Kind regards
    Daha

    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    September 1, 2025

    Hi @Lively_Sunbeam5D99,

     

    Thanks for sharing the details and the screenshot. Since Save a Copy is greyed out, please try opening the document directly from the Cloud Documents section and then use File > Save As > InDesign Markup (IDML) to export it to your local drive. Once you have the IDML file, reopen it in InDesign and save it again as an INDD locally. If the issue continues, please share the file with me here or via DM if it's confidential. You can create a public shareable link and send it across. Ref: Organize, manage, and share cloud documents

     

    Looking forward to your update.

    Abhishek

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