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John Labovitz
Participant
August 31, 2022
Answered

Where is the IDML specification?

  • August 31, 2022
  • 7 replies
  • 4537 views

I've been trying madly to find any version of the IDML (XML) specification online. I've found many resources, both Adobe and third parties, that reference this URL:

 

https://wwwimages.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/devnet/indesign/sdk/cs6/idml/idml-specification.pdf

 

...but that now results in an error. For the life of me, after extensive searching, I cannot find any mirror of that document anywhere. It seems very strange, as it's supposed to be a public specification, and is used by several other software vendors. Past discussions also reference an 'IDML cookbook,' which may have also resided in the same place, but which is also now gone.

 

Can anyone from Adobe -- or otherwise -- try to find a current link?

    Correct answer Mike Witherell

    Ok, so I located both the 2010 CS5 and the 2012 CS6 document (which is loaded with info). Now preserved here: https://JetSetcom.net

    7 replies

    Mike Witherell
    Community Expert
    Mike WitherellCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    September 20, 2022

    Ok, so I located both the 2010 CS5 and the 2012 CS6 document (which is loaded with info). Now preserved here: https://JetSetcom.net

    Mike Witherell
      N
      nice_resourcefulness0669
      Participant
      August 4, 2025

      I found the 2012 (8.0) specification on the web, attaching it here 

       

      Ridiculous that Adobe doesn't provide this for current versions of InDesign.

        James Gifford—NitroPress
        James Gifford—NitroPress
        Legend
        September 1, 2022

        I guess my question would be why this documentation was allowed to age out and then be removed. At a deep technical user level, it's extremely useful information, and on a par with things like the PDF, Postscript and PCL references.

         

        I mean, it exists somewhere. Why is it not a user-accessible reference?

         

        —

          D
          Dirk Becker
          Legend
          September 1, 2022

          web.archive.org has both of them covered (tried 2018 snapshots).

          A copy of the cookbook is also integrated in the InDesign Plugin SDK's html docs, available from https://developer.adobe.com downloads section ...

          In there it also mentions the file format documentation, but that link is broken and again bumps to https://developer.adobe.com .

          Btw, until CS6 the SDK also had schema files for the InDesign installation without custom plug-ins, where any later SDK only has an empty "references/idm-schema.zip" instead that nobody noticed. The cookbook mentions a way to produce the schema for your individual installation, haven't ever tried that.

            L
            Community Expert
            LaubenderCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            September 1, 2022

            Hi Dirk,

            ah, yes, there is app.generateIDMLSchema() with two arguments.

            With that you can generate *.rnc files.

             

            Either all information goes in one big IDMarkupLanguage.rnc file together with a small datatype.rnc file or you can create several smaller *.rnc files in a folder structure. A structure we will also see inside the container IDML file exported from InDesign.

             

            Regards,
            Uwe Laubender
            ( Adobe Community Professional )

              Rishabh_Tiwari
              Community Manager
              Rishabh_TiwariCommunity Manager
              Community Manager
              September 2, 2022

              Hi @James Gifford—NitroPress @Laubender @Manan Joshi @Dirk Becker @John Labovitz ,

               

              Thank you everyone for your patience. The team informed that “the IDML docs are part of the HTML documentation in the SDK- see InDesign SDK\docs\index.html. These used to be separate PDFs in the SDK around CS6 but were merged into the HTML docs sometime in the early CC days.



              There is no IDML specification provided in the SDK but the schema can be generated from JavaScript for your current application status:

               

              Regards

              Rishabh
               

                L
                Community Expert
                LaubenderCommunity Expert
                Community Expert
                September 1, 2022

                Hi @John Labovitz ,

                ah, yes, unfortunately all the official Adobe links posted in the thread I linked to below are not working anymore.

                It seems that all the IDML documentation PDFs for version 8.0 (InDesign CS6) are withdrawn.

                https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/where-can-download-idml-sdk-from-indesign-cc/m-p/8902881#M43349

                 

                @Rishabh_Tiwari and @Manan Joshi ,

                both of your links refer to IDML documentation 7.0 which is for InDesign CS5 from 2010.

                The other links mentioned above were for version 8.0 ( InDesign CS6 ) from 2012.

                 

                If I have this right, after version 8.0 in 2012 the IDML documentation was never updated.

                Not in PDF form, never was it available as web help.

                 

                Regards,
                Uwe Laubender
                ( Adobe Community Professional )

                 

                  M
                  Community Expert
                  Manan JoshiCommunity Expert
                  Community Expert
                  September 1, 2022

                  Hi Uwe,

                  Thanks for sharing your findings. Well you are right in your conclusions. I have shared this and other details with @Rishabh_Tiwari to communicate that to the InDesign engineering team.

                  -Manan

                  -Manan
                    Rishabh_Tiwari
                    Community Manager
                    Rishabh_TiwariCommunity Manager
                    Community Manager
                    September 1, 2022

                    Hi @Manan Joshi / @Laubender ,

                     

                    I am in touch with the Engineering team and will share the details as soon as I hear from the team.

                     

                    Regards

                    Rishabh

                    M
                    Community Expert
                    Manan JoshiCommunity Expert
                    Community Expert
                    August 31, 2022

                    See the following

                    https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.173.8853&rep=rep1&type=pdf

                    Though i could not find it on the Adobe website. Let me ask around to find the official latest version, i will post if I find it

                    -Manan

                    -Manan
                      Rishabh_Tiwari
                      Community Manager
                      Rishabh_TiwariCommunity Manager
                      Community Manager
                      August 31, 2022

                      Hi,

                       

                      We're so sorry to hear about the trouble. I found this PDF online that has information on PDF File format specifications. Let us know if this helps or if you need any further assistance.

                       

                      Regards

                      Rishabh

                        Olivier Beltrami
                        Olivier Beltrami
                        Legend
                        August 31, 2022

                        I found a version of the IDML Cookbook for CS6 at https://manualzz.com/doc/9627253/adobe-indesign-cs6-idml-cookbook (tested the link on a protected VM and it's legit). The reference to CS6 might be offputting, but one of my nightstand books is InDesign CS3/CS4 SDK Programming by Kris Coppieters and, despite its reference to CS3 and CS4 it is still highly relevant today.

                        J
                        John LabovitzAuthor
                        Participant
                        August 31, 2022
                        Thanks, I appreciate the link.

                        Still, seems a little weird that the only existing copy is on the same shady website where I download manuals for, say, my refrigerator. 🙂
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