Why can't I copy/paste my gradient from Illustrator into InDesign?

[Guest]

I have followed every tutorial, reviewed every other forum on this, went step by step with all preferences and my gradient still pastes as an image. Is it the new update that refuses to copy/paste swatches between the two? Please help. Thank you.

[Laubender]

Some details on the bug we are seeing here:

Actually the gradient swatch is applied to the copied object.

But with the wrong values for GradientFillStart and GradientFillLength.

I compared the values from an exported IDMS file of a pasted rectangle to InDesign CC 2018.1 and one to InDesign CC 2019 14.0.1.209. The values in CC 2019 were way off. Not so with the same rectangle pasted to a CC 2018.1 page.

CC 2019 ( all values are in points 😞

GradientFillStart="4877.823136474006 -5013.555344725959"

GradientFillLength="7231.69921875"

CC 2018.1:

GradientFillStart="-41.991211531998275 110.90551181102363"

GradientFillLength="84.30709838867188"

How GradientFillStart and GradientFillLength should be calculated.

This sample:

1. New document with non-facing pages 100 x 100 mm page size.

2. Drag out a rectangle 100 x 100 Pt from [0,0] towards the right and the bottom.

3. Fill it with a linear gradient.

The bug is clearly with InDesign CC 2019.

Gradient Fill with CMYK colors

AI: Copy rectangle with applied gradient fill > INDD: Paste

AI CC-2018 > INDD CC-2019 > Bug

AI CC-2019 > INDD CC-2019 > Bug

AI CC-2018 > INDD CC-2018 > No Bug

AI CC-2019 > INDD CC-2018 > No Bug

What's wrong wth INDD CC-2019?

Wrong GradientFillStart

Wrong GradientFillLength

Regards,
Uwe

[jane-e]

Laubender

Uwe, are you saying the bug is that we are only seeing the upper left corner, then?

May I ask how you got the numbers? Did you write a script? Can we see it in the Gradient panel?

I am not in my office to test, but what happens if we resize the frame or reapply the swatch?

Good sleuthing!

Jane

[Laubender]

jane-e  wrote

Uwe, are you saying the bug is that we are only seeing the upper left corner, then? …

As my numbers are showing GradientFillStart and GradientFillLength are way off. We don't see the upper left corner.

With one of my samples start is off about 4700 pts ( 65 inches ) x-direction and about 4950 pts ( 68 inches ) in y-direction.

Also length with about 7100 pts ( 99 inches ).

One can reapply the gradient fill.

First apply a different swatch like [Black] and then the new gradient fill again.

However that would spoil the applied angle of the fill, if there is one. It will be reset to zero.

Also the fill start position, if there is a different one than the left edge of the rectangle.

jane-e  wrote

…May I ask how you got the numbers? Did you write a script? Can we see it in the Gradient panel?…

I got the numbers by exporting the pasted rectangle with the applied fill to IDMS, opened the IDMS file with a text editor and discovered the numbers. You could also write a script to fetch them. The numbers cannot be seen in the Gradient panel.

One could move the path points of the pasted rectangle to show more of the gradient fill applied.

But one needs to do that with unlikely huge numbers. I tried that and expanded the 100 x 100 pt rectangle to about 5 x 5 meters. Still I cannot see the whole gradient.

Also tested copy/paste with a rectangle where the gradient angle was 45° in Illustrator. The result with the pasted rectangle was a -0.566° angle as seen from the Gradient panel. That means: The gradient angle is not transferred as expected.

Regards,
Uwe

[Laubender]

All in all the best way to workaround the bug is:

1. Copy the object with the gradient in Illustrator CC 2019

2. Paste to a page in InDesign CC 2018.1, save and close the document.

3. Open the document from InDesign CC 2018.1 with InDesign CC 2019.

Or export an IDMS file or save as IDML from InDesign CC 2018.1 and place the IDMS file or open the IDML with CC 2019.

Regards,
Uwe

[jane-e]

Laubender​

Hi Uwe,

Also, it's coming into InDesign as a Group:

[Laubender]

That's nothing unusual and is not new. 🙂

If there is a stroke applied it will show as a group of objects:

Rectangle holding the stroke.

Graphic frame with a nested rectangle holding the fill.

Regards,
Uwe

[acew1981]

I have just tried this several times and spent two days trying to figure out how to do this. I even contacted adobe about this and their support said it cannot be done. Out of frustration i kept trying many things. I decided to close out both indesign and illustrator. Created new files etc. Still no avail. I then copied the gradient object from illustrator and went into indesign and selected edit menu then "paste into place". it worked! I hope this helps someone else.

[Laubender]

Hi aaronw22990910 ,

thank you very much for this contribution.

Currently I cannot test this with CC 2019.

What's your exact version of InDesign CC 2019?

What's your operating system?

Thanks,
Uwe

[acew1981]

Adobe indesign 14.0.2

Adobe illustrator 23.0.3

Windows 10 64 bit

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

Hi acew1981 ,

the bug is fixed with InDesign CC 2019 14.0.2.324.

Just tested with Illustrator 23.0.3 on Windows 10.

Paste or Paste in Place was no difference. The gradient I copied over from Illustrator worked as expected.

Also see the list of fixed bugs here:

Fixed issues in InDesign

Regards,
Uwe

[Steve Werner]

I can confirm on a Macintosh.

I successfully copied a gradient from Illustrator CC 2019 23.0.4 to InDesign CC 2019 14.0.2.324.

Illustrator gradient:

Result copied into InDesign:

[lynney26645481]

If you have access to InDesign 2018 copy the art from your Illustrator file and paste it into a layout created in the 2018 version of InDesign and save the file. Then, you can copy the pasted art from the 2018 version of InDesign and paste it successfully into your 2019 version layout. It's a round-about way, but it worked for me.

[ClusterX]

Not working again, Indesign 15.1.1 and Illustrator 24.2.1

[lido_lee]

Yes same here:Indesign 15.1.1 and Illustrator 24.2.1 on Mac OS 10.15.5 (19F101).
Copy paste a vector with a gradient from Illustrator does not work. The gradient is not scaling either.

[Laubender]

Hi ClusterX,

what's your operating system?

Just tested a linear CMYK gradient with several color stops. The object with the gradient is pasted.

The bug I detected: Wrong colors! But I also have gradient samples where it worked. Have to test more…

CMYK gradient in Illustrator:

Pasted result in InDesign:

That's a totally differently bug, I think.

German Illustrator 24.2.1

German InDesign 15.1.1.103

on Windows 10

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[ClusterX]

Hi, Laubender.

My system is Win 10.

Now i have working copy/paste gradients. But i don't know what helped to me: some latest windows updates or clearing read only attribute of Indesign prefs folder. Because these two things i made before check.

[Laubender]

Hi ClusterX,

do you still have the sample where you had issues with?

Somewhere there is indeed a bug, but I still cannot tell what exactly enforces it.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[lido_lee]

BTW: Today I filed a bug (with Video) in the InDesign Support Portal. Check this: https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs/suggestions/40932691-gradient-scali...

[Jo5E12]

I'm no expert, but I was having the same problem and this worked for me.

In-design preferences

> Display Performance

In the Options area make sure the 'Preserve Object-Level Display Settings' box is ticked

also

> Clipboard Settings

In the Clipboard Handling area - Clipboard area make sure the 'Prefer PDF when Pasting' box is ticked

My gradients started to appear as they should be

I also had problems scaling my gradients once in In-design - if this happens…
If the gradient appears in illutrator as a 'clipped layer' make sure to select the layer and using the layer window open the 'options for' area and make sure the 'LOCK' box is ticked.

I'm not saying this is a fix but these options worked for me.

[royalfoyness]

I had the same problem.. both files were CMYK.. the problem on mine was both ends of the gradient swatches were colour picked so were not solid CMYK values. - ensure the CMYK break down of both ends of the gradient are complete numbers- for example C19 M99 Y55 K2 rather that C:18.78 M98.76, Y54.90, K2.34 🙂

[Ludovic29924883eoep]

I do think there is an OS difference on this.
I can't get it to work on windows 10 , while there is no problem on Macos. 
This is a very annoying issue.

[Laubender]

Hi @Ludovic29924883eoep ,

please attach a sample Illustrator file; just with a simple rectangle where the gradient is applied.

I'll test that on the most current versions of InDesign and Illustrator with macOS or Windows.

Thanks,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[Ludovic29924883eoep]

Hello,

Thanks for your quick feedback. Here is a very simple file that contain a rectangle i'm unable to past properly as a gradient:

[Ludovic29924883eoep]

.

[Laubender]

@Ludovic29924883eoep said: "Here is a very simple file that contain a rectangle i'm unable to past properly as a gradient:"

Hm. Cannot see a file attached to your post. Did you answer by mail? Then the attachment to your mail cannot make it to this forum. Please attach the file using the forum controls when you do a reply directly in the forum.

Thanks,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )