Damaged .indd file

Question

I have been working on a document for my school. The file belongs to the school yearbook and must be completed soon. However, when trying to open the file recently, a messaged popped up saying the file was damaged (error no. 5) and couldn't be opened. We tried file conversion (to .idml) but the file couldn't open at all in the application and therefore conversion was impossible. We couldn't access any recovery files and previous versions loose a lot of the work that was put into the doc. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

SanyamTalwar · Accepted Answer

There are multiple factors both internal and external to InDesign application that can lead to document corruption. However, I can take a look and see if the file can be repaired. Please email your InDesign file to corrupt_indesign_docs@adobe.com and I will take a look at the document.

If the file is larger than 10 Mb, you can zip (and password protect) the file and upload to Creative Cloud account (or Dropbox) and send us the document link.

Pijnacker01 · Answer

It can be a host of problems. Hard to say. One trick is to try and artificially break the image links. (i.e., move the images off that machine and try opening then the InDesign file) But, many these days seem to be copying-and-pasting images into InDesign from Word and even Internet browsers, which is a whole other cup of soup.

Here are also some tips from Adobe themselves:

Recover InDesign documents

We here at Markzware have a high success rate of recovering bad InDesign files. You could opt for our service if no other trouble-shooting methods fail:

https://markzware.com/products/file-recovery-service/

Friendly Regards,

David Dilling

Markzware

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