Metadata problem on import

[Wilhelm5C17]

Hi, InDesign seems to freeze on the import of files with a lot of metadata. It's a Photoshop problem which extends to InDesign (but as it seems nobody at the PS forum seems to care). For example, I receive a .psd file with 225 MB (the actual size after stripping down the metadata is 20,5 MB!), which takes about 3 minutes to place into a InDD document. And the InDD file size goes up to over 400MB (after taking out the metadata it's 6,2 MB).
The problem: PS doesn't have a function to wipe this data, so I have to try via Affinity Photo or export (Save for web) layer by layer as .png, to rebuild the .psd.

I love InDD, but this and the switching back from the text-tool bug are driving me nuts!

[rob day · Accepted solution]

There is a known problem with history metadata in Photoshop files bloating InDesign layouts. There is a discussion and scripting solution here:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/file-size-is-too-big/td-p/9370587?page=2#10084949

This script will remove the history metadata from a folder of image files:

//#target photoshop

var psdFolder = Folder.selectDialog("Select the folder containing PSDs", "");

// to include jpg, tiff, and eps use this:
var myFiles = psdFolder.getFiles(/\.(jpg|tif|eps|psd)$/i);
//var myFiles = psdFolder.getFiles(/\.(psd)$/i); 

for (var a = 0; a < myFiles.length; a++){
    var docRef = open(myFiles[a]);
    cleanMeta(docRef);
};   


function cleanMeta(d){
    if (ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript == undefined) ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript = new ExternalObject("lib:AdobeXMPScript");   
    var xmp = new XMPMeta( activeDocument.xmpMetadata.rawData);   
    xmp.deleteProperty(XMPConst.NS_PHOTOSHOP, "DocumentAncestors");   
    d.xmpMetadata.rawData = xmp.serialize(); 
    d.save();
    d.close();
};

After cleaning placed images, save out the InDesign file as a IDML and reopen.