1 2 3 Previous Next 172 Replies Latest reply: Feb 22, 2012 2:29 PM by John Hawkinson RSS

    Background PDF export Help

    webheads1835 Community Member

      I recently installed InDesign CS5 on my 27" iMac i5 and I'm having a problem with exporting files to PDF in the background.  I know that in CS5, pdf export is now done in the background.  Not all the time, but on many occasions when I export to PDF in the background the process freezes.  I check the background tasks manager and the process is stalled, it just sits there with 0% progress and actually freezes all background exporting functions to the point where  when I want to close the document I get an error that says" background tasks in progress can not close document".  Then I have to force quit ID to get rid of the error.  Any help?

        • 1. Re: Background PDF export Help
          P Spier CommunityMVP

          Wish I could help, but all I can say is I've been a victim, too. Seems to happen if you make changes to the same doc while it is trying to export, at least for me...

          • 2. Re: Background PDF export Help
            webheads1835 Community Member

            I created a pdf preset I call supersmall, all images are compressed down to 72dpi, seems if I export my document on the supersmall preset first and then re-export again and change the preset to press quality or to my bleed setting then it works fine.  But sucks to have to export twice for each document.

             

            Steve Webster, BFA

            All Weather Windows Marketing & Design Consultant

            Ph.780.447.6359

            • 3. Re: Background PDF export Help
              designerBeans Community Member

              I'm having the same issues!

               

              I have problems exporting to PDF more than 50% + of the time and that happens no matter if I'm printing from a book export or from the file/export. The background task shows the 0% and won't let me close. I've talked to technical support and after an hour nothing was resolved so I came here. The tech support guy tried to tell me the features in CS5 were more intensive and that's why it's having problems processing.  I'm still feeling frustrated from the call because of the communication problems with the foriegn tech.

              • 4. Re: Background PDF export Help
                webheads1835 Community Member

                I hear you with the foreign tech, I have switched many services (phone internet, cable) to get away from foreign techs and it's not racist I just need to communicate in full english to feel like an issue is resolved.  I just gave up.  I have gone back to InDesign CS4 until Adobe comes out with the first update for CS5.  Creating PDFs is what I do all day long so it has to work well.  Are you on a Mac?  I am and I wonder if this works fine on windows?  Adobe has been known for lax support for Mac lately but pdf creation from indesign is such a core feature I can't believe Adobe screwed it up.  Do you have CS4?

                 

                Steve Webster, BFA

                All Weather Windows Marketing & Design Consultant

                Ph.780.447.6359

                • 5. Re: Background PDF export Help
                  P Spier CommunityMVP

                  Sadly, it is problem for Windows users, too.


                  • 6. Re: Background PDF export Help
                    webheads1835 Community Member

                    Oh boy, Adobe messed this one up big!  I bet there will be an update soon.

                     

                    Steve Webster, BFA

                    All Weather Windows Marketing & Design Consultant

                    Ph.780.447.6359

                    • 7. HELP!!! PDF XPORT
                      RealEstateErica Community Member

                      Trying to Export a one page .indd into a .pdf and then into an email.

                       

                      but the font continuously keeps getting altered.

                       

                      Any ideas???

                       

                      Thanks

                      • 8. Re: Background PDF export Help
                        webheads1835 Community Member

                        The font is probably copyright protected, InDesign won't let you create a pdf from a protected font, but there's an easy fix.  Click on the text box of the font in question, in InDesign, and then go to "Type/Create Outlines".  This changes that font to an outline of the font, it's no longer an editable font, it's a vector image of the font shape.  Then you can export a PDF with no font problems.  See if that works.  Thanks

                         

                        Steve Webster, BFA

                        All Weather Windows Marketing & Design Consultant

                        Ph.780.447.6359

                        • 9. Re: Background PDF export Help
                          designerBeans Community Member

                          Yes Steve, I'm on a Mac. It's a brand new 27" iMac with duo core processors 3.06 GHz and 8 GB RAM.

                           

                          Like you, I export PDFs regularly and this has slowed my production time way down.

                           

                          Someone wrote that if you only use the PDF presets, it works just fine -- I tried that and it didn't work  : (

                           

                          I can't help but feel that if there was a way to turn off background printing, we wouldn't be having this issue.

                           

                          Also like you, I'm not a racist. It's just that so much time is spent repeating yourself or having them repeat what they said that it just gets down right frustrating.

                          • 10. Re: Background PDF export Help
                            [Jongware] Community Member

                            InDesign will notify you if you try to embed a non-embeddable font, but perhaps this has been forcibly ignored by telling it "Don't tell me this anymore" on an earlier occasion.

                             

                            A good check is to open the PDF with Acrobat, and select the Fonts tab in the Description dialog. This tells you right away which fonts are embedded and which are not.

                            • 11. Re: HELP!!! PDF XPORT
                              designerBeans Community Member

                              Did you preflight before you tried to export. Sometimes that will catch the font issue.

                              • 12. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                designerBeans Community Member

                                webheads1835 wrote:

                                 

                                .... Do you have CS4?

                                 


                                I have CS4 but unfortnately it will no longer open the files because they have been updated once I worked on them in CS5.

                                • 13. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                  RealEstateErica Community Member

                                  It says I have overset text...

                                   

                                  How do I alter this?

                                  • 14. Re: HELP!!! PDF XPORT
                                    RealEstateErica Community Member

                                    I did preflight. but it says my text is overset any idea of what this means?

                                    • 15. Re: HELP!!! PDF XPORT
                                      P Spier CommunityMVP

                                      Overset text means there is more test in the story that fits in the frame. It's often as simple as an extra carriage return at the end of the story leaving an empty paragraph. Put your cursor in the story and press Cmd (Ctrl) + Y to open the story editor and see what is not visible. Edit, or resize the frame.

                                      • 16. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                        mikeal56 Community Member

                                        Hi, I'm experiencing the same problem - background PDF creation crashing and freezing INDD CS5. I thought I had a good workaround (it worked on one occasion), which was to export file > IDML, open the IDML in CS4, and export to PDF from there. But now, the IDML export process also crashes and freezes the app. I'm actually on deadline this morning with a magazine and this is driving me nuts. Like some other posters, I had a totally frustrating time with Tech Support, a gentleman who did not seem familiar with the product at all and had to refer to, I guess, a knowledge base that provided no answers. Seething? Yes.

                                        • 17. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                          P Spier CommunityMVP

                                          Yours is the first report I've seen of trouble with exporting to .idml. Are you running other applications or any third-party plugins for ID that might be causing a conflict?

                                          • 18. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                            mikeal56 Community Member

                                            Hi – no, I'm not running any 3rd party plugins in CS5 (other than updated RAW converter in Photoshop). I do have Q2ID in my InDesign CS4 plugins folder, but not in CS5. Thanks.

                                            • 19. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                              P Spier CommunityMVP

                                              What about other background applications you migfht be able to turn off?

                                              • 20. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                mikeal56 Community Member

                                                I've finished the mag in CS4, so am about to restart and try CS5 on its own. I'll let you know how it goes... Thanks again.

                                                • 21. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                  mikeal56 Community Member

                                                  OK. Restarted, only Bridge and INDD CS5 open, plus Safari for this thread. Running OS X 10.6.3. I've opened my document (48 page magazine), Opens fine. Export > .idml fails (no apparent action). Trying to close the document brings up the error: "InDesign cannot close the document ... because it is in use by one or more background tasks". Clicking cancel and going to Background Tasks produces the following message: Export: " 0 (with a large cross next to it). Any thoughts?

                                                  • 22. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                    P Spier CommunityMVP

                                                    Nothing very useful, I'm afraid. Restart the computer, and try again without Safari, then file a bug at Adobe - Feature Request/Bug Report Form

                                                    • 23. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                      mikeal56 Community Member

                                                      OK thanks.

                                                      • 24. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                        mikeal56 Community Member

                                                        That appears to be the answer. Loading Safari (4.0.5) first then firing up InDesign CS5 results in the failure to export to .idml. But if InDesign is started before Safari, the problem doesn't occur. So: a Safari bug, or an InDesign bug? I'll file a bug report to both.

                                                        • 25. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                          designerBeans Community Member

                                                          Has anyone come up with a solution yet?

                                                           

                                                          To get a PDF,

                                                           

                                                          1. I have to open each doucment
                                                          2. export to PDF (which freezes)
                                                          3. Force Quit InDesign
                                                          4. Reopen InDesign
                                                          5. export my document again

                                                           

                                                          All this to get one PDF and I have over 20 more to go....

                                                          • 26. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                            webheads1835 Community Member

                                                            Nope, no solution that I can see.  I wen't back to InDesign CS4 until an update comes for CS5.  You can export your CS5 documents to open in CS4 by exporting the CS5 document to "IDML"  (InDesign Markup).  Sorry.

                                                            • 27. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                              designerBeans Community Member

                                                              I just spent another hour with tech support and we've figured out that new files built in CS5 are not having issues -- only those built in previous versions. So, I can convert those files to idml files and CS5 doesn't seem to have an issue making the PDFs. However, this is just a workaround and does not resolve the issue.

                                                              • 28. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                                P Spier CommunityMVP

                                                                If you export these files to .idml and open that and save as a new .indd in CS5, does the export proceed normally?

                                                                • 29. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                                  webheads1835 Community Member

                                                                  I have had problems with new files too.  Also had problems exporting IDML.

                                                                  • 30. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                                    P Spier CommunityMVP

                                                                    Would you mind removing your automatic signature from your email responses, please. Aside from being spammer bait, it takes up space on the web page.

                                                                    • 31. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                                      designerBeans Community Member

                                                                      Hmmmm.... we only did a simple test on a new file and it worked. I guess I'll have to see when I build the next page/book.

                                                                      • 32. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                                        designerBeans Community Member

                                                                        P Spier wrote:

                                                                         

                                                                        If you export these files to .idml and open that and save as a new .indd in CS5, does the export proceed normally?

                                                                        Yes, that was the workaround. However, that's not a practical solution for hundreds of files. I'm not sure how the cross references are going to hold up in a book situation using this process?

                                                                        • 33. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                                          Daniel Cilia Community Member

                                                                          I am having the same issues as well with exporting to Pdf's in the background. And why did Adobe put in a cancel button in the background panel that does not work? Yet if you are doing a book export from the book panel, InDesign CS5 does not go to background printing, but works in the same way it used to do in CS4. If you have a lot of documents put them into a single book (switching off numbering) and output to Pdf from there one by one and the background Pdf 'printing' does not kick in.

                                                                          Yet I hope Adobe solves this Pdf issue. It sure has to do with the new background Pdf export which is great since one can continue to work. One other thing I have noticed is that for me many times the processing stops at 9%. Once it goes over 9% than I know InDesign CS5 will not stall the export to PDF.

                                                                          • 34. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                                            designerBeans Community Member

                                                                            Daniel Cilia wrote:

                                                                             

                                                                            Yet if you are doing a book export from the book panel, InDesign CS5 does not go to background printing, but works in the same way it used to do in CS4. If you have a lot of documents put them into a single book (switching off numbering) and output to Pdf from there one by one and the background Pdf 'printing' does not kick in.

                                                                             

                                                                            One other thing I have noticed is that for me many times the processing stops at 9%. Once it goes over 9% than I know InDesign CS5 will not stall the export to PDF.

                                                                            Daniel,

                                                                             

                                                                            I'm with you on the exit button -- it doesn't work.

                                                                             

                                                                            I can't make PDFs from a book either.

                                                                             

                                                                            My background printing never gets past 0%

                                                                            • 35. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                                              robbeau Community Member

                                                                              I have found that if I just export a few pages at a time, I don't freeze. This isn't a fix by any means, but at least it's a workaround. I was able to do 10 pages at a time.

                                                                              • 36. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                                                dancilia Community Member

                                                                                Yes its better if there are less pages, but once a while it blocks on even 6 pages. Hope Adobe is reading these forums and we get a corrective update. Its embarrassing for them to mess up with PDF which was, and is their flagship, in publishing! Most of us left Quark because of how well Pdf export worked from InDesign.

                                                                                • 37. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                                                  robbeau Community Member

                                                                                  I couldn't agree more.

                                                                                  • 38. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                                                    designerBeans Community Member

                                                                                    dancilia wrote:

                                                                                     

                                                                                    ... Hope Adobe is reading these forums and we get a corrective update. Its embarrassing for them to mess up with PDF which was, and is their flagship, in publishing! Most of us left Quark because of how well Pdf export worked from InDesign.

                                                                                     

                                                                                    I was thinking the same thing!

                                                                                    • 39. Re: Background PDF export Help
                                                                                      Marvin Sable Community Member

                                                                                      I actually thought I was having the same problem. It appeared as if no progress was being made on the PDF export and I could not save the file because of the background task. After checking on this forum (leaving the document open and still exporting" I returned to the doc to find it had completed the export and was not frozen as I had suspected. Not sure if this is what others are experiencing but it appears my problem was that the export process was taking Much Much longer than prior versions and longer than I expected. Bottom line:  SLOW not Frozen!

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