InDesign export to PDF doesn't work.

[NoShortyCordonnier]

Anyone with the slightest clue what I am doing wrong here? I have a InDesign file I am trying to export to a PDF, but it is not working. (I have a screen shot that would make this explaination so much easier, but it won't load)

The file is an A3 a background image, some text and 7 PDF images. 4 of the PDF images am I able to place and export to PDF, but as  soon as I try to add the remainding 3 (or just one of the 3) the file won't export as PDF. All the PDFs are made at the same time, with the same technique (AI files saved as PDFs). The PDF images were orgiginally created in CS4 and CS5, but I ahev edited them in CS6 an saved them after that.

I have tried turning my mac (OS Lion) on and of again. I have tried quitting InDesign. I have tried force quitting InDesign. I have tried about every solution I can find online (that I understand), but it just does not seem to work. What am I doing wrong??

The errors occurring are:

- "Out of memory"

- "Unable to display PDF image on tha page"

- "Failed to export the PDF file"

If anyone could help that would be very much appriciated, since my deadline is in less than 45 hours...

xxx

[Peter Spier]

First, are you sure the background task has completed before you attempt to view the PDF (A good method is to check the box to open the PDF after export)? Or are not even getting to the point of trying to view the PDF?

Yuo can use the camera icon on the web page to embed an image in your post, like this:

[NoShortyCordonnier]

I have disable the background task this way http://indesignsecrets.com/a-new-workaround-for-that-pesky-background-export-issue.php so that should not be the issue...

I can'r even save the PDF, so there is no way of viewing something that is not saved yet.

And I am able to press the camera button, I am able the choose the screen shot file, but it won't insert (That might be my shit internet connection acting up).

[NoShortyCordonnier]

I mangaged to upload the screen shot to my blog, so you can view it http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m57aksQ3LO1qh5145o1_1280.png

[Peter Spier]

First step is probably to try an export to .idml (see Remove minor corruption by exporting)

Also try opening the file as a copy and save as with a new name.

[NoShortyCordonnier]

After exporting it to IDML, and reopening that file in InDesign to then export to PDF, the same errors keep occurring.

After opening as copy and exporting as PDF did not help. Same errors occured.

[Peter Spier]

If more than one page, can you export haf the doc at a time? How about from a new user account, and waht if you DON'T use any tricks to bybass background export?

[NoShortyCordonnier]

It is just that one page, so that does not help.

I will try to print from a different user either tonight or tomorrow, as i have to go to the library to print it.

And the problem started before i tried bypassing the background export.

Thank you so much for all your sugesstions so far.

xxx

[Peter Spier]

NoShortyCordonnier wrote:

i have to go to the library to print it.

Well it may be a problem at the library...

[Peter Spier]

I'm losing it. Are you exporting on your own machine or at the library?

[NoShortyCordonnier]

I have done all the work on my own laptop and I am converting the files on my own laptop, but all the printing happens in the library since I don't have an A3 printer. The file has not been tested in the library yet. I will test o export it in the library tomorrow.

xxx

[bananaoctopus]

Just incase anyone stumbles across this in the future I had the exact same problem. The solutions above didn't work for me either. I was able to export other PDFs without an issue so assumed there was a problem with the file. I turned all layers off and was able to export a blank page fine. I isolated a single layer and within that a specific file that had corrupted, after replacing the corrupt file I was able to export the document as a PDF without and errors etc.

[Joyful91]

Thank you so much bananaoctopus!! I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out why a document in my book wasn't exporting. I have spent many hours on it and thanks to your comment, it helped me finish it within minutes. Thank you again, it is a blessing that you posted your experience .

[sagar-khanna]

Did you try exporting the .idml in CS5.5 or previous versions?

A similar issue is known to us in CS6.

[jballou1107]

How did you figure out the file was corrupted?

I am working with a very large 300 page document with 371 links.... I have run into this issue before and luckily figured out which file was corrupted. However, this time I cannot seem to find it. Help!

[kathrinej39804186 · Accepted solution]

Thank you for this suggestion - worked for me - simply turning all the layers off - then trying to export until I identified the corrupt image. After re-linking the image, it exported perfectly. Very happy

[maryskavalentine]

Just in case anyone is still getting the "failed to export PDF" message... I found this thread when I typed the error in to Google: http://hellbox.org/archives/000497.html

I ungrouped everything in my file and had no text spanning over two spreads, because the file is single pages. I tried exporting each page, one at a time to see if I could find the problem and each one failed. I re-saved the file as "test" and then exported the PDF as "test" and it worked. I still have no clue why the program didn't like the original file name, but I thought I would share my experience to see if it could help someone else.

[simple_things · Accepted solution]

Finally found a solution! check the links and make sure that you have the right permissions to the links. I had the links all over the different drives, so I gathered them all up and changed the permissions and relinked them. A whole day went to waste just because of this.. (facepalm)

[jballou1107]

How can I look at the permissions for 371 links? Is there a way to batch save the permissions?

[martyfizz]

Not sure about the permissions, but I was having a similar issue with a single page doc in InDesign CS6. I made a copy of the InDesign file and retried the export and success. The original InDesign doc may have corrupted somehow.

[martyfizz]

You mention that one if your errors is  - "Out of memory"

Since you are dealing with a very large document, it may be possible that your system's resourced are being pushed to their limit. It may be worth looking into how much free RAM you have after opening your doc or checking out the scratch disk space.

[William J Price]

As odd as this may seem when I experienced this issue in inDesign CC the problem seemed to be images that were simply too large to export to PDF. Some images would export just fine and others wouldn't. The ones that wouldn't would end up in the PDF and grey boxes with the 'X' through them (like a placeholder). My solution was to simply resample the images and this did the trick. I don't know what the image size limit is or even if there is one but using smaller image files helped me crack this problem.