Cannot export to PDF using Adobe InDesign (MacOSX) Part 2

Category: Techwriter

Continued from Cannot export to PDF using Adobe InDesign (MacOSX) Part 2

InDesign crashing midway through exporting to PDF

Even without the "Out of memory" error message, a failed exporting process could also be caused by memory issues. There are other reasons why this occurs, however, such as the following:

1. A corrupted JPEG file - Personally, I would never use JPEG with InDesign. The quality is bad enough even before you compress the image a second time to PDF. Use TIFF, a vector format like SVG or EPS, Photoshop's native file format, or even PNG rather than a JPEG file. If you don't have the luxury of using the other file formats, than convert the JPEG to a more usable file format using Photoshop (though this is a last resort). JPEGs, to its credit, is a fairly resilient file format despite its poor quality and even a corrupted JPEG file can be made usable if processed using the right software (I've had luck with Corel Photo-Paint and Linux's ImageMagick and Gimp).

2. A damaged or older EPS file - EPS is a great format and InDesign will often handle EPS very well. However, Adobe products may find EPS files produced using legacy applications as unpalatable. A quick test is to open the EPS file using a Linux application such as Inkscape or a non-Adobe application such as CorelDraw. If the EPS can be exported to PDF using any of the other applications, then you may need to re-save the EPS file using Adobe Illustrator.

InDesign may sometimes detect unfriendly EPS files during the export process and pop up with a message. Sometimes, InDesign will just crash or halt.

3. Mismatched color profiles - Colour profiles are the last thing a technical writer thinks about but one of the more important aspects that concerns a designer or artist. If you're moving work between Windows and Mac or you get your artwork from someone else, placing them in an InDesign layout and attempting to export the document to PDF may cause InDesign to crash. You can actually ignore color warnings by InDesign if color isn't an important element in the PDF output. However, if you can't produce a PDF due to color issues, you can prevent InDesign from converting the colour during PDF export. In the Export Adobe PDF window, click Output on the left panel. On the Colour Conversion item, select "No Colour Conversion."

Tracking down the Culprit

To find out what nasty file is causing Adobe InDesign's PDF engine to crash or prevent the PDF from being produced, you have to sit and watch the progress window as the PDF is being produced.

As InDesign exports your InDesign file to PDF, it will list the files one by one. Watch the files carefully. The progress and message will pause on larger AI, TIFF, or vector files as it goes through the Book or InDesign pages. When InDesign crashes, take note of when it crashed - if it occurred on an EPS or AI file then you know which file to troubleshoot as well as the page where the image is located.

As a final note, always use the Adobe dialog boxes when managing your Adobe file. Never use OSX's dialog box. It makes troubleshooting Adobe products much easier.