Recover a damaged InDesign document. Tips and Tricks
A crashing Adobe InDesign or large .INDD document that will not open is truly a bummer. First of course you should try the basics, like making sure your general operating system is running fine (no corrupted fonts or other issues; on a Mac try Cocktail for general system maintenance, for example..) and to look at the InDesign application itself. For instance, it could be a corrupted set of preferences within InDesign, try; Restarting (or starting up) InDesign with the cmd+alt+ctrl+shift keys held down – (tip via @rufusd) now this may help you if the problem is a corrupted InDesign preferences file. However, what if it is something bigger and badder?
Fix Bad Adobe InDesign Documents – a service
Markzware, the makers of CS3/CS4 plugins like Q2ID (Quark to InDesign), FlightCheck and the new content search tool for InDesign, PageZephyr, has a “no fix, no pay” InDesign File Recovery Service it is offering. This method of repair has a high success rate, working about 80% of the time. It costs only 99 USD/EUR and you can email sales AT markzware.com for more details and the location on where you can submit your bad Adobe file. See:
http://www.markzware.com/blogs/bad-corrupted-adobe-indesign-software-docs/2008/09/15/
Sometimes these bad files lead to seemingly bigger problems, like your InDesign CS4 application not starting anymore! Do not fret, that is generally easy to fix… see this Adobe tech note on how to remove the remnants of the bad file from the InDesign file recovery folder on your system (Mac or Win):
InDesign CS3/CS4 crashes upon launch while attempting to recover a damaged document
Here is another Indy (British slang for InDesign) tip:
InDesign Defaults is the trouble-maker…
“In a nut-shell, the way to fix this is simple. It is as easy as going into your home folder (the account your logged into- “User” on your Mac), then the “Library” folder and then the “Preferences” folder and then into the “Adobe InDesign” folder. There you will see this pref file named, “InDesign Defaults“, simply delete that, re-start InDesign and it should start up for you again!”
Source: Cannot Open InDesign- always crashing: What can I do?
Markzware’s vast experience with these DTP or publishing file formats (We can also fix your QuarkXPress files with MarkzTools most of the time as well), it gives you hope the next time your creative content ceases up on you…
January 27th, 2010
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