Wednesday, 27 November 2013

InDesign document corruption and repair suggestion

What is an InDesign file?

An InDesign file is creation of Adobe file systems, which is used to develop creative workflow such as Posters, Brochures, Flyers and books.  Adobe InDesign is desktop publishing software released for both Mac OS X and Windows OS. During recent years, InDesign has gained much popularity due to rise in creative workflow & monitoring magazines, books and postcards etc.

The file extension of an Adobe InDesign file is denoted by .INDD

 
A typical UI of an InDesignfile

How to open .indd file on Mac?

A .indd file will be opened by an Adobe InDesign application and no other similar utility will help user launch this desktop publishing file. So, one has to download the Adobe InDesign to launch the file. The 30 day trial download of Adobe InDesign is available for both lines of OS. This download will help user read, edit and save an InDesign files on their respective system.

Uses of InDesign file

InDesign tool empowers user to be more creative in their work. It can also establish a link with its sibling software such as Photoshop & Illustrator.

Being a layout application, InDesign also facilitates both graphics (to be imported) & texts to combine creating layouts for printing. One can prepare Graphics in either Photoshop or Illustrator & then import them in InDesign for merging with text & layouts.

Adobe InDesign also masters professionalism by providing powerful text tools & style sheets to make typesetting operations much easier tasks.

Its ability to rapidly layout multiple documents like books, magazines, newspaper and catalogues makes it one of the most recommended utility for layout designing.

Compared to Photoshop, the InDesign lacks several power-packed features such as making color correction in a graphic.

Compatibility Issues with Mac OS X &InDesign file

Interestingly, InDesign and Mac OS X 10.5 didn’t co-operated well as the software would quit unexpectedly causing serious damaged & loss to the running file. However, the issue was fixed when Apple released the OS X update 10.5.4.

Later, InDesign software had a stable run on upcoming Mac OS X updates and works perfectly fine.

Corruption of .INDD file

Just like any other file is subjected to corruption, similarly an InDesign file is no exception. However, the application itself is robust and tries every possible method to save an InDesign file from corruption.

Frequent causes of corruption:

Software Conflict – The application conflict with the executable files of other apps causing the InDesign to malfunction. 

Low Disk Space – Graphical software do require large amount of free spaces to run normally. In an event of low disk space the software might not get enough room to stretch its functionalities causing abrupt errors. Large RAM sizes are also a requirement for graphical tool such as InDesign Repair.

Viruses – Trojans & Malware have the ability to corrupt any media file including the .INDD file type.

Built-in Recovery of .INDD file:

Though, the software fails to protect itself from above mentioned causes of corruption, however, it possess some inbuilt methodology to safeguard itself. The ‘DocumentRecovery’feature can prevent damaged ceased by a computer crash or abnormal power surge. 

Repairing the damaged .INDD file

Use Disk Management – To repair minor corruption in system, make use of Disk Utility. Sometimes, a damaged preference file could be fixed by running Disk utility, thus making indesign application to run without hassle.

Cloud Storage – Make sure you upload the Indesign file to a cloud service like Dropbox or iCloud itself. Upon any damage or system failure, you still be able to retrieve the file on a healthy system.

Updates – Allow automatic updates to save on Mac OS X regarding the InDesign application. At times, the update alone resolves the flaw of an running application on Mac.

To know more about resolving an corruption, follow the link http://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/troubleshoot-damaged-indesign-documents.html

3rd party Software to repair InDesign file:

  • Stellar Phoenix InDesign Repair for Mac
  • RecuvaAdobe Indesign File Recovery
Both of the software helps users to repair/recover InDesign document on Mac as well as Windows system. Also free demo of the software available for trial, so you can check your luck with free software and buy it after surety of file repairing.