User Guide Cancel

Recovery and undo

  1. InDesign User Guide
  2. Get to know InDesign
    1. Introduction to InDesign
      1. What's New in InDesign
      2. System requirements
      3. Common questions
      4. Use Creative Cloud libraries
    2. Workspace
      1. Workspace basics
      2. Customize your workspace in InDesign
      3. Toolbox
      4. Set preferences
      5. Properties panel
      6. Touch workspace
      7. Default keyboard shortcuts
      8. Undo edits and manage History panel
      9. Document recovery and undo
    3. Generative AI (Not available in Mainland China)
      1. Text to Image
      2. Generative Expand
      3. Generative AI FAQ
  3. Create and layout documents
    1. Documents and pages
      1. Create documents
      2. Work with parent pages
      3. Work with document pages
      4. Set page size, margins, and bleed
      5. Work with files and templates
      6. Convert PDFs to InDesign files in InDesign (Beta)
      7. Create book files
      8. Add basic page numbering
      9. Number pages, chapters, and sections
      10. Convert QuarkXPress and PageMaker documents
      11. Share content
      12. Understand a basic managed-file workflow
      13. Save documents
    2. Grids
      1. Grids
      2. Format grids
    3. Layout aids
      1. Rulers
      2. Align and distribute objects using rulers
      3. Measure objects using the Measure tool
  4. Add content
    1. Text
      1. Add text to frames
      2. Threading text
      3. South-East Asian Scripts
      4. Arabic and Hebrew features in InDesign
      5. Create type on a path
      6. Bullets and numbering
      7. Glyphs and special characters
      8. Text composition
      9. Text variables
      10. Generate QR codes
      11. Edit text
      12. Align text
      13. Wrap text around objects
      14. Anchored objects
      15. Linked content
      16. Format paragraphs
      17. Format characters
    2. Typography
      1. Using fonts in InDesign
      2. Kerning and tracking
      3. Scale and skew type
      4. Apply color effects to type
    3. Format text
      1. Format text
      2. Auto Style text
      3. Work with Style Packs
      4. Tabs and indents
    4. Review text
      1. Track and review changes
      2. Add editorial notes in InDesign
      3. Import PDF comments
    5. Spell check and language dictionaries
      1. Check spelling, autocorrect, and dynamic spelling
      2. Create, add, and manage dictionaries and words
      3. Change dictionary preferences
      4. Duden dictionary
    6. Add references
      1. Create a table of contents
      2. Footnotes
      3. Create an index
      4. Endnotes
      5. Captions
    7. Styles
      1. Paragraph and character styles
      2. Map, export, and manage styles
      3. Object styles
      4. Drop caps and nested styles
      5. Work with styles
      6. Leading
    8. Tables
      1. Format tables
      2. Create tables
      3. Table and Cell styles
      4. Select and edit tables
      5. Table strokes and fills
    9. Interactivity
      1. Hyperlinks
      2. Dynamic PDF documents
      3. Bookmarks
      4. Buttons
      5. Forms
      6. Animation
      7. Cross-references
      8. Structure PDFs
      9. Page transitions
      10. Movies and sounds
    10. Graphics
      1. Understand paths and shapes
      2. Draw with the Pencil tool
      3. Draw with the Pen tool
      4. Apply line (stroke) settings 
      5. Compound paths and shapes
      6. Edit paths
      7. Clipping paths
      8. Change corner appearance
      9. Frames and objects
      10. Align and distribute objects
      11. Linked and embedded graphics
      12. Integrate AEM assets
    11. Color and transparency
      1. Apply color
      2. Use colors from imported graphics
      3. Work with swatches
      4. Mix inks
      5. Tints
      6. Understand spot and process colors
      7. Blend colors
      8. Gradients
      9. Flatten transparent artwork
      10. Add transparency effects
  5. Find and replace
    1. Find and replace text
    2. Find and replace fonts
    3. Find and replace glyphs
    4. Find and replace using GREP expressions and queries
    5. Find and replace objects
    6. Find and replace colors
    7. Search options to find and replace
  6. Share
    1. Save and access cloud documents
    2. Organize, manage, and share cloud documents
    3. View and manage versions in cloud documents
    4. Common questions about InDesign cloud documents
    5. Share and collaborate        
    6. Share for Review
    7. Review a shared InDesign document
    8. Manage feedback 
  7. Publish
    1. Place, export, and publish
      1. Publish online
      2. Publish online dashboard
      3. Copy, insert graphics
      4. Export content for EPUB
      5. Adobe PDF options
      6. Export content to HTML
      7. Export to Adobe PDF
      8. Export to JPEG format
      9. Export HTML
      10. DPS and AEM Mobile overview
      11. Supported File Formats
      12. Export and import User Settings
    2. Printing
      1. Print booklets
      2. Printer's marks and bleeds
      3. Print documents
      4. Inks, separation, and screen frequency
      5. Overprinting
      6. Create PostScript and EPS files
      7. Preflight files before handoff
      8. Print thumbnails and oversized documents
      9. Prepare PDFs for service providers
      10. Prepare to print separations
  8. Extend InDesign
    1. Automation
      1. Data merge
      2. Plug-ins
      3. Capture extension in InDesign
      4. Scripting
  9. Troubleshooting
    1. Fixed issues
    2. Known issues
    3. Crash on launch
    4. Preference folder read-only issue
    5. Troubleshoot file issues
    6. Unable to export InDesign file to PDF
    7. InDesign document recovery

Recover documents

InDesign guards your data against unexpected power or system failures using an automatic recovery feature. Automatically recovered data exists in a temporary file that is separate from the original document file on disk. Under normal circumstances you don’t need to think about automatically recovered data, because any document updates stored in the automatic recovery file are automatically added to the original document file when you choose the Save or Save As command or exit from InDesign normally. Automatically recovered data is important only if you’re unable to save successfully before an unexpected power or system failure.

Even though these features exist, you should save your files often and create backup files in case of unexpected power or system failures.

Find recovered documents

  1. Restart your computer.
  2. Start InDesign.

    If automatically recovered data exists, InDesign automatically displays the recovered document. The word [Recovered] appears after the filename in the title bar of the document window to indicate that the document contains unsaved changes that were automatically recovered.

    Note:

    If InDesign fails after attempting to open a document using automatically recovered changes, the automatically recovered data may be corrupted.

  3. Do one of the following:
    • To save the recovered data, choose File >Save As, specify a location and a new filename, and click Save. The Save As command keeps the recovered version that includes the automatically recovered data; the word [Recovered] disappears from the title bar.

    • To discard automatically recovered changes and use the most recent version of the document that was explicitly saved to disk before the failure occurred, close the file without saving it and open the file on disk, or choose File > Revert.

Change the location of recovered documents

  1. Choose Edit > Preferences > File Handling (Windows) or InDesign > Preferences > File Handling (Mac OS).
  2. Under Document Recovery Data, click Browse (Windows) or Choose (Mac OS).
  3. Specify the new location for the recovered document, click Select (Windows) or Choose (Mac OS), and then click OK.

Undo mistakes

If necessary, you can cancel a lengthy operation before it’s completed, undo recent changes, or revert to a previously saved version. You can undo or redo up to several hundred of the most recent actions (the amount is limited by the amount of RAM available and the kinds of actions you performed). The series of actions is discarded when you choose the Save As command, close a document, or when you exit from the program.

  1. Do one of the following:
    • To undo the most recent change, choose Edit > Undo [action]. (You cannot undo certain actions, such as scrolling.)

    • To redo an action, choose Edit > Redo [action].

    • To undo all changes made since the last time you saved the project, choose File > Revert (InDesign) or File > Revert Content (InCopy).

    • To close a dialog box without applying changes, click Cancel.

Automatically recover damaged documents

There are multiple factors, both internal and external to InDesign application, that can lead to document corruption. 

InDesign has an auto-repair mechanism that detects and automatically recovers a corrupted document. The recovered version of the document will open in InDesign prompting you to save the document before proceeding further.

alert
Save the recovered document

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The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online

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The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online