Capabilities and Limitations

See what INDD2IDML can reconstruct from InDesign files, what may remain editable in IDML, and what still needs checking in Affinity Publisher or another target app.

Here’s what the app can do

  • Examine INDD and INDT documents entirely locally and without Adobe software; original files are read only.
  • Divide InDesign book files and book folders into their accessible chapters and process them as batches.
  • Carefully check existing IDML files and import them unchanged as the best possible editable source.
  • Automatically process unique InDesign package folders and ZIP packages; original IDML, PDF, and linked resources are used preferentially.
  • Reconstruct recognized pages, editable text, frames, vector elements, and supported linked graphics as IDML.
  • Use a suitable or explicitly assigned PDF export as a complete visual reference, and create the retrieved INDD texts so that they are also editable.
  • Use embedded InDesign page previews as a designated visual fallback if no reliable direct reconstruction or PDF is available.
  • Import a standalone PDF as a linked visual page base into a valid IDML.
  • Process multiple documents sequentially and create a new output folder for each document.
  • Locate missing image, PDF, and font files in explicitly selected global or job-specific search folders.
  • Explicitly assign ambiguous or missing graphics to an original file and reconstruct the finished document.
  • Use original font files based on their internal PostScript name for more accurate text measurement without installing them.
  • If a correction attempt fails, retain the previously successful result and clearly indicate the improvements made between runs.
  • For each result, output a reconstruction summary, fonts used and replaced, resource status, a readable HTML quality report, and a detailed JSON report.

Verified compatibility status

  • Automated public format samples from InDesign 2.0 through InDesign 2026 (21.0) generate valid IDML outputs.
  • A newer, more complex document from InDesign 21.2 is also covered.
  • These tests demonstrate the respective reading and recovery paths, not the complete reconstruction of every production document or later, as-yet-untested subversions.

The app cannot guarantee this

  • This does not guarantee a pixel-perfect or completely identical rendering of every InDesign document.
  • Do not generate missing fonts or graphics. Original resources that are not provided can only be marked or preserved visually via a PDF reference.
  • Do not convert InDesign 1.0/1.5 legacy containers or INDL libraries. An existing IDML or PDF file can serve as an alternative fallback.
  • No native .afpub or .afdesign file. The result is IDML and is primarily intended for Affinity Publisher.
  • If only PDF is converted, all page content remains part of the linked PDF and cannot be edited individually.
  • In PDF-based INDD reconstruction, elements not found as text remain part of the linked PDF and cannot be edited individually.
  • IDML files cannot be opened directly in Affinity Designer. From within Publisher, you can then export to suitable formats.
  • No “EPS” normalization in the App Store version; affected graphics are skipped and listed in the output.
  • Not all master pages, layers, tables, transparencies, effects, interactive content, or plug-in objects are fully editable; such content may be simplified, retained only visually, or omitted.
  • No reliable reconstruction of encrypted, severely damaged, ambiguous, or previously unknown INDD and packet structures.
  • No automatic quality approval: page layout, text overflow, colors, transparencies, and special objects must be checked in the target program.

INDD2IDML is not affiliated with Adobe or Serif/Affinity. InDesign, Affinity Publisher, and Affinity Designer are trademarks of their respective owners.

Manual