Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Export to JPEG from InDesign

Did you know that you can export any selected objects, or entire pages, from InDesign directly to JPEG format? This is a quick and dirty way to include a comp of a page design in an email or to create a simple Web graphic. Here's how:

1. Select the object(s) on your InDesign page that you want to export

2. Choose File > Export, and choose JPEG for the format at the bottom of the dialog box

3. Give the file a name, and click the Save button

4. In the Export JPEG dialog box, choose what you want to export (selection, range, all or spreads), choose the desired quality setting, select Baseline for the Format Method, and in CS3, enter the desired resolution of the JPEG. CS2 will only export the JPEG at actual size, 72 pixels per inch

5. Click the Export button, and you're finished.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

It has been brought to my attention that when exporting an InDesign file as a jpeg, the color space was swithched from cmyk to rgb. This was a costly learning experience. Is there a way to prevent the color change? Please post something on this topis and I will check back. Thanks.

Keith Gilbert said...

I don't know of any way to produce a CMYK JPEG from InDesign, sorry. Pages exported from InDesign to JPEG are always converted to RGB. This is true in InDesign CS4 also.

Anonymous said...

thanks. Is there a way to accomplish this via the IndeSign SDK?

Keith Gilbert said...

Sorry, I don't know if CMYK JPEGs can be produced via the SDK, but I doubt it.

Peter said...

... and did you notice that this ICC compatible piece of software exports RGB jpgs WITHOUT any profile information? This is so stupid. I have to reopen every image again and assign a profile to it and save it again... Could also do that with Automator (MAc) maybe... But it would be so easy to just select a profile in the export dialog.

Holger said...

yes, I noticed, and worse, I'm not sure if it takes the working color space into account. It would be more easy, if I would know ID exports in the current working space. I use a batch command from Thumbsplus to assign the profile (PS would do, but the other way is easier for me). But some CMS system seem to have problems with this assigned profile.

Anonymous said...

When you use the CS4 Indesign feature export-to-jpeg, the files are not usable by Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro. Because I need my Indesign document to be a smaller file size than the export-to-pdf (smallest size) allows, I have to first export my document to individual jpeg files, then re-import to Acrobat. But Acrobat can't read the file. I have to re-save each file in Photoshop for Acrobat to be able to read teh files-very unproductive. My need is to email a small file size version of my Indesign file to various people to get their input. The file is still to big with the export-to-small-PDF within Indesign. Is there an easier way to accomplish this?

Keith Gilbert said...

This is a known bug in ID CS4...JPEGs exported from CS4 can't be converted to PDF by Acrobat 9 for some reason. JPEGs exported from ID CS3 work fine. This bug affects both the Mac and Windows versions. I haven't discovered a simple workaround.

Unknown said...

Argh. Just noticed this bug... can't import jpgs created by CS4 into Acrobat. Random, and very inconvenient. I also use this all the time.

Dan said...

I am trying to export transparent text on a path to jpeg. It won't show up. It drives me nuts. Regular text is there. A clue anyone?

Anonymous said...

Re the InDesign export jpeg and Acrobat issue, I have found that stripping out the ICC metadata and recompressing the jpg, it will work with Acrobat.

Ostesmørbrød said...

I get these random straight lines in my ID poster when I export to jpeg format. Two of them, vertically. Black. Shows in when I open them. But if I export as an pdf they aint there :S

Anonymous said...

I'm exporting a file to a jpeg and for whatever reason some of my work disappears. I thought it may be because those pieces of my art were saved as pfd's but so were some of the photos I used. What in the world??

Jennifer R. said...

Re: the missing elements when exporting as jpg - this can happen if overprint is set to "on" for those elements. Test via the "View - Overprint Preview" to see if the elements in question disappear.

Breakwhore said...

Hi there,



I'm having some major issues exporting JPEGs from inDesign. Where I've been successful before on another copy (a workmate's) my newly purchased copy of inDesign CS5.5 is being troublesome.



What I want to do is select a series of images in a small area, some of which are on top of one another, and export them as they appear onscreen.



Admittedly I could do a screengrab to do this but they won't necessarily be in the resolution I'd like and more annoyingly I would have to remove all the surrounding images and bits of text to create a clean image. This is far too time-consuming for a task I need to repeat.



Every time I attempt to export (via File>Export then "Selection") the resulting file has the overlaid images (in this case small labels on a map) incorrectly placed, not even on top of the main image itself and in fact thrown off massively in seemingly random directions.



Anybody any ideas as to how to resolve this?



Thanks