Corrupt file or unsupported InDesign version

[vbergervoet]

Hello, one of our customers has a bunch of InDesign files that fails to embed metadata with:
"Error: Corrupt file or unsupported InDesign version"

According to the exiftool extract (below) the ID version used was:
Creator Tool                    : Adobe InDesign CC 13.1 (Windows)

Command:
./exiftool -XMP-xmp:Rating=3 -o ~/Email\ Banner.indd ~/Output.indd

Q: Apart from resaving the file from INDD again. What options are there to get the embed to work?

If needed I can file this as a bug and/or provide the original file.

Exiftool extract from the file:

Code Select Expand


ExifTool Version Number         : 11.26
File Name                       : Email Banner.indd
Directory                       : /Downloads
File Size                       : 1520 kB
File Modification Date/Time     : 2019:02:08 10:31:02+01:00
File Access Date/Time           : 2019:02:08 11:18:25+01:00
File Inode Change Date/Time     : 2019:02:08 10:31:02+01:00
File Permissions                : rw-r--r--
File Type                       : INDD
File Type Extension             : indd
MIME Type                       : application/x-indesign
XMP Toolkit                     : Adobe XMP Core 5.6-c143 79.161424, 2017/09/22-11:52:47
Format                          : application/x-indesign
Description                     : Email Banner.indd
Rights                          : REDACTED
Subject                         : REDACTED
Title                           : Email Banner.indd
Doc Change Count                : 1
Key Stamp Mp                    : AAAAAA==
Keywords                        : reminders
Create Date                     : 2017:03:16 11:43:18+11:00
Metadata Date                   : 2019:01:22 16:11:19+11:00
Modify Date                     : 2019:01:22 16:11:19+11:00
Creator Tool                    : Adobe InDesign CC 13.1 (Windows)
Page Image Page Number          : 1
Page Image Format               : JPEG
Page Image Width                : 256
Page Image Height               : 256
Page Image                      : (Binary data 7043 bytes, use -b option to extract)
Instance ID                     : xmp.iid:8c96d70b-0ffa-5545-af0e-1598bfdb046d
Original Document ID            : xmp.did:496a65d8-7784-df45-b0db-7d1c77ae1097
Derived From Instance ID        : xmp.iid:0ec7a414-9562-0046-b5fd-5465ee45c0dc
Derived From Document ID        : xmp.did:73f2f9f0-e6ca-f64f-8470-727128f8efe6
Derived From Original Document ID: xmp.did:496a65d8-7784-df45-b0db-7d1c77ae1097
Derived From Rendition Class    : default
History Action                  : created, saved, saved, saved, saved, saved, saved, saved, saved, saved, saved, saved, saved, saved, saved, saved, saved, saved, saved
History Instance ID             : xmp.iid:496a65d8-7784-df45-b0db-7d1c77ae1097, xmp.iid:d30f3c04-0862-ce40-bcc9-e00c75aaf24b, xmp.iid:1eeb2199-a96c-0e4a-9da9-09e053b7529c, xmp.iid:deb7023a-57f4-0b4a-98f3-0daf547da9f4, xmp.iid:cff6bdb9-eb3a-d546-80a6-92dd4acc392d, xmp.iid:819a6fe0-eb30-9349-807a-a6f41cd365f2, xmp.iid:7abb1f12-1e94-4140-8d9f-0e8e21108d9e, xmp.iid:a619c2e0-3257-5047-857f-e3d0cff5cb32, xmp.iid:bc452628-4e39-2842-b4fe-0e2d0a26d31a, xmp.iid:631c5540-4e1f-3a44-9fdd-3bb8a26ffb46, xmp.iid:c0db4672-ac29-f44f-9ae1-df1c9a5830a0, xmp.iid:e15a00f2-171a-9e4b-b041-9cb9c06e4145, xmp.iid:055d7136-a361-e34b-9e6a-4618a39c67ee, xmp.iid:13d7a87e-daac-f041-b075-adde81edbe9c, xmp.iid:73f2f9f0-e6ca-f64f-8470-727128f8efe6, xmp.iid:9493f616-d9fe-6f4e-b1d6-de9e8aec2449, xmp.iid:0ec7a414-9562-0046-b5fd-5465ee45c0dc, xmp.iid:a6401dbb-888b-f948-ab15-6e23cd78ceb9, xmp.iid:8c96d70b-0ffa-5545-af0e-1598bfdb046d
History Software Agent          : Adobe InDesign CC 2017 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 2017 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 2017 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 2017 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 2017 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 2017 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 2017 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 2017 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 2017 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 2017 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 2017 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 2017 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 2017 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 2017 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 2017 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 2017 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 13.1 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 13.1 (Windows), Adobe InDesign CC 13.1 (Windows)
History When                    : 2017:03:16 11:43:18+11:00, 2017:03:16 11:48:09+11:00, 2017:03:16 11:48:09+11:00, 2017:03:16 15:10:04+11:00, 2017:03:16 15:10:04+11:00, 2017:03:16 15:11:10+11:00, 2017:10:24 13:15:27+11:00, 2017:10:24 13:15:27+11:00, 2017:10:24 13:16:03+11:00, 2017:10:24 13:16:03+11:00, 2018:05:30 12:28:56+10:00, 2018:05:30 12:28:56+10:00, 2018:05:30 15:37:16+10:00, 2018:06:28 11:36:56+10:00, 2018:06:28 11:36:56+10:00, 2018:06:28 13:14:20+10:00, 2018:08:27 12:50:59+10:00, 2018:08:27 12:50:59+10:00, 2019:01:22 16:11:19+11:00
History Changed                 : /, /metadata, /metadata, /, /, /metadata, /, /metadata, /, /metadata, /, /, /metadata, /, /, /metadata, /, /
Document ID                     : xmp.did:a6401dbb-888b-f948-ab15-6e23cd78ceb9
Rendition Class                 : default
Manifest Link Form              : ReferenceStream, ReferenceStream
Manifest Reference Instance ID  : xmp.iid:7b95edb4-c610-3d47-8021-0a4d3f9e4f11, uuid:efa6e323-7a02-4092-8d2f-422cc2319347
Manifest Reference Document ID  : adobe:docid:photoshop:386eab6b-1d63-c448-b3e1-56d65947d7e4, xmp.did:972846b0-2992-7044-936d-d719c8eb86d3
Manifest Reference Last URL     : file://med-2-rear-2.jpg, file://logo%20220119.pdf
Manifest Placed X Resolution    : 72.00, 72.00
Manifest Placed Y Resolution    : 72.00, 72.00
Manifest Placed Resolution Unit : Inches, Inches
Ingredients Instance ID         : xmp.iid:61800dcb-a43b-9a43-9f07-e58bc3224e07, xmp.iid:6240742e-9c30-2e46-8ec4-210cd339eadc
Ingredients Document ID         : xmp.did:61800dcb-a43b-9a43-9f07-e58bc3224e07, xmp.did:6240742e-9c30-2e46-8ec4-210cd339eadc
Ingredients From Part           : /, /
Ingredients To Part             : /, /
Ingredients Link Form           : ReferenceStream, ReferenceStream
Ingredients Link Category       : Content, Content
Ingredients File Path           : file://med-2-rear-2.jpg, file://logo%20220119.pdf
Ingredients Placed X Resolution : 72.00, 72.00
Ingredients Placed Y Resolution : 72.00, 72.00
Ingredients Placed Resolution Unit: Inches, Inches
Ingredients Mask Markers        : None, None
Marked                          : True
Keyword                         : REDACTED
Colorant Swatch Name            : Black, Paper, RGB Cyan, Registration
Colorant Mode                   : RGB, CMYK, RGB, CMYK
Colorant Type                   : Process, Process, Process, Process
Colorant Red                    : 0, 0
Colorant Green                  : 0, 255
Colorant Blue                   : 0, 255
Colorant Cyan                   : 0, 100
Colorant Magenta                : 0, 100
Colorant Yellow                 : 0, 100
Colorant Black                  : 0, 100
Font Name                       : MinionPro-Regular
Font Family                     : Minion Pro
Font Face                       : Regular
Font Type                       : OpenTypeCFF
Font Version                    : MinionPro-RegularVersion 2.112;PS 2.000;hotconv 1.0.70;makeotf.lib2.5.5900
Font Composite                  : false
Font File Name                  : MinionPro-Regular.otf
Warning                         : Corrupt file or unsupported InDesign version


[Phil Harvey]

Send me the file and I'll take a look, but it will be a while before I can get around to this.  my email is philharvey66 at gmail.com

- Phil

[Phil Harvey]

What wrote this Indesign file?  Was it the Adobe software?  Because it doesn't correspond to their specification.  The file you sent uses spaces instead of nulls to mark the end of the object list.  I will patch ExifTool to accept this, but it would be interesting to know if Adobe wrote it.

- Phil

[vbergervoet]

Thanks for your quick response.

As far as I'm aware the file was created by Indesign and then passed through our application, which uses exiftool to write additional metadata into the file on a different location.
This being the first time we come across this issue, normally this workflow would not result in spaces instead of nulls.

I'll have a further investigation if I can find out why this is happening.

Regards,
Vincent

[vbergervoet]

Applied 11.27 and embedding works with that version, thanks.

I've look further into the origin of the file and it seems to have been saved within InDesign and afterwards written with Exiftool 11.11.
So far this is the first and only time we noticed these steps to cause the issue.

I was not able to get my hands on the originally ingested InDesign file to get it reproduced.
For now it will remain a mystery, but I'll keep my eyes out for more information.

[Phil Harvey]

Can you verify that InDesign can read the file properly before and after editing with the current version of ExifTool?

[Phil Harvey]

I had a bit of time to look into this in more detail.  I think I should revert the 11.27 update because this INDD file looks corrupted to me.  I the spaces ExifTool sees at the end of the object are in fact padding for an old XMP record that appears to have been overwritten.  I can see a valid object trailer after the old XMP record which reports the correct object length, but the length in the object header has not been set properly.  The value for xmptk is "Adobe XMP Core 5.6-c143 79.161424, 2017/09/22-11:52:47", so this wasn't written ExifTool.

As it stands, any objects after the XMP may be lost if we keep the patch to allow ExifTool to write this file.  We could be lucky that this is the last object in the list in this case, but in general this isn't necessarily true.

- Phil