InDesign error · Import PDF Comments
Is your commented PDF no longer compatible with InDesign?
There is a historical error of the "earlier version of InDesign" family, but its exact wording changes between transcriptions and we don't present it here as a single official string. What's stable is the editorial problem: the old PDF stops being a good base for Import PDF Comments, while your comments are still worth keeping.
What's happening
The PDF may come from an earlier version of InDesign, or the container may have become incompatible for another reason. Either way, InDesign stops accepting it well for importing comments, even though the review annotations it holds are still valid and valuable.
What you can do
Instead of trying to save the old container, IMC keeps a new, healthy PDF —exported
from the correct .indd— as the base, and moves to it the live annotations
of the problematic PDF. The old file isn't repaired: the review is saved and placed on
a new, compatible export. It's the Transplant comments journey,
explained in detail on its canonical landing page.
An example
Old PDF
Problematic or incompatible PDF · live comments
Result
New, healthy PDF + moved comments, with a count of copied and non-movable ones
How far it goes
- Transplanting the comments doesn't fix an editorial divergence between versions: it only moves the review to a PDF that InDesign accepts again.
- The two PDFs must keep enough correspondence of pages and geometry, and the comments must still be live.
- If the current
.inddhas changed with respect to the reviewed document, it's worth checking before taking the new import for granted.
Keep and move your comments
We'll take you to the full "Transplant comments" landing page, with the process detail, the limits and the price.
See how to move my commentsThere you choose whether to continue: no process is opened from this page.