Why InDesign Documents Open as [Converted]

Douglas wrote and said:

Whenever I open a document I haven’t used for about 6 months, I make a little modification and save it, InDesign chooses to “save as” instead of a simple save. Why?!

This is “a feature not a bug,” but I agree that it can be incredibly frustrating. The reason InDesign opens your document as [Converted] — and therefore requires that you use Save As instead of Save — is that you must have upgraded your version of InDesign between the time you created the document and the time you’re editing it. Whenever you upgrade InDesign, documents also have to go through a conversion process.

Now this seems crazy at first, but here’s the reason it happens: Most people don’t realize that the InDesign file format is actually a database. The InDesign app is actually reading a database file! And, just like FileMaker or other database programs have to “update your database” whenever they’re updated, InDesign does, too.

So the fact that your document opens as Converted and then forces a Save As is actually a safety measure. For example, if InDesign saved over the original file automatically, you might have trouble opening the file in an earlier version of the program.

That said, many users find it very frustrating that InDesign sometimes doesn’t remember the location of the original file was (which folder it’s in). I have to say that I don’t usually have this problem. InDesign seems to always remember what folder the document was in and takes me there when I need to use Save As.

This might be because I use Default Folder on my Mac. I’m not sure if there is something similar on Windows. Suggestions anyone?

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