Recently, I worked on a project where I had to package over 100 InDesign files from different vendors. Unfortunately, when I opened the first file, I got a missing plug-in error. Since InDesign won’t create a package of a file with missing plug-ins, I had to fix this problem right away. And getting the plug-in was not an option. I was able to export file to IDML and successfully create the package. But to my surprise, all the files were having the same issue, and it would have been a nightmare to export IDMLs and then create a package for each one.
Plus, after creating a new document from the first IDML file, I noticed that some of the page content had changed from the original. This would also have to be fixed since all the files had been approved by the clients. I knew it was just too risky for me to manually fix the files since I might miss something or introduce new errors. I needed a better solution.
Fortunately, I found one. It is a small utility called InExUtils created by Manan Joshi at GitHub and you can download it here. Currently the InExUtils plug-in is available for CC2017 for both macOS and Windows.
How to Use InExUtils
Once the plug-in is installed, open your InDesign file (or files). You will see a new menu called INEXUtils. Just click Ignore missing plugins (All docs), and you’re all set.
The best thing about InExUtils is that it works on all the open documents, which can be a great time saver. Finally, save your InDesign files again and the annoying missing plug-in message will not reappear the next time you open the file. The plug-in also solves the problem of having to do a Save As when you need to save a file opened with missing plug-ins.
With the help in InExUtils, I was able to package my files easily without having to export to IDML, or worry about the content changing. Thanks Manan and GitHub for sharing this helpful plug-in for free!
This article was last modified on July 7, 2021
This article was first published on May 14, 2018
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