How to open .INDD files (Adobe InDesign documents) on Android, Windows and Linux

A designer hands over a brochure as brochure_final.indd, or you inherit a shared drive full of old magazine layouts with names that don’t help. Without Adobe InDesign, none of them open, and you can’t even tell which file is which.

Folders shows the page thumbnail that InDesign saves inside many INDD and INDT files, on Android, Windows and Linux, so you can see what each one is. Reading the text or changing the layout still needs InDesign, or a PDF or IDML from the designer.

What is an .INDD file?

INDD is the document format of Adobe InDesign, the page layout program behind a large share of printed and digital publications: magazines, books, catalogues, brochures, posters and reports. An INDD file holds the layout itself: pages and spreads, text frames and the text in them, styles, colours, master pages and the position of every picture.

Two things about the format catch people out:

• Pictures are usually linked, not embedded. The INDD file points to image files on the designer’s computer. Opened elsewhere, InDesign reports missing links. That’s why designers use InDesign’s Package command, which gathers the document, its linked images and its fonts into one folder.
• Newer files don’t open in older InDesign. Each InDesign version can open files from earlier versions, but not from later ones. The way round it is IDML.

Extension	What it is
.indd	An InDesign document
.indt	An InDesign template: InDesign opens it as a new untitled copy, so the original stays clean
.idml	InDesign Markup Language: an XML-based export for older versions and other layout apps
.idlk	A lock file InDesign creates while a document is open; it contains nothing to view

How to open an .INDD file with Folders

On Android

1. Install Folders from the download section (Android 7.0 or newer).
2. Tap Allow access so it has All files access to your storage.
3. Find the document, or type .indd into the search box at the top of a folder.
4. Tap it to see its preview.

Opening it from an email or a cloud drive app? Choose Open with → Folders.

On Windows and Linux

1. Install Folders on Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) or Linux.
2. Double-click the INDD or INDT file in Folders.
3. On Windows, you can also right-click the file in File Explorer and pick Open with → Folders. The installer adds Folders to that menu for the types it opens.

This is handy for sorting a shared drive: copy a batch of layouts to your laptop and open them one after another to find the right one.

What you can do with it in Folders

• See the page preview. InDesign can store preview images in the document’s metadata, usually of the first page, at a size set in InDesign’s preferences. Folders shows the one it finds.
• Details lists the file’s name, size and date, and the information InDesign wrote into the file, which often includes the InDesign version that saved it. That tells you at a glance whether your colleague’s older InDesign will be able to open it.
• Share passes the file on, for example to the person who has InDesign.

If the document was saved without previews, Folders says No preview to show. InDesign only stores them when Always Save Preview Images with Documents is turned on in its File Handling preferences.

What you won’t get: other pages, readable text, zoom into the detail, the linked images or any editing. The preview is a single small picture for recognising the file.

Other ways to open .INDD files

• Adobe InDesign (subscription): the only program that opens INDD files fully.
• Ask for a PDF. It’s the right format for reading, checking and printing a layout, and Folders’ PDF viewer handles it, including notes and signatures.
• Ask for an IDML. Older InDesign versions open it, and so does Affinity Publisher.
• Ask for a package. If you’re taking over the work, InDesign’s Package folder brings the links and fonts along with the document.

Problems opening an .INDD file?

• There’s no preview. The preference above was off when it was saved. Only someone with InDesign can save it again with previews, or export a PDF.
• InDesign says it can’t open the file. It was saved in a newer version. Ask the sender for an IDML export (File → Export → InDesign Markup (IDML)).
• Pictures show as missing or low resolution. The links weren’t sent with the document. Ask for the packaged folder rather than the INDD on its own.
• You found a file ending in .idlk. It’s only InDesign’s lock file, left beside a document that’s open or was open when InDesign closed unexpectedly. It holds no layout.

Questions people ask

Can I open an INDD file without InDesign? You can see its preview in Folders, if it was saved with one. To read every page or edit it, you need InDesign, or a PDF or IDML from whoever made it.

Can I open an INDD file on Android? InDesign doesn’t run on Android, but Folders shows the preview on the phone and can share the file.

How do I convert INDD to PDF? In InDesign, choose File → Export and pick Adobe PDF. Without InDesign there’s no reliable converter, so ask for a PDF. Folders doesn’t convert INDD files.

INDD vs INDT vs IDML: what’s the difference? INDD is the document, INDT is a template that opens as a fresh copy, and IDML is an exchange version for older InDesign and other apps.

Related guides: how to open PDF files and how to open Affinity Publisher files. Or see all 382 file types Folders opens.