I could really use some help here. I’ve seen similar posts related to this issue, but none seem to provide a solution. Recently, certain InDesign AppleScripts stopped working for me. For example, the following simple script now fails with the error:
error "Adobe InDesign 2024 got an error: active document doesn’t understand the “save” message." number -1708 from active document
Script used:
tell application id "com.adobe.indesign"
tell active document
try
set filepath to file path & name as string
end try
if converted is true then
save to filepath
else
save
end if
set filepath to file path & name as string
end tell
end tell
Additionally, other scripts no longer recognize the “do script” command when running a JavaScript from AppleScript.
Is there any maintenance I can perform on my Mac to resolve this issue, which seemingly appeared out of nowhere? Specifically, I’m hoping there’s a file that can be deleted or something that might restore AppleScript functionality so that these commands work again.
I could re-clone the machine, but this isn’t always a simple option when working with people who are out of state.
Ok that’s good to know. I have no idea though what specific file or whatever else can affect this. It can be something in the system’s AppleScript engine itself, or InDesign, or both, or something else.
Sometimes all kinds of issues can accumulate in the active user account through the years, or maybe something happened just recently, who knows.
If it doesn’t help then, if you ask me, the easiest solution is to just make the new account your main account and work there from now on. Yes, I know it can be a hassle to set up everything you need to your liking in the new account (3rd party utilities etc.) But, again, it might be the easiest solution.
Wow, you’re a lifesaver, Leo!
Now that I know it was a user-specific issue, I deleted all of the user’s preference and cache files created today, when the issue first appeared. I believe the problem was mainly due to a bad cached file, but I could be wrong. In any case, the issue is now resolved, thanks to you! Thank you so much, Leo!
It may still work, but you should use ONLY POSIX paths in InDesign 2025.
The support for HFS paths has been discontinued in InDesign 2025. I know that in some situations (like saving files and some other) HFS paths still work, but this can stop at any moment. I guess Adobe just didn’t address certain cases yet. So any code with HFS paths can start producing errors after another dot update. (Btw, I still didn’t replace all such cases in my own code either.)
Adobe didn’t do a good job communicating this change to the users and developers. Many of them got caught by surprise when their scripts that worked without problems for years (and decades) suddenly stopped working in InDesign 2025.
I just encountered the same issue on my “test” Mac: certain InDesign scripting commands stopped working. However, this time, I was able to quickly identify the cause. The problem was tied to the Cache folder located at:
Deleting the Adobe InDesign folder resolved the issue.
The likely cause of the corruption is specific to my situation, as I moved some InDesign preference files from another machine to this one. Hopefully, this is a rare case and won’t affect others. However, I’m sharing the location of the Cache folder just in case there are any other users out there facing a similar issue.