Updated October 14, 2026. Written for DesignCraft 0.7.1 (what changed since). Prices in USD.
Photopea opens an .indd as a layered image document, and Adobe Express converts one into an Express design. Both are fine for looking at the pages, copying text or pulling out pictures. Neither gives you threaded stories, paragraph styles and parent pages, and neither can save a file InDesign will take back. For that, ask whoever has InDesign for an IDML export and open it in a layout app. DesignCraft opens IDML in a browser tab, so you can edit it without installing anything.
| Route | What you get | Cost | Back to InDesign? |
|---|---|---|---|
| IDML from the sender, opened in DesignCraft | An editable layout: pages, frames, stories, styles | Free | Yes, as IDML |
| InDesign trial, export IDML yourself | The same IDML, plus a PDF and the linked pictures | Free for 7 days, then $22.99/month | Yes |
| Photopea | A layered image: pages, shapes and text layers | Free with ads | No (PSD, PNG, JPG, PDF) |
| Adobe Express | An Express design you can edit and export | Free account; plan coverage of INDD not stated | No |
Ask for an IDML, with the pictures
IDML (InDesign Markup) is the exchange format InDesign writes alongside its own, and Adobe's way to open a document in an earlier InDesign version. In InDesign it is File › Export, with the format set to InDesign Markup (IDML).
Ask for two more things in the same message. Pictures in an InDesign layout are usually linked files that sit next to the document, so an IDML on its own arrives without them. A PDF of the pages shows you what the designer intended when your copy looks different. InDesign's File › Package collects all of it in one folder: tick Copy Linked Graphics, Include IDML and Include PDF (Print). Fonts come along with Copy Fonts, except fonts activated from Adobe Fonts.
A request that gets you everything in one round:
Could you send the InDesign file as a package (File › Package) with Include IDML and Include PDF ticked? I don't have InDesign.
Open the IDML in your browser
- Open the editor at designcraft.run/editor. The first visit downloads the app; later visits open it from cache.
- Drag the .idml onto the canvas, or use File › Open…. It opens as a new document tab. The file is read on your computer and not uploaded anywhere.
- Put the pictures back. Embedded pictures come in with the IDML; linked ones don't, because a web page can't reach files next to the document. Select each empty picture frame and choose the matching image from the package's Links folder with File › Place….
- Save. File › Save downloads a .designcraft file, and File › Export IDML… writes an IDML an InDesign user can open. The browser version has no autosave, so save before you close the tab.
Expect some differences from the PDF. The browser version has five fonts (Source Serif 4, Source Sans 3, Inter, JetBrains Mono and BIZ UDPGothic for Japanese) and draws everything else with a substitute, so text set in the client's typeface changes width and lines break in new places. DesignCraft also composes text itself and is still pre-alpha; its developers list known gaps such as optical kerning falling back to the font's own kerning, which sets imported text a little wider. The desktop app uses your installed fonts and finds linked pictures next to the document, so with the package's fonts and Links folder on your computer, those two problems go away. More on checking an opened file: how to open an IDML file without InDesign.
No one to ask? Use the InDesign trial
If the file is old and its designer is gone, InDesign itself is the only program that reads .indd as a layout. Adobe offers a 7-day free trial; after that the single-app plan is $22.99 a month on an annual plan, billed monthly. During the trial, open the .indd, run File › Package with IDML and PDF included, and you have everything above for keeps. Cancel before the seven days end if you don't want the subscription.
If you have several old .indd files, package them all in the same week. Once you have IDML files, the trial has done its job.
Just need to see it or pull out the pictures
Photopea runs in the browser and opens an .indd with File › Open or a drag and drop. The pages come in as a layered document, with text, shapes and pictures listed in the Layers panel. From there you can save a PSD or export PNG, JPG or PDF. It is a photo editor, so think of the result as a picture of the layout: good for a preview, for grabbing an image or for a quick text fix on a one-page design, but not for reflowing a 40-page brochure.
Adobe Express lists INDD and INDDC among the files it imports (Plus icon, then Import from other apps) and turns them into layered, editable Express designs. That suits a template you will change a few words in and export again. You need an Adobe account, and Adobe doesn't state whether the free Express plan covers InDesign files; its free plan lists importing Photoshop and Illustrator files.
Why .indd is the hard one
An .indd is InDesign's own binary format, and Adobe's own file-type page says you can only open and edit it with InDesign and compatible Creative Cloud programs. Even InDesign can't open a file saved by a newer InDesign, which is why Adobe's answer for older versions is the same IDML export.
DesignCraft's developers list .indd as the largest file-format gap in the project. Converters have been proposed, but release 0.7.1 doesn't read .indd, and neither do Scribus or Affinity, which also open IDML instead.
Which route to take
If you only need to look at the pages or print a proof, Photopea is the fastest: no account, and File › Export As gives you a PDF or PNG of the pages. If you need to keep working on the layout, or the job will go back to an InDesign user, get the IDML and work from that; the edited file goes back as IDML. The one real choice is when the sender can't be reached: pay nothing and accept a flattened picture, or start the InDesign trial and get a proper IDML for each file before it ends.
Start by sending the request above. When the package arrives, drag the .idml into the editor and place the files from its Links folder.