Experiences with IDMarkz SE: Converting InDesign to Affinity Publisher?

Peer · October 3, 2025 at 2:12 PM

Hello everyone,

how well does IDMarkz SE from Markzware work when converting InDesign documents into the Affinity Publisher format (.afpub)? Does the software deliver what the advertising promises? Are text styles, paragraph and character styles, and other elements really preserved?

Has anyone here had practical experience with it?

How reliably are text styles and formatting transferred?
Are frequent adjustments or corrections necessary afterwards?
How does it handle images, links, special characters, or layouts?
Would you recommend the tool for everyday use?

I’m looking forward to your insights and advice. Thanks in advance!

ldina · October 3, 2025 at 2:53 PM

I have IDMarkz, but not SE (whatever that is). I haven't used it in a while and it's a few years old, but it did a fairly decent job much of the time. Some Adobe features are inconsistent with Affinity, so some of those things don't always translate well.

If you want to upload a zipped InDesign file, I will try to run it through my version of IDMarkz and send an IDML file (or Publisher v2) back to you. No guarantees!

Peer · October 4, 2025 at 8:10 AM

Thanks a lot for the offer — I’ll gladly take you up on that and get back to you soon!

DarkClown · October 4, 2025 at 12:18 PM

Looks like the "SE" version ist the windows version.
That's a solid (aka "ridiculous") pricetag - 180€ for a conversion software (or 109,-€ for a subscription) .... looks like you can get InDesign for just a small amount more (LOL)

thomaso · October 4, 2025 at 3:24 PM

Quote from DarkClown

looks like you can get InDesign for just a small amount more

How did you calculate? — Isn't it possible any more to rent ID for just 1 month? (… and run the conversions .indd > .idml as batch job)

Here it seems unclear: Price for 1 month / Subscription/Abo for 1 year / Cancelling/Notice period 14 days ???

DarkClown · October 4, 2025 at 6:48 PM

Of course you can cancel your subscription weithin 14 days... but that's only helpful for a one time conversion...

RM f/g · October 5, 2025 at 6:43 PM

Maybe VivaDesigner is an option as well. Even the free version can read indd and write idml.

VivaDesigner - desktop, server & web-based publishing program

VivaDesigner is a professional AI-based design, publishing, layout, typesetting and illustration program for desktop, server and web.

viva.systems

loukash · October 5, 2025 at 7:58 PM

Quote from RM f/g

VivaDesigner is an option as well

Interesting! Never heard of that in all those 30 years that it apparently exists. (Likely it used to be Windows only back in the day?)

So I just downloaded the free Mac version and tested a random INDD from my archives, created with ID CS5.5. The import result is not overwhelming, but certainly usable. To have a workable IDML for further processing in Affinity, it may require quite some cleanup first.

Other than that, the Windows-y UI isn't very appealing on Mac but I haven't even checked how customizable it is yet. At least, it is possible to switch to the Mac native Open/Save dialogs.

But thanks for the hint anyway!

Peer · October 8, 2025 at 8:05 AM

Hello everyone,

Thank you for the helpful replies and the pleasant discussion. I’m aware that InDesign can also be rented on a monthly basis, but there are indeed reasons to avoid Adobe. If you already have InDesign available as a parallel application, I currently see little reason to work with Publisher as well – at least given the current technical state. That said, StudioLink is certainly an argument in its favor.

Ultimately, it always depends on the individual situation: in most cases, it makes little sense to invest in expensive software if the purchase doesn’t pay off economically.

komatös · October 8, 2025 at 9:00 AM

Quote from Powerhorse

it makes little sense to invest in expensive software if the purchase doesn’t pay off economically.

The free version of VivaDesigner should fit your need.

bici · October 26, 2025 at 5:48 AM

I had a very simple, simple, IDNT Adobe InDesign template file that was a free download from Adobe. BUT I was not able to open it with AFPUB nor with an older version of CS5. So I was directed to the IDMarkz website. it reported that I could convert for free. I tried it. It produced some half-assed conversion. But to get it done properly I would need to pay 55$. Hoot! So I sent the small file to a friend who has a copy of InDesign and he sent it back a few minutes later as an IDML file.

md_germany · October 27, 2025 at 5:16 PM

For macOS 26 (Tahoe) you need to download version 11.5 (11.4 doesn't work)

bici · November 1, 2025 at 6:45 PM

While VivaDesigner did mange t open the INDT file it missed being able to import the file with a number of settings that I needed, But having said that it can in a pinch be very helpful. Which begs the question : If the lesser and relativity unknown VivaDesigner is able to import INDT why is Affinity Studio not able to?

Experiences with IDMarkz SE: Converting InDesign to Affinity Publisher?

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