Where Litho falls short of InDesign

Last reviewed: 2026-10-10 · Last updated: 2026-10-22 · Change: minor (gap 16: Convert Variable to Text; gap 28 added: placed-PDF font repair remains after visible unembedded font detection, #909; gap 26 shrunk: autoflow fills the following pages before it adds pages at the end; gap 6 shrunk: Type › Reload Fonts reads fonts installed, edited or removed while running (#328); gap 3: Package links are relative, #340; gap 27 closed: the loaded text cursor threads into a frame inside a group (#1075); .indd and .indt open through indd-utils; gap 0 shrunk: text threads by hand; threading gaps added; Optical kerning from outlines (#181); gap 6: macOS lists fonts that font services and managers activate; shared print spooler; image clipping paths from IDML; Tabs panel listed as present (#343); book chapter update safety; gap 16: Based on Parent leftovers; bounded control click/drag input; swatches on placed greyscale and bitmap images) · Target: Adobe InDesign 2026 (21.6)

Every known shortfall against InDesign 2026, one entry each, ranked by how much it stops an InDesign professional from doing real work. This is the work list: agents pick from the top. Numbers and weights are in target-app-parity.md; the plan is in roadmap.md. Estimates are Opus 5.5 agent-hours, calibrated in target-app-parity.md. When you close a gap, delete its entry (or shrink it), add a line to the ROADMAP progress log and update the timestamps.

Kind: F feature · U UI/UX · T typography · FF file format · H hardware · L localization · P performance · S stability · E ecosystem · A AI.

Alpha blocker (the core-workflow gate in roadmap.md)

0. Primary Text Frame autoflow adds pages users can't delete (F) · ALPHA BLOCKER

• Missing: fixes to Smart Text Reflow on the Primary Text Frame, which users report adding pages they can't delete (#165). Threading by hand works (ports, loaded text cursor, text.thread / text.unthread / text.removeFromThread).
• Evidence: #165.
• Impact: a long story in a Primary Text Frame document can leave pages the designer can't remove.
• Estimate: 5–7 h.
• Doc: ui-parity.md

Blocking (beta can't be declared while these are open)

1. Basic editing fails for many users (U, S)

• Missing: object copy/paste on Windows and Linux (#351, #348, #312, #185, #164, #201, text RTF paste #212); Paste in Place onto the selected page (#348); right-click context menus that don't open (#238, #187, #160, #312); double-click word selection in fields (#189); character formatting set at a caret is discarded (#289).
• Evidence: 16 issues from 2026-10-05 to 2026-10-10, mostly against the 0.4/0.5 release builds.
• Safety: control-channel clicks and drags reject invalid or over-budget counts before queuing input (#732), including combined drag steps, repeated clicks and already pending events.
• Impact: a layout artist can't finish the simplest job. This dominates the ready-for-real-work number.
• Estimate: 30–50 h (reproduce per platform through the control channel, regression tests).
• Doc: ui-parity.md

2. INDD opening isn't measured on real files (FF)

• Missing: a real-file corpus test of opening .indd and .indt. They open through storytold/indd-utils, which converts them to IDML in memory for the IDML importer, but Litho's own tests use synthetic bytes only. INDB and INDL are still not read.
• Evidence: #21, #114 (PR #98 proposed another converter). indd-utils reports 96.9% of InDesign's IDML values reproduced on ~650 INDD/IDML pairs and 0 failures on ~4,300 files; what Litho draws from those files is unmeasured, and it inherits the IDML importer's open bugs (gap 3).
• Impact: a client's .indd opens, but nobody knows how close it comes to the original.
• Estimate: 10–30 h (corpus pinned in a sibling of storytold/photocraft-corpus, metric, fixes in indd-utils or the IDML importer).
• Doc: file-format-parity.md

3. IDML round-trip isn't proven on real files (FF)

• Missing: a corpus test of real InDesign-authored IDML (via storytold/photocraft-corpus or a sibling) measuring what survives import → export → reopen in InDesign. Open bugs: frames not rendered without a warning (#193), $ID/ font names reported missing (#338), no PDFAttribute on export (#339), drag-drop open of IDML on the app icon (#211).
• Evidence: importer coverage is broad (styles, tables, footnotes, xrefs, index, CJK, Arabic, verified in InDesign 2026 with synthetic files), but nothing is measured on real documents.
• Impact: IDML is the main interchange format until INDD lands, and the only one that goes back to InDesign.
• Estimate: 60–100 h (corpus, metric, fixes).
• Doc: file-format-parity.md

4. Composition isn't compared with InDesign (T)

• Missing: an oracle harness: the same synthetic stories set by InDesign 2026 (observed black-box, results kept under plan/) and by Litho, comparing line breaks, overset and frame fit. Known differences: optical kerning is an outline-based approximation, not Adobe's algorithm (#181); a frame goes overset when descenders don't fit, InDesign needs only the baseline (#180); setting the text language was missing (#130; Language is now in Properties, #145, the issue is still open); "hyphenation doesn't work" (#87).
• Impact: an opened IDML reflows: different line breaks, different page count, overset text. Professionals notice on the first page.
• Estimate: 70–125 h (harness 20–30, optical kerning tuning 5–10, then fixes by cluster).
• Doc: typography-parity.md

5. Startup crashes on some graphics hardware (S, H)

• Missing: a start that survives every GPU/driver: Metal device lost on Intel Macs (#334), AMD OpenGL driver crash on Windows (#167), launch failures (#273, #220, #192, #166), blank or frozen canvas after graphics loss (#90).
• Evidence: a backend fallback landed 2026-10-10 (#297: DirectX 12 on Windows, gpu.json skip list); then Stylo's adapter choice (the GPU that drives the display), restart on the next adapter or backend when one fails or hangs at start-up, the indirect-call check off (the first Metal error of #334) and a logged reason when the app stops (#273). Not yet confirmed by the reporters. Still open for #334: wgpu asks an old macOS's Metal compiler for a language version it doesn't have (-std=metal3.2).
• Estimate: 15–30 h.
• Doc: hardware-parity.md

6. Installed fonts not always found (F)

• Missing: fonts in user font folders used for text (#161, #110, #107), fonts that font services and managers activate on Windows, noticing by itself when fonts change on disk (#328: Type › Reload Fonts, font.reload, reads them again on request since 2026-10-16).
• Evidence: on macOS the scan reads the font files CoreText has available, so fonts that Adobe Fonts and font managers activate are listed (#261, #327, 2026-10-11); not yet confirmed by the reporters.
• Impact: documents set in the client's fonts render in Source Sans 3: wrong everywhere.
• Estimate: 10–20 h (Stylo has a port, #261).
• Doc: typography-parity.md

7. No CI runs the tests on pull requests (S)

• Missing: a PR workflow running cargo xtask ci (fmt, clippy, tests, layers, wasm). Today only FreeBSD and Windows ARM build checks run, and only when manifests change; main has no branch protection. 65 PRs are open, some integrated in bulk (#259).
• Impact: regressions land unseen; the 1,122 tests protect nothing they aren't run on.
• Estimate: 4–8 h (plus runner minutes; owner decision on required checks).

High

8. Canvas IME not checked with real input methods (U, L)

• Have: IME composition in the Type tool on macOS, Windows, Linux and the web (#322).
• Missing: a check by hand with a system IME on each platform, and the fixes it finds.
• Estimate: 10–20 h. Doc: localization-parity.md

9. PDF output presets and standards (FF)

• Missing: PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-3 (no flattener to PDF 1.3/1.4), Adobe PDF Presets and .joboptions load/save, output-intent choice beyond the built-in profile, PDF/UA validation; #159, #32.
• Have: PDF/X-4 with output intent and a validator (#200), PDF/A-2b, tagged PDF, CMYK and spot, marks and bleed, the options dialog with remembered settings (#196).
• Estimate: 40–70 h. Doc: file-format-parity.md

28. Placed-PDF font repair for PDF/X-4 (FF)

• Missing: embedding, substitution or outlining of unembedded fonts in placed PDFs; export does not automatically embed or outline them.
• Have: PDF/X-4 export warnings and validate-pdf report unembedded fonts drawing visible text, including inside placed PDF forms, with font names and pages (#909). Invisible text (render mode 3) is exempt from this font-embedding check. A document-wide operation limit and a form-nesting depth limit report incomplete font checks rather than traversing pathological nesting.
• Impact: detection now ships, but a placed PDF with visible unembedded fonts still needs font repair before it can meet PDF/X-4 requirements.
• Doc: file-format-parity.md

10. Printing (H, F)

• Missing: PostScript, a printer-driver options UI, separations to device, print presets, or trapping.
• Have: file.print exports selected pages/spreads with marks and bleed, then submits through craft-print: CUPS on macOS/Linux and the Windows PDF raster spooler. Physical printer fidelity remains a hardware check.
• Estimate: 25–45 h. Doc: hardware-parity.md

11. Paragraph and character style editing reliability (F)

• Missing: saving edits and deleting a paragraph style reported failing (#169).
• Have: the Tabs panel (Type › Tabs: a ruler over the text column, alignment, leader and Align On) and a Tabs section in Paragraph Style Options (#343).
• Estimate: 10–20 h. Doc: ui-parity.md

12. Tables in depth (F)

• Missing: anchored objects in cells not drawn (#163); Table ▸ Table Options and Cell Options submenus as InDesign lays them out, Diagonal Lines, Edit Header/Footer, Go to Row; general reliability (#20).
• Estimate: 25–40 h.

13. Hyphenation and spelling languages (T, L)

• Missing: hyphenation patterns for every language but English, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian and Greek; spelling for every language but English. InDesign ships dictionaries for ~40 languages.
• Estimate: 30–60 h (permissively licensed patterns exist for most; spelling word lists need licence review). Doc: typography-parity.md

14. Windows and Linux are thinly tested (S)

• Missing: runtime testing on Windows and Linux: installer confusion (#64), pull-down panels can't scroll on Linux Mint (#267), tab bar overlaps menus in some workspaces (#182), CJK UI font missing on Linux (#332).
• Estimate: 30–60 h (smoke tests in CI, fixes).

Medium

15. Long documents in depth (F)

• Missing: book-wide TOC and index; Table of Contents Styles and deeper production workflows.
• Present: basic style synchronization, continuous book numbering and merged PDF export. Chapter updates prepare the full batch and write only closed native chapters; IDML is a read-only source. Each file is atomic, but a later I/O failure can leave completed chapters; the error lists them. Cross-file transactional saving remains unavailable.
• Estimate: 30–50 h.

16. Menu items still missing (U)

• Missing: 149 of 482 in-scope items of InDesign 21.6's menu dump have no match (measured 2026-10-10; some exist under other labels): Type ▸ Notes
• Missing: 150 of 482 in-scope items of InDesign 21.6's menu dump have no match (measured 2026-10-10; some exist under other labels): Type ▸ Notes and Track Changes submenus (the panels and commands exist), hyperlink and cross-reference update commands, Convert Bullets/Numbering to Text, Convert Variable to Text, Object ▸ Clear Effects / Clear All Transparency / Rotate 180° / Reverse Path, update commands, Convert Bullets/Numbering to Text, Object ▸ Clear Effects / Clear All Transparency / Rotate 180° / Reverse Path, Layout ▸ Go Back/Forward, Window ▸ Arrange (2-up … 6-up), Trap Presets, Overlays, Edit ▸ Assign Profiles / Convert to Profile / Edit Original, File ▸ File Info / Open PDF / Document and Print Presets / User Settings, Type ▸ Size presets, Table ▸ Table Options / Cell Options submenus, Paste Before/After, Convert Columns, Object ▸ Interactive ▸ Convert to (form fields), View ▸ Extras badges and Story Editor options. Pages panel ▸ Parent Options (Based on Parent is the layout.parents.options command only); overriding a base parent's items on a parent spread itself (overrides work on document pages only).
• Estimate: 40–70 h (most are thin wrappers over existing engine features).
• Doc: ui-parity.md

17. HTML and fixed-layout EPUB (FF)

• Missing: HTML export is one basic page (#314); fixed-layout EPUB writes page images, not live text and CSS; no animation or timing for EPUB/HTML.
• Estimate: 30–50 h.

18. Colour management depth (F)

• Missing: Assign Profiles / Convert to Profile, per-image rendering intents in output, hex entry and colour picker issues (#323, #190), keep kerning on colour change (#29).
• Estimate: 20–35 h.

19. Placed graphics depth (FF)

• Safety: PDF visibility variants preserve catalog/configuration entries and nonzero-generation references, redefining the existing catalog rather than choosing an arbitrary object number. Encrypted, hybrid-reference and over-budget rewrites are rejected; no print-fidelity claim.
• Missing: EPS is shown through its preview only (no PostScript interpreter); PSD layer comps beyond visibility; the Clipping Path Options dialog (tracing into a clip that keeps the frame, Threshold/Tolerance/Inset Frame preview, picking an alpha channel or a path saved in a TIFF/PSD); Text Wrap › Same As Clipping following an imported clipping path; Edit Original / Edit With; PDF placed as editable vectors (#227, #24); QuarkXPress import (#73); applying a swatch to a selected greyscale or bitmap image (Direct Selection + Swatches). A swatch already on the image (IDML <Image FillColor>) colours it on screen and in PDF and IDML export (#1094).
• Estimate: 30–60 h (PostScript interpreter is a large separate project: +80–150 h).

20. Performance on large documents (P)

• Missing: incremental composition (recompose from the edited paragraph; 8 ms keystroke budget), benchmarks against InDesign on long books and image-heavy catalogues.
• Have: compose 300k characters ~38 ms warm, damage-region repaint (< 1 ms while typing), parallel story composition.
• Estimate: 40–80 h.

26. Autoflow flows into the primary text frame of the pages that follow (F)

• Missing: autoflow threads a frame per column on the pages that follow, then adds pages at the end of the document, as InDesign does. On a page whose parent has a primary text frame it still sets a new frame instead of flowing into the primary one.
• Estimate: 2–4 h.

Lower

21. Localization breadth (L)

• Missing: Hindi, Indonesian, Korean, Vietnamese interfaces; ~17% of strings in the 83–85% languages; 39% of pt-BR; native-speaker review for all. Estimate: 120–180 h. Doc: localization-parity.md

22. InDesign scripting compatibility (E)

• Missing: an ExtendScript / UXP-compatible DOM so existing InDesign scripts run. Our own command API, scripts panel, CLI and MCP are strong and agent-friendly, but not compatible.
• Estimate: 150–250 h for a useful DOM subset; owner decision.

23. Plug-ins (E)

• Missing: any plug-in model. InDesign's third-party ecosystem (imposition, preflight, data publishing) doesn't carry over and can't. Owner decision; not estimated.

24. AI features (A)

• Missing: InDesign 2026's Generative Expand, Text to Image and Auto Style equivalents; local generative vector requested (#232). Owner decision on openly licensed models.
• Estimate: 60–120 h.

25. Accessibility of the app itself (U)

• Missing: screen-reader exposure of panels and dialogs (egui AccessKit coverage unverified); PDF/UA validation of exports. Estimate: 15–25 h.

Out of scope (by design)

Adobe cloud services (CC Libraries, Stock, Adobe Fonts activation, Publish Online, Share for Review, Creative Cloud sign-in), InCopy assignment workflows, Bridge, Exchange extensions, Version Cue. These are excluded from every percentage.

Revision history