It ceased publication in 1874 due to financial difficulties but William Lowe Bryan, who was a student and would later become IU's 10th president, relaunched it in 1882.

In September 1922, Ernie Pyle became editor-in-chief and later left IU a semester before graduation to work at a paper in LaPorte, Indiana.

On Dec. 7, 1941, the IDS ran an extra on the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and is one of two known college newspapers to publish that afternoon.

The building was renamed in honor of Pyle, who was shot and killed in World War II in 1945.

Due to declining revenue, the IDS began charging a quarter per issue in the spring of 1981.

[2] In the summer of 1996, the IDS launched its website, the Indiana Digital Student, now known as idsnews.com In October 2005, the IU-Bloomington Chancellor adopted a revised charter, combining the IDS and Arbutus yearbook charter, which was established in 1981, and changed the publisher's title to Director of Student Media.

In 2024, students, faculty and administrators formed a committee to rework finances after yearly fiscal losses led to a total $900,000 deficit.

Management chooses desk editors for the paper's news, sports, arts, opinion, photo, general assignments, design, copy, video, enterprise, digital, social media, and audience engagement sections.

New writers, photographers, page designers, copy editors and web content producers are accepted on a rolling basis.

The Indiana Daily Student's website, idsnews.com, features all paper content in a digital format, as well as multimedia such as videos, photo galleries, and audio slideshows.

The website serves as a way to release breaking news and allow readers to interact through online comments.

The IDS previously hosted a number of blogs for user forums and additional content.

The opinion desk's blog, "The Sample Gates", featured content from columnists and editors on current events.

The IDS Instagram, @idsnews, shares photos, stories and reader engagement content.