- InDesign User Guide
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Learn how to manage and update graphic links to smoothly integrate visuals in your designs.
When you place a graphic, you seea screen-resolution version of the file in the layout so that youcan view and position it. However, the actual graphic file may beeither linked or embedded.
Linked artwork is connected to, but remains independentof, the document, resulting in a smaller document. You can modifylinked artwork using transformation tools and effects; however,you cannot select and edit individual components in the artwork.You can use the linked graphic many times without significantlyincreasing the size of the document; you can also update all linksat once. When you export or print, the original graphic is retrieved, creatingthe final output from the full resolution of the originals.
Embedded artwork is copied into the document at full resolution,resulting in a larger document. You can control versions and updatethe file whenever you like; as long as the artwork is embedded,your document is self-sufficient.
Try the app!
Follow along with any project to learn how to link and embed graphics.
Open InDesign
To determine if artwork is linked or embedded, or change itsstatus from one to the other, use the Links panel.
Ifthe bitmap image you place is 48K or smaller, InDesign automaticallyembeds the full‑resolution image instead of the screen-resolutionversion in your layout. InDesign displays these images in the Linkspanel, so that you can control versions and update the file wheneveryou like; however, the link is not necessary for optimal output.
Note:
If you move a document to another folder or disk (for example,if you take it to a service provider), be sure that you also movethe linked graphics files; they are not stored inside the document.You can copy all related files automatically, using the Preflightand Package features.
Links panel overview
All filesplaced in a document are listed in the Links panel. These includeboth local (on disk) files and assets that are managed on a server.However, files that are pasted from a website in Internet Explorerdo not display in this panel.
In InCopy, theLinks panel also displays linked stories. When you select a linkedstory in the Links panel, the Link Info section displays informationsuch as the number of notes, the managed status, and the statusof tracked changes.
A. Category columnsB. Show/HideLink InformationC. One or more instancesmodified iconD. Modified iconE. Missing-linkiconF. Embedded-link icon
When the same graphic appears several times in the document,the links are combined under a disclosure triangle in the Linkspanel. When a linked EPS graphic or InDesign documentcontains links, the links are also combined under a disclosure triangle.
A linked file can appear in the Links panel in any of the followingways:
Up to Date
An up-to-date file is blank in the Status column.
Modified
This icon means that the version of the file on disk is morerecent than the version in your document. For example, this iconappears if you import a Photoshop graphic into InDesign, and then you or someone elseedits and saves the original graphic in Photoshop.
A slightlydifferent version of the Modified icon appears when a graphic is modifiedand one or more instances are updated while others are not.
Missing
The graphic is no longer in the location from which it wasimported, although it may still exist somewhere. Missing links canhappen if someone deletes the original file or moves it to a differentfolder or server after it’s been imported. You can’t know whethera missing file is up to date until its original is located. If youprint or export a document when this icon is displayed, the file maynot print or export at full resolution.
Embedded
Embedding the contents of a linked file suspends management operations for that link. If the selected link is currently in an “edit in place” operation, this option is not enabled. Unembedding the file restores management operations to the link.
If a linked object does not appear on a specific document page, the following codes indicate where the object appears: PB (pasteboard), PP (parent page), OV (overset text), and HT (hidden text).
Use the Links panel
- To display the Links panel,choose Window> Links. Each linked file and automaticallyembedded file is identified by name.
- To select and view a linked graphic, select a link inthe Links panel and then click the Go To Link button
, clickthe page number of the link in the Page column, or choose GoToLink in the Links panel menu. InDesign centersthe display around the selected graphic. To view a hidden object,you show the layer (or condition if it’s an anchored object). - To expand or collapse nested links, click the triangleicon to the left of the link. Nested links occur when the same graphicappears several times in the document or when the linked EPS graphicor InDesign document contains links.
- To sort links in the panel, click the category titleat the top of the Links panel to sort by that category. Click thesame category again to reverse the order. For example, if you clickthe Page category, the links appear in their order from the firstpage to the last page. If you click Page again, the links are sortedfrom last page to first. Use Panel Options to add columns to theLinks panel.
, clickthe page number of the link in the Page column, or choose GoToLink in the Links panel menu. InDesign centersthe display around the selected graphic. To view a hidden object,you show the layer (or condition if it’s an anchored object).
Work with Links panel columns
You can display additional categories, suchas Creation Date and Layer, in the Links panel to display more informationabout the graphics. For each category, you can determine whetherthe information appears as a column in the Links panel and in theLink Info section at the bottom of the Links panel.
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Choose Panel Options from the Links panel menu.
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Select the check boxes under Show Column to add columnsin the Links panel.
Folder 0 is the folder that contains the linked file; Folder1 is the folder that contains Folder 0, and so on.
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Select the check boxes under Show In Link Info to displaythe information in the Link Info section at the bottom of the Linkspanel.
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Click OK.
You can change the order of columns by selecting a columnand dragging it to a different location. Drag the column boundariesto change the column width. Click a category title to sort the linksby that category in ascending order. Click again to sort in descendingorder.
Change the Links panel rows andthumbnails
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Choose Panel Options from the Linkspanel menu.
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For Row Size, select Small Rows, Regular Rows, or LargeRows.
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For Thumbnails, determine whether thumbnail representationsof the graphics appear in the Name column and in the Link Info sectionat the bottom of the Links panel.
Display link information
TheLink Info section of the Links panel lists information about theselected linked file.
Note:
To change the informationdisplayed in the Link Info section of the Links panel, choose PanelOptions from the Links panel menu, and select check boxes in theShow In Link Info column.
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Double-click a link, or select a link and clickthe Show/Hide Link Information icon, which is a triangle on theleft side of the panel.
Ifa linked or embedded file contains metadata, you can view the metadatausing the Links panel. You cannot edit or replace metadata associatedwith a linked file.
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Select a file in the Links panel and choose Utilities>XMP File Info from the panel menu.
Embed an image within the document
Ratherthan link to a file that you’ve placed in a document, you can embed(or store) the file within the document. When you embed a file,you break the link to the original. Without the link, the Linkspanel doesn’t alert you when the original has changed, and you cannotupdate the file automatically.
Embedding a file increasesthe document file size.
Embed a linked file
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Select a file in the Links panel.
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Do any of the following:
Choose Embed Link in the Links panel menu.
If there are multiple instances of the file, chooseEmbed All Instances Of [Filename] in the Links panelmenu. To embed only one instance, select it and choose Embed Link.
The file remains in the Links panel marked with the embedded-linkicon
.
Note:
Fora text file that appears in the Links panel, select Unlink in theLinks panel menu. When you embed a text file, its name is removedfrom the Links panel.
Unembed a linked file
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Selectone or more embedded files in the Links panel.
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Do one of the following:
Select Unembed Link in the Links panelmenu. If there are multiple instances of the file, choose UnembedAll Instances Of [Filename] in the Links panel menu.
Click the Relink button
orselect Relink in the Links panel menu.
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Choose to link the file to the original file or to afolder InDesign creates from the embedded data stored in the document.
orselect Relink in the Links panel menu.
Update, restore, and replace links
Usethe Links panel to check the status of any link, or to replace fileswith updated or alternate files.
When you update or reestablish(relink) a link to a file, any transformations performed in InDesign are preserved (if you chooseRelink Preserved Dimensions in the File Handling preferences). Forexample,if you import a square graphic and rotate it 30°, and then you relinkit to an unrotated graphic, InDesign rotatesit 30° to match the layout of the graphic it’s replacing.
Note:
Placed EPS files may containOPI links, which appear in the Links panel. Don’t relink OPI linksto files other than those originally intended by the creator ofthe EPS file; doing so can cause problems with font downloadingand color separations.
Choose how relinked graphics arescaled
Whenyou relink to replace one graphic with a different source file,you can keep the image dimensions of the file that’s being replaced,or you can display the incoming file in its actual dimensions.
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Choose Edit > Preferences > File Handling (Windows)or InDesign> Preferences>File Handling (MacOS).
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Choose Preserve Image Dimensions When Relinking if you wantimages to appear at the same size as the images they’re replacing.Deselect this option to have relinked images appear at their actualsize.
Update modified links
InDesign first looks for a missing link inthe folder in which another file has been relinked in the currentsession. Next, it looks for a link in the same folder where thedocument is located. If it’s still not found, it looks in the parentfolder of the document.
Modified links are also called “outof date” links.
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Inthe Links panel, do one of the following:
To update specific links, select one ormore links marked with the modified-link icon
. Thenclick the Update Link button, orchoose Update Link from the Links panel menu.To update all modified links, choose Update AllLinks from the Links panel menu, or select a modified link and Alt-click(Windows) or Option-click (MacOS) the Update Link button.
To update only one link to a graphic that appearsin several places in the document, select only the sublink and chooseUpdate Link. If you select the “parent” link, you can update alllinks to the modified graphic.
. Thenclick the Update Link button
, orchoose Update Link from the Links panel menu.-
Select any link in the Links panel,and click the Relink button
orchoose Relink from the Links panel menu. If a “parent” link of multipleinstances is selected, choose Relink All Instances Of [Filename] fromthe Links panel menu. Relink isdisabled in managed stories unless a story is checked out.
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In the dialog box that appears, select Search For MissingLinks In This Folder if you want InDesign tosearch the folder for files that have the same names as other missinglinked files. If this option is not selected, only the selectedimage is relinked.
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Choose Show Import Options tocontrol how the new source file is imported.
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Locate and double-click the new source file.
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Choose import options if you clicked the Show Importoptions option. (See Importoptions for graphics.)
orchoose Relink from the Links panel menu. If a “parent” link of multipleinstances is selected, choose Relink All Instances Of [Filename] fromthe Links panel menu.
Restore missing links
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Torestore a missing link, select any link marked with the missinglink icon
inthe Links panel, and click the Relink button . -
In the dialog box that appears, select Search For MissingLinks In This Folder to relink any missing file that appears inthe specified folder. Locate and double-click a file.
inthe Links panel, and click the Relink button
Find missing links
By default, InDesign checksfor missing links and tries to resolve them when you open a document.Two preference options let InDesign check forand find missing links automatically when you open a document.
Check Links Before Opening Document
If you turn off this option, InDesign opensthe document immediately, and the link statuses remain pending untillinks are determined to be up-to-date, missing, or modified. Ifyou turn on this option, InDesign checksfor modified or missing links.
Find Missing Links Before Opening Document
If you turn off this option, InDesign doesnot attempt to resolve the missing links. You may want to turn offthis option if links slow performance to a server or if unexpectedlinkings occur. This option is dimmed if Check Links Before OpeningDocument is turned off.
Search For Missing Links
Use the Search For Missing Links command to search for andresolve missing links in your document. This command is useful ifyou turned off the preferences option that checks for missing linkswhen you open a document, and now you have missing links. This commandis also useful if you mount a server where images are stored afteropening a document.
- To change link settings, open the FileHandling section of the Preferences dialog box, and determine whetherthe Check Links Before Opening Document and Find Missing Links BeforeOpening Document options are selected.
- To let InDesign attempt toresolve missing links, choose Utilities> Search ForMissing Links from the Links panel menu.
This command is dimmed if the document contains no missinglinks.
Specify a default Relink folder
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In the Preferences dialog box, selectFile Handling.
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From the Default Relink Folder menu, choose either ofthe following options, and then click OK:
Most Recent Relink Folder
This option displays the most recently used folder you selectedwhen relinking, matching InDesign CS3behavior.
Original Link Folder
This option displays the original location of the linkedfile, matching the behavior of InDesign CS2and earlier.
Copy links to a different folder
Use the Copy Link(s) To command to copy graphicsfiles to a different folder and redirect the links to the copiedfiles. This command is especially useful for moving files to a differentdrive, such as moving files from a DVD to a hard drive.
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Select the links to the files you want to copy,and choose Utilities> Copy Link(s) To from the Linkspanel menu.
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Specify the folder where the linked files will be copiedand choose Select (Windows) or Choose (MacOS).
Relink to a different folder
When you use the Relink To Folder command,you can point to a folder that contains files with the same namesas your out-of-date links. For example, if your current links pointto low-resolution images, you can specify a different folder thatcontains high-resolution images. You can specify a different extensionfor the files, allowing you to change links from .jpg to .tiff,for example.
TheRelink To Folder command is dimmed in a managed InCopy story unlessthe story is checked out.
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Select one or more links in the Links panel.
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Choose Relink To Folder from the Links panel menu.
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Specify the location of the new folder.
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To use a different extension, select Match Same FilenameBut This Extension, and specify the new extension (such as AI, TIFF,or PSD).
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Click Select (Windows) or Choose (MacOS).
Relink files with different fileextensions
The Relink File Extension command lets youreplace images based on file extensions. For example, if you haveseveral JPEG images in your document, you can replace them withPSD files. The files with different extensions must be in the samefolder as the linked files being replaced.
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Make sure the files with different file extensionsappear in the same folder as the original files.
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Select one or more links in the Links panel.
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Choose Relink File Extensions from the Links panel menu.
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Specify the file extension to replace the selected files,and click Relink.
Replace an imported file usingthe Place command
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Do one of the following:
To replace the contents of agraphics frame, such as an imported graphic, use the Selection tool
toselect the frame.Toreplace the contents of a graphics frame, such as an imported graphic,use the Position tool to select the image.
To replace the contents of a text frame, use theType tool to click an insertion point in a text frame, and chooseEdit> Select All.
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Choose File> Place.
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Locate and select the new file.
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Make sure that Replace Selected Item is selected, and thenclick Open.
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Click Open.
toselect the frame.
Copy the link pathname
You can copy either the full path of the linkedimage or the platform style path. Copying the full path of the imageis useful for notifying team members where art is located. For example,you can copy the full path and paste it into an email message. Copyingthe platform path is useful for scripting or for specifying image fieldsin a data merge.
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Select a link in the Links panel.
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From the Links panel menu, choose Copy Info>Copy Full Path or Copy Platform Style Path.
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Paste the path.
Edit original artwork
The Edit Original command lets you open mostgraphics in the application in which you created them so that youcan modify them as necessary. Once you save the original file, thedocument in which you linked it is updated with the new version.
Note:
InInDesign, if you check out and select a managed graphics frame (onethat has been exported to InCopy), rather than the graphic itself,the graphic opens in InCopy.
Edit original artwork using thedefault application
By default, InDesign relieson the operating system to determine which application is used whenopening the original.
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Select one or more images on the page or in theLinks panel.
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Doany of the following:
Inthe Links panel, click the Edit Original button
. Choose Edit> Edit Original.
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After making changes in the original application, savethe file.
.
Edit original artwork using a differentapplication
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Select the image.
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Choose Edit> Edit With, and then specifythe application you want to use to open the file. If the applicationdoes not appear, choose Other, and browse to locate the application.
More like this
- Define preflight profiles
- Package files
- Linking objects in InDesign
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