When you place a graphic into
a document, InDesign retrieves the image data from its current location
on your disk rather than embedding it into the file. By doing so,
InDesign can display and output the image properly while keeping the
overall document size manageable. This process is referred to as linking.
Graphic links must remain in
their current system location after you place them or InDesign will flag
them as missing and will not be able to output the graphics properly.
In addition, any links that you edit in another application outside
InDesign will appear as modified and must be updated.
The controls in the Links
panel enable you to update missing and modified links, go directly to a
link in the document, embed or unembed a graphic, and open a graphic in
its native application for editing. You can also access specific link
info, such as file size, color space, and actual versus effective ppi
via the Link Info pane.
Updating Missing and Modified Links
The Links panel enables you to
update and relink modified and missing links. When you edit a link in
another application outside InDesign (such as Photoshop or Illustrator),
it becomes “modified.” When you move a link from its previous location
on your disk, it becomes “missing.” In either scenario, InDesign
displays a missing or modified warning icon next to the link name in the
Links panel (see Figure 1).
To display missing and modified
links at the top of the Links panel list, click the Status warning icon
at the top of the panel. You can reverse the sorting order by clicking
the icon again. By clicking the Page icon, you can sort the links by the
page number they appear on in the document. To sort the links
alphabetically, click Name.
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By default, the Links
panel displays Name, Status, and Page information; however, you can
choose to display additional information by changing the Links panel
options. To do so, choose Panel Options from the Links panel menu. In
the Panel Options dialog box that appears, check the items you would
like to display in the Show Column list and click OK.
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To update a modified
link, select the graphic in the Links panel and click the Update Link
button located in the panel footer controls (see Figure 2).
You can also choose Update Link from the panel menu. To update several
modified links at once, Option-click (Mac) or Alt+click (Win) the Update
Link button or choose Update All Links from the panel menu.
Relink a Missing Graphic
To relink a missing item, follow these steps:
1. | Select
the missing item in the Links panel and click the Relink button located
in the panel footer controls, or choose Relink from the panel menu (see
Figure 3).
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2. | When the Locate dialog box appears, browse to the link on your disk and click Open.
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3. | To update several missing links at once, Option-click (Mac) or Alt+click (Win) the Relink button.
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Locating a Linked Graphic in a Document
To locate where a link is
placed in a document, select the link in the Links panel and click the
Go to Link button located in the panel footer controls, or choose Go to
Link from the panel menu (see Figure 4).
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To locate a link on your system,
select it in the panel and choose Reveal in Finder (Mac), Reveal in
Explorer (Win), Reveal in Bridge, or Reveal in Mini Bridge from the
panel menu.
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Editing a Linked Graphic
To open and edit a linked
graphic in its native application (such as Photoshop or Illustrator),
select the graphic from the Links panel and click the Edit Original
button in the panel footer controls, or choose Edit Original from the
panel menu (see Figure 5).
You can also press Option (Mac) or Alt (Win) and double-click the
graphic in the layout. When you do, the linked graphic automatically
opens in its native application where you can apply your edits. After
you save and close the graphic in its native application, InDesign
automatically updates the link in the InDesign document.
Showing and Hiding Link Info
The Links panel also
enables you to display additional information about graphic links, such
as file size, color space, and effective ppi (see Figure 6).
By default, the Link Info pane is visible in the Links panel; however,
you can show or hide it by choosing Utilities, Show/Hide Link
Information Pane from the panel menu.
You can specify what items
to display in the Link Info pane by choosing different Links panel
options. To do so, choose Panel Options from the Links panel menu. In
the Panel Options dialog box, choose what you would like to display in
the Show in Link Info column and click OK (see Figure 7).
Embedding and Unembedding Images
The more pages you add to a
layout, the more graphics you are going to place. As the links to images
add up, keeping track of all the images on your disk can be very
difficult. However, you can embed the smaller links into the document to
make the task of keeping track a little easier.
When you embed an image it
becomes part of the document, thereby eliminating the need to refer to a
separate file on your disk. However, embedding images adds to a
document’s file size, so it is best to embed only smaller graphics, such
as end mark icons and small vector graphics.
To embed an image (or multiple
images), select them in the document, or click the link names in the
Links panel, and choose Embed Link from the panel menu (see Figure 8).
To unembed a file and link it
to the document instead, select the object and choose Unembed Link from
the panel menu. As with embedding, you can also select and unembed
several links at once by selecting multiple objects and choosing the
Unembed Link command.
After you choose the Unembed
Link command, InDesign displays a warning dialog box that asks if you’d
like to relink to the original file or create a new file. Click Yes to
relink to the original file, or click No if you’d like InDesign to
create a new file.
When
relinking an embedded graphic, InDesign always remembers the original
file location (unless you moved the graphic to a new location on your
disk). When creating a new file, you must select a file location from
the Choose a Folder (Mac) or Browse for Folder (Win) dialog box and
click Choose.
