- Getting started
- Adding graphics from other programs
- Comparing vector and bitmap graphics
- Managing links to imported files
- Updating revised graphics
- Adjusting display quality
- Importing and sizing graphics
- Editing placed pictures
- Working with dropped backgrounds
- Importing native Adobe graphic files
- Using subject-aware text wrap
- Filling type with a graphic
- Using an InDesign library to manage objects
- Exploring on your own
- Review questions
- Review answers
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Managing links to imported files
When you opened the lesson file, you saw an alert message about problems with the linked files. You’ll resolve those issues using the Links panel, which provides complete information about the status of all linked text and graphic files in a document.
You can use the Links panel to manage placed graphics and text files in many ways. For example, you can update graphic and text files that have been modified since they were placed, and you can replace graphic and text files with different files.
Identifying imported images
To identify some of the graphics that have already been imported into the document, you’ll use two different techniques involving the Links panel. Later in this lesson, you’ll also use the Links panel to edit and update imported graphics.
Center page 1 in the document window by choosing it from the Page Number box at the lower-left corner of the document window. Choose View > Fit Page In Window.
If the Links panel is not visible, choose Window > Links or click the Links panel icon (
) in the panel dock.Using the Selection tool (
), select the Songs of the Garden logo type on page 1. Notice that the graphic’s filename, Title.ai, becomes selected in the Links panel when you select the graphic in the layout.Now you’ll use the Links panel to locate another graphic in the layout.
In the Links panel, select Butterfly-on-flower.psd, and then click the Go To Link button (
). The graphic becomes selected and centered on the screen. This is a quick way to find a graphic in a document.These techniques for identifying and locating linked graphics are useful throughout this lesson and whenever you work with a large number of imported files.
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Viewing information about linked files
The Links panel makes it easy to work with linked graphics and text files and to display additional information about linked files.
In the Links panel, select the graphic named Sunflower_2.psd. If you cannot see the names of all the linked files without scrolling, drag the horizontal divider bar in the Links panel downward to enlarge the top half of the panel so that all the links are visible. The Link Info section at the bottom half of the panel displays detailed information about the selected link.
In the Links panel, click the Select Next Link In The List button (
) to view information about the following file in the Links panel list, RR-logo.ai. You can quickly examine all the links in the list this way. Currently, most links display an alert icon (
) in the Status column. This icon indicates a linking problem, which you’ll address later. After you’ve examined the link information for various images, choose Edit > Deselect All, and then click the Show/Hide Link Information button (
) above Link Info to hide the Link Info section.By default, files are sorted in the Links panel by page number but with files used multiple times in a document listed at the top. You can sort the file list in different ways by clicking the column headings. Next, we’ll add more column headings to make additional information available at a glance.
A faster way to view important link information is to customize the information displayed in the Links panel columns. Open the menu in the Links panel and choose Panel Options (at the bottom of the menu). Under Show Column, click Color Space, Actual PPI, Effective PPI, and Transparency. Click OK. (The important information in your workflow may vary from this example.)
Pull out the panel to the left to see the new columns. The Links panel now has additional columns showing information for the options you turned on. Drag the first column divider to the right to make the first column wide enough to see the filenames. This customized view is a fast way to see important information about linked graphics, such as whether something has been scaled up so much that it will look bad when printed (jagged edges, blurry, or pixelated).
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Showing files in Explorer (Windows) or Finder (macOS)
Although the Links panel gives you information about the attributes and location in the document of a specific linked graphic file, it does not let you make changes to the file or change the name of the file. One way you can access the original file of an imported graphic file is by using the Reveal In Explorer (Windows) or Reveal In Finder (macOS) option.
Select Sunflower_2.psd. From the Links panel menu, choose Reveal In Explorer (Windows) or Reveal In Finder (macOS). The folder where the linked file is currently stored on your computer opens, and the file is selected. This feature is useful for locating files on your hard drive.
Close the window and return to InDesign.