InDesign

Updating, restoring, and replacing links

Use the Links panel to check the status of any link, or to replace files with updated or alternate files.

When you update or reestablish (relink) a link to a file, any transformations performed in InDesign are preserved (if you choose Relink Preserved Dimensions in the File Handling preferences). For example, if you import a square graphic and rotate it 30°, and then you relink it to an unrotated graphic, InDesign rotates it 30° to match the layout of the graphic it’s replacing.

Note: Placed EPS files may contain OPI links, which will appear in the Links panel. Don’t relink OPI links to files other than those originally intended by the creator of the EPS file; doing so can cause problems with font downloading and color separations.

Choose how relinked graphics are scaled

When you 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.

  1. Choose InDesign > Preferences > File Handling (Mac OS) or Edit > Preferences > File Handling (Windows).

  2. Choose Relink Preserves Dimensions if you want images to appear at the same size as the images they’re replacing; deselect this option to have relinked images appear at their actual size.

Update modified links

  1. In the Links panel, do one of the following:

    • To update specific links, select one or more links marked with the modified-link icon .

    • To update all modified links, deselect all links by clicking the bottom of the Links panel.

  2. Click the Update Link button , or choose Update Link from the Links panel menu.

Replace a link with a different source file

  1. Select any link in the Links panel, and click the Relink button  or choose Relink from the Links panel menu.
  2. In the dialog box that appears, select Relink All Instances if more than one copy of the same file is in the document and you want to relink each copy to the same new source file.
  3. Choose Show Import Options if you’ve selected only one link and you want to control how the new source file is imported.
  4. Locate and double-click the new source file.
  5. Choose import options if you clicked the Show Import options check box.(See Import options for graphics.)
Note: If all of the missing files are in the same folder, you can restore all of them at once. First select all the missing links (or select nothing) and restore one link. All of the remaining missing links are restored automatically.

Restore a single missing link

  1. To restore a missing link, select any link marked with the missing link icon  in the Links panel, and click the Relink button .
  2. In the dialog box that appears, locate and double-click a file.
Note: If all of the missing files are in the same folder, you can restore all of them at once. First select all the missing links (or select nothing) and restore one link. All of the remaining missing links are restored automatically.

Restore all missing links

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Deselect all links by clicking the bottom of the Links panel.

    • Select all missing links.

  2. Click the Relink button, or choose Relink from the Links panel menu.
  3. In the dialog box that appears, locate the file, and then click Open.
  4. Repeat step 3 for every file that you want to restore.

Replace an imported file using the Place command

  1. Do one of the following:

    • To replace the contents of a graphics frame, such as an imported graphic, use the Selection tool  to select the frame.

    • To replace the contents of a text frame, use the Type tool to click an insertion point in a text frame, and choose Edit > Select All.

  2. Choose File > Place.
  3. Locate and select the new file.
  4. Make sure that Replace Selected Item is selected, and then click Open.