Indesign – how many links really need to be collected?

Like most graphic designers, I create job folders for my Indesign files to stay in with their associated links, fonts and other resources stored in subfolders. Often I find that my Indesign documents are linked to images in other job folders too, or maybe a master image folder or just some other random places that I have forgotten about. So it makes sense at the conclusion of each job to archive the Indesign files and their links to the current job folder.

This would usually be achieved by choosing File/Package. But what about all the images that are already contained in the current job folder – I don’t want to fill up my hard drive with duplicate items! Otherwise I could right-click on the links one by one in the links panel and tell Indesign to copy them to my current job folder. But I don’t want to check the location of each image one by one. There must be an easier way!

If this scenario sounds familiar, this script can help you out. It first makes one big assumption – that your Indesign file is saved at the top level of your current job folder. The script will check the location of all your linked files and tell you which ones are not linked to somewhere within the current job folder. It give you the option to collect these images back to wherever you want (like your current job folder). There is also an option to have the script consider a master folder, just in case you do not want to collect images that are linked to it.

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Free download

4 Comments

  1. NIce! Isn’t this feature already in InDesign though? (Links panel menu > Utilities > Copy Links To)?

    Reply
  2. Hi Anne-Marie, this script has the added benefit of letting you know which links are located outside of your local job folder. It assumes your Indesign document is in the top level of that folder. If you rely on “Utilities/Copy Links To”, you have to check the location of each link one at a time before copying them. This script saves you the trouble by presenting you with a list of all the links not located in your job folder (or any of its subfolders). The idea is to collect these links without duplicating the ones you already have.

    Reply
  3. Hi,
    I have a question relative to links in Indesign. I work on a network and all my folder had been moved to a new directory. Do you know if there is a way to bulk replace image path in the links ?
    Thank you.

    Reply

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