Embedded images disappear from .ai file

Question

Hello! I’m a professional who uses Illustrator to design jewelry concepts for work. This means that in any given file, I’ll be using a number of different images of jewelry parts that I drop in from my computer’s local files. I always embed the images into the Illustrator file so that I can send them back and forth between myself, my boss, and my coworkers easily without losing anything along the way.

Sometimes, when I reopen my files, I will find that there are images missing from them. Often, over half of the images are missing. The images are embedded, NOT linked, so I don’t understand why they vanish. I will be able to see the bound boxes, but the image that should be within the box is gone. It gets in the way of my work almost every day and is extremely frustrating. We have tight deadlines and I cannot be constantly replacing images in my files every time I open them up to work on them.

Is there any way to recover the images without having to manually replace them one by one every time? See screencap below of one page from my asset library file, which recently started giving me this problem and is ruining my week because of it. Note that some images are fine, while many are gone.

All of the Adobe programs on my computer are up to date with the most recent update. Illustrator is version 30.8.1.

derekwatson · Accepted Answer

It is usually best to place images to stop file bloat and ensure you have the latest edits but you have to then share the folder containing them.

If you share across a team you could use images in a CC Library which is shared, this will keep the linking.

graphics_4075 · Answer

​@wonderful_Echoc837Dropping back in to give an update after I opened up an old file and experienced this same issue. The image is still in my links panel but shows no thumbnail, and it doesn’t visibly display on the page yet I can move it.What I noticed is that unlike all other embedded images that are visible and normal, the broken file is located in my /var/folders…./TemporaryItems/NSIRD_Illustrator_72wJWK_AI_30_1. I navigated to that folder and it does not exist, and if I click “Reveal in Finder” on the link, nothing happens.I also noticed how many images had been converted to .tifs, something I basically never use. I realized that when dragging-dropping a picture from an email, it will embed as a .tifIf you drag-drop from a downloaded picture or local file, it stays original and shows a file location.I believe this could be an error in how Adobe stores embedded files. The TemporaryFiles folder is purged every 3 days on MacOS which, unless I’m oversimplifying, I directly assume is what is causing embedded images to disappear. Even restarting your computer can purge this folder. I would love input from someone who may be more knowledgable about how Illustrator/MacOS deals with embedded files and local saves, but this seems like a very likely cause to me.Update:I chatted with an Illustrator Agent who didn’t ask much before closing my case for 6-7 hours to investigate, but enough to help me realize more. I set up a test file with 2 embedded images: one dragged directly from email, one dragged from my downloads folder. I then reset my computer to wipe my TemporaryItems folder (which I verified as empty). Upon opening my file, both photos are still visible, but the colors of the Email file are washed out.More importantly, the format is N/A instead of .tif, and the size is 0 bytes. The photo does not exist anymore because it has been wiped with the TemporaryItems folder.From Adobe Customer Support: “Your case is still open, and I am currently discussing it with my senior team for further review. I will provide you with another update within the next 24 hours.”This is the image that I first encountered.This is the corrupted image from my test file

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