Participant

Question

Link missing glitch.

Forum|Forum|6 months ago
September 19, 2025
6 replies
1198 views

For the past three days, I have been having a missing links problem. Except, my links arent missing. And even when I do try to relink them, nothing pops back into the file. All the copy content is gone too, no words or anything anywhere (which wouldn't even be a missing links problem). I'll open an Illustrator file that I had closed 30 minutes previously and the artboards will be there but blank and if I hover over things I can see the bounding boxes but no content. I've had to restart my files 3 times now.

Things I've tried:

- re linking files

-restarting AI

- restarting my copmuter

- updating AI (there were no updates to make)

- I updated my computer software

On Monday, my files were all fine, thigns were opening like normal. I ran into the problem first on Tuesday morning so I just restarted my design. Now it's happening with almost all my files I open. And the message I get when opening a file is strange too because it doesn't properly display the file naming convention like usual. It's cutting of the last letter of the file type which makes me think it's a glitch.

I'm seriously losing my mind over these corrupt files, I have deadlines to be meeitng and I can't keep remaking files for the day jus tto do it again the next day.

M

Mélanie2530217314cm

Participant

Je rencontre le même problème depuis quelques jours. Tous mes fichiers liés sur Illustrator perdent le dernier caractère (de son extension). Systématiquement, je suis obliger de rechercher tous mes fichiers liés manuellement.

E

EvBond

Participating Frequently

I wonder if it is the hardware or OS. I am no techie so just speculation but I saw @7584048. Cooper above was on a Mac Studio and so am I (M4 Max 2025) and Sequoia 15.6.1. What are others using? Thinking I should save a few files on my MBP and see if I can replicate the issue on that. Surely Illustrator will not behave differently on different Macs. Like I said, I am no techie, just a lowly designer!

Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @EvBond,

Thanks for your patience. Could you try installing the latest Illustrator (Beta) and checking if the problem persists?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

M

mathieu hermansa35953963

Participant

Me and my team are having the same issues (all working on Mac OS Tahoe and the up-to-date Illustrator CC). It seems there's something off with the way Illustrator is referring to the file extensions. All the missing link info Illustrator is showing are missing the last 1 letter(s). For example:
file.JP instead of file.JPG
file.JPE instead of file.JPEG
file.PN instead of file. PNG
etc.

Even after manually relinking to the right files. Saving the Illustrator document, close it and immediately open it then the same missing link errors re-appear!

E

EvBond

Participating Frequently

Hi @mathieu hermansa35953963 and @Lukáš5FE2 yes we have been having these issues a few weeks now but Adobe are on the issue. As a workaround I have found that embedding the links is the only solution. It's obviously a sub-optimal solution due to overblown ai files, but it's all I can see that can mitigate the truncating and blowing up of links. All are waiting with bated breath for an update and fix!

L

Lukáš5FE2

Participant

I have the same problem. What can I do about it please?

M

Mr.DCooper

Participant

I'm having the exact same issue, I have to relink all the links and re-size them as they enlarge to 1000% off the paste board area, all the links are shortened file exstentions .jp and .ti instead of .jpg and .tif.

I have only seen this with documents with multiple pages.

The only thing I have tried apart from the obvious rebooting and re-starting the app is reinstalling an older version 29.7.1 but this is the same issue.

Mac Studio

Mac os26

Apple M3 Ultra 2025

E

EvBond

Participating Frequently

@Emily Catherine @Mr.DCooper I am glad this isn't just me! Exactly the same with the 1000% link enlargement way off the pasteboard - they are impossible to relink and bring back and the cut off / truncated filename extensions. I sent packaged files to @Anubhav M to take a look at. And likewise I tried installing an earlier version of Illo to no avail. Interesting you are on a Mac Studio as well. I wonder if that's the issue - I might try and open the errant files on my MBP and see if the issue is reproduced. Really hope it can be sorted soon. ATM I am now embedding every link and that makes them behave but it's not my preference due to the weightly resultant ai files.
I am on
Mac Studio M4 Max
Sequoia 15.6.1

Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @EvBond,

Sorry for the late response. I was able to replicate the issue on my end have shared the files with the team for further investigation. I will update this thread as I have more info.

Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions or require assistance. We'd be happy to help.

Anubhav

E

EvBond

Participating Frequently

I am having exactly the same problem! Infuriating! Basically need to rebuild and relink. I think it may have something to do with longer filenames as the shorter ones are linking OK. Instead of .png or .jpg I am getting .p and .j. This has something to do with v29.8.1 as it started happening the day my Adobe Cloud auto updated Illustrator
My links panel is clearly not right as you can see here

Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @EvBond, @Emily Catherine,

Could you share a link to a sample file (including the links) after uploading it to a file-sharing service, so we can check it on our end?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

E

EvBond

Participating Frequently

Hi @4882795

Here is a WeTransfer link to one of the files that, when opened, are looking for links whose exentions have truncated from .jpg and .png to just .j and .p. Upon relinking them they are miles off the pasteboard and about 1000% larger and I cannot move them as the 'moving elements off the pasteboard' error comes up so I was having to Cmd-D the images back in again and delete the errant links.

Funnily enough when I finally got the links back and repackaged it - that illo file opened without an issue.

I have been embedding all images all week as the links were just not working. I also sent a screenshot of my file on open - not the pasteboard is empty the the missing link extensions are truncated.

HTH

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

Did you try ~~restarting your computer~~? Resetting Preferences?

Where are these linked files stored? On your computer? On a server or a Cloud connected folder?

Is the path to the linked files very long?

E

Emily CatherineAuthor

Participant

I did restart my computer.

All files are located in a folder labeled 'images' inside my project folder. It's definitely not far away. To avoid further problems I packaged my design yesterday, today the .ai file shows missing links and continues to not let me open it.

Which preferences do you recommened me resetting, that's not something I've done before.

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

And your project folder is on your hard disk?

Here is an article on resetting preferences. The renaming Preferences manually is preferred.

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/setting-preferences.html

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