Skip to main content
Inspiring
March 30, 2026
Answered

How to identify which source folders are used by linked assets in InDesign

  • March 30, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 178 views

Hi,

 

I created a presentation with many links to many folders. However, many of the folders and links therein were not used in the presentation. To expedite the bibliography process, I was wondering if I could package the project and maintain the folder structure in which each asset is stored, to come up with a list of all the folders/sources actually used.

 

Thanks for any suggestions/ideas.

    Correct answer Peter Spier

    You cannot preserve the folder structure if you are using the Package command. That creates a new project folder and copies the .indd file into it, and also creates Links and Document Fonts folders and copies those assets used (fonts activated through Adobe Fonts are NOT copied), the relinks all lined assets to the new Links folder so any previous path info is just gone.

    That said, the original file, not the packaged version, will continue to have all the original link information, and I’d be willing to bet that there’s a script already written that will list all the link paths.

    2 replies

    Peter Spier
    Community Expert
    Peter SpierCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    March 31, 2026

    You cannot preserve the folder structure if you are using the Package command. That creates a new project folder and copies the .indd file into it, and also creates Links and Document Fonts folders and copies those assets used (fonts activated through Adobe Fonts are NOT copied), the relinks all lined assets to the new Links folder so any previous path info is just gone.

    That said, the original file, not the packaged version, will continue to have all the original link information, and I’d be willing to bet that there’s a script already written that will list all the link paths.

    Inspiring
    March 31, 2026

    Got it, that seems to be what I am looking for.

    leo.r
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    March 31, 2026

    Are you using InDesign? If so, then what are your InDesign and operating system versions? Also, can you please clarify what you mean by “many of the folders and links therein were not used in the presentation”?

    Inspiring
    March 31, 2026

    Hi Leo, 

     

    I am using InDesign 21.3 on Windows 11.

     

    What I meant is:

     

    I have 50 ish folders of research, each folder is a seperate source. I link to images in some of these folders. I am trying to determine which folders - i.e. sources - are used in the final document.

     

    Thanks!