Skip to main content
O
Ole250425239dy3
Participant
December 9, 2025
Question

InDesign / InCopy 2026 random bug with placed image links

  • December 9, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 1300 views

After upgrading to InDesign and InCopy 2026 (21.0.2) we experience a weird random bug when updating Assignments (icma) in InDesign for Mac to be opened by InCopy for Windows.

Quite random we get the warning "Because this document contains no InCopy stories, Galley View and Story View are not available" resulting in the Assignment file in InCopy is useless.

Same Assignment file opens without problems in InCopy for Mac.

After a long search I discovered that it wasn't any of the .icml files, nor was it any of the .ai or .svg files that cause the problem.

Using Links in InCopy their Full Path were correct.

When it comes to images we wont add them to the Links folder, that InCopy can access due to performance, hence they are all missing in the Links menu. That is the way we've been working the InCopy for 12-15 years.

Now in the 2026 version of either InDesign or InCopy for Windows there has been introduced a bug that can cause, maybe one, maybe two or three, missing image links to corrupt all links, including the assigment, resulting in "Because this document contains no InCopy stories, Galley View and Story View are not available".

Through trial and error, if we find the image or images and copy it or them to the Links folder InCopy can access and update the Assignment, all is well again.

 

Any advice...

 

 

 

    2 replies

    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    December 12, 2025

    Hi @Ole250425239dy3,

     

    Thanks for all the detailed updates. To better understand the complete workflow could you please share a short screen recording that demonstrates the entire process right up to the moment the error appears. 

    Moreover, to move this forward, please reach out to your admin and ask them to create a support ticket for this issue through the Admin Console using this link: https://adobe.ly/3Yr57fT. If you are the admin, you can directly get help here: https://adobe.ly/3Uowp5y.

     

    Let me know how it goes. Happy to help.

    Abhishek

    O
    Ole250425239dy3Author
    Participant
    December 18, 2025
    Hi Abhishek,


    Our workflow is described in the below screenshots.


    Let me know if you need further explanation.


    The choke in Adobe InCopy 2026 Windows is, that if it cannot find an image located on a path it can't access, it changes the path to all links to the inaccessible MAC path and the assignment fails to open correctly.


    The error message is random.


    [Skærmbillede 2025-12-18 kl. 17.42.32.png]


    [Skærmbillede 2025-12-18 kl. 17.42.50.png]
    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    December 18, 2025

    Hi @Ole250425239dy3,

     

    Thanks for the update and for taking the time to share the screenshots. It looks like the screenshots did not come through correctly on my end, so I am unable to review them here.

    To move this forward and get the right teams involved, please reach out to your admin and ask them to create a support ticket for this issue through the Admin Console using this link: https://adobe.ly/3Yr57fT. If you are the admin yourself, you can directly get help by creating the case here: https://adobe.ly/3Uowp5y.

    Best,

    Abhishek

    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    BobLevineCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 9, 2025

    How are you sharing files? Local network? Cloud storage like Dropbox? If the latter, make sure you have any cloud-only features disabled so that all files are located on local harddrives.

     

    That out of the  way, what happens if you open the INDD file directly from InCopy instead of the assignment? For small workgroups, assignments are really not needed and, IMO, introduce an unneeded level of complexity.

    O
    Ole250425239dy3Author
    Participant
    December 10, 2025

    Hi Bob,

    It is not a sharing permission issue at all. Everything worked well until InCopy 2026 Windows was installed on the customer servers.

    I have now discovered that InCopy 2026 Windows can translate the full path of icml's wrongly to the Mac path from InDesign 2026 when the app meet a missing link when opening.

    That is instead of using the mapped drive H: when locating icml's in opening.

    Reinstalling InCopy 2025 all was good.

    Should I post this somewhere else in order for Adobe to urgently address this issue?

    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    BobLevineCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 10, 2025

    I don't have a Mac to test on here but bugs should be reported here: Adobe InDesign. If you want to get a bit more attention from other users, you might want to post in the InDesign community.

     

    Or, I can move this post to the InDesign community if you'd like.

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices