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iand96374149
Known Participant
March 30, 2026
Question

Linked TIFF from Illustrator File Missing When Placed in InDesign and Exported Output

  • March 30, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 40 views

Linked image within illustrator file not appearing when placed in indesign.I have a map created in Illustrator with a background (flattened) tiff which displays fine in Illustrator. Once placed into InDD, the tiff won't appear (layer is ON and printing) and doesn't get included in exports (thus eliminating a rendering issue of any kind). This has happened on 2 separate files but is fine in others with the same set-up. On occasion the tiff will reappear…

This is fundamental to my job.

Illustrator 30.2.1
InDesign 21.3
OS 15.7.4 (24G517)

    1 reply

    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    March 30, 2026

    Hi @iand96374149,


    Thanks for reaching out, and sorry to hear you're experiencing this issue. Could you please confirm if this behavior is specific to this particular Illustrator file when placed into Adobe InDesign, or if it happens with other Illustrator files as well?

    Also, please try opening the AI file back in Adobe Illustrator and go to Preferences > File Handling. Check the status of the "Save in Background" option. If it is enabled, toggle it off, then save the file again with a new name and place that newly saved file into InDesign. Let me know if you notice any difference.

    While saving the file, please also take a screenshot of the save options dialog and share it here so I can review the settings being used.


    Looking forward to your update.

    Abhishek

    I
    iand96374149Author
    Known Participant
    March 30, 2026

    Hi Abhishek. Thanks for your response. This is happening in several files with the same set up and on two separate macs. I will try your toggling off ‘Save in Background’ suggestion which I‘ve seen as a workaround for other issues on forums (so clearly a bigger ‘issue’ that needs solving) and see whether that serves as a temporary solution.

    I
    iand96374149Author
    Known Participant
    March 30, 2026

    Btw, cutting and pasting the (missing in InDD) images into a new layer in AI can temporarily resolve the issue when viewing in InDD but it often disappears again when another update is made to the AI file.

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