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Question

missing 'placed' .ai files

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
March 19, 2024
3 replies
1745 views

I have a major issue. I placed .ai files within another .ai file to keep the layer count down. The final .ai files were then placed into InDesign. I packaged up the InDesign file and thought no more of it. Today, some months later, I have gone back into the ID file to edit some of the .ai files, but on opening them the 'placed' .ai files are not there!! The display fine in ID, they look fine as a .pdf, there are no missing files in the pre-flight panel yet I can't edit the .ai file. And it appears that somewhen after packaging I must have deleted the original illustrations, so I'm up s**t street without a paddle. Any ides anyone?

Performance

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rob day

Community Expert

there are no missing files in the pre-flight panel yet I can't edit the .ai file

Hi @andy@kayakdesign.co.uk , If the .ai file is not listed as missing, but you also can’t edit it, it must be Embedded?

Check your Link Info panel and if its Status is listed as Embedded choose Unembed from the Links flyout menu and you will be given the choice to save the embedded .ai file to a new destination.

Robert at ID-Tasker

Legend

@rob day

The "main" AI file is there - but its components aare no longer available.

rob day

Community Expert

Thanks I missed that

Robert at ID-Tasker

Legend

@andy@kayakdesign.co.uk

Can you try to extract contents from the finall PDF?

If it prints correctly - then everything is there...

Luke Jennings3

Community Expert

For future reference, links in Illustrator files can be embedded and unembedded, like InDesign, and the .ai file can also be packaged, collecting needed links & fonts. I suggest opening your final pdf in Illustrator (assuming you have one), ignoring any missing font messages and saving it as a new .ai file, delete everything you don't need to re-create the missing art. Use the Illustrator layers to isolate the needed elements. If there are type elements from the original .ai file where the fonts have changed when opened in Illustrator, you can determine the original font name and size using the Acrobat object inspector tool (Output Preview) on the original pdf.

A

andy@kayakdesign.co.ukAuthor

Known Participant

Thansk for the replies, I can pdf from ID, open in illustrator and it's all there, the problem being there were many layers (50+0 on the placed .ai and trying to pick that lot out .... and I have a fair few illustrations that are affected!! See attached screen dump.

Willi Adelberger

Community Expert

Placed ai files are packaged but no assets placed in an ai file. It is not a good idea to open and edit an linked ai file. If the used fonts or linked assets are not available, the ai file is destroyed. An ai file contains like any other PDF file all information for print but not for editing.

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