Relink an image to a file that does not exist

Question

Is there any way to relink a placed image to a file that does not exist yet? I have an INDD file with a bunch of other INDD files placed as links. I want to replace each of those INDD links with a PDF of the exact same name, but a .pdf extension. This script works when the PDF version of the file already exists: var links = app.activeDocument.links,
    linksLength = links.length;

for (var i = linksLength-1; i >= 0 ; i--) {
		var oldLink = links[i];
        if(oldLink.linkType == "InDesign Format Name") {
            var newLink = new File(oldLink.filePath.replace(".indd",".pdf"));
            oldLink.relink(newLink);
        }
    } But in my workflow, the PDFs are not yet created so running this script fails because the newLink does not yet exist. I want them to show as missing for now. Maybe, instead of a "relink", what I need is just some way to change the name of the link that InDesign is looking for without first confirming that it exists.  Any ideas? Thanks!

m1b · Accepted Answer

Actually you can do it, with reinitLink method of Link. See this script I wrote for another answer previously:

/*
    Reinit Links
    for Adobe Indesign 2022
    by m1b

    Use this when your file system has changed and current links are broken.
    Set `replaceThis` and `withThis` to re-align the file paths.

    This is different to Relinker because it doesn't require
    modified links to exist.
*/

function main() {

    relinker(

        // the document to relink
        app.activeDocument,

        // in each link path, replace this string or a regex
        /\.indd/,

        // with this string
        '.pdf'

    )


    function relinker(doc, replaceThis, withThis) {
        var links = doc.links,
            counter = 0;

        for (var i = 0; i < links.length; i++) {
            var linkURI = links[i].linkResourceURI,
                newLinkedURI = linkURI.replace(replaceThis, withThis);
            links[i].reinitLink(newLinkedURI);
            if (linkURI != newLinkedURI)
                counter++
        }

        alert('Reinit ' + counter + ' out of '+links.length + ' links.');
    }

}


app.doScript(main, ScriptLanguage.JAVASCRIPT, undefined, UndoModes.ENTIRE_SCRIPT, "Reinit Links");

All it does is replace .indd with .pdf and "reinit" the links which, unlike "relink", doesn't require a valid file spec.

- Mark

brian_p_dts · Answer

Hmmm don't think this is possible. I might write a script that removes the old INDD graphic and adds the potential PDF path to the containing frame's label, then a separate script to place file by label.

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