Why is my alt text disappearing when I update modified links?

Question

As part of our workflow, I receive a packaged InDesign file from another designer. We’ve recently incorporated alt text into all of the imagery to prepare for upcoming compliance requirements, so this is the first time I’ve run into this.

She’s added all the alt text on her end and packaged and sent over, but when I open the file and update modified links as per usual, all of the alt text is stripped from the images.

The only solution I’ve found has been to ignore the automatic update and update each link individually. This seems to keep the alt text in it’s place.

Is there an easier solution? We have over 150 images in this catalog and going to add hours to our workflow.

Mike Witherell · Accepted Answer

Yes, turn off Generative AI alt text in Preferences. When it is active, it ignores existing metadata alt descriptions and does its own thing. Be sure to reboot and restart InDesign after you turn those preferences off, and test again.

leo.r · Answer

Do you have the new Generative AI options enabled in Preferences by any chance?

There are several issues with these settings at this point (although I don’t know if it would strip alt text without inserting AI-generated one).

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