/t5/illustrator-discussions/embedding-images-changes-image-formatting/td-p/15332860May 21, 2025
May 21, 2025
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I'm using v29.5.1 (64bit)
I'm resizing placed images to fit a template, and then embedding the images. This week (the week of 18 May 2025), when I select all of the images in the links panel (shift + LMB), and selected the 'embed image(s)' option from the drop-down menu, some of the images (between one and three images, so far) will be copied in the links panel, with the copy reverted to its original size and orientation, and the rest of the images may or may not embed at all. I can delete the copy without affecting the original.
Selecting each image individually to embed works without an issue, but it's sloooooooooooooow.
I've also noted that I lose image formatting if I have the text tool selected when I select an image and relink to a different image, but I don't lose image formatting if I use the selection or direct selection tool. (This is an issue since at least v26.)
Thanks for reaching out. To dig a bit deeper, could you let me know your operating system details and whether this happens with specific file types or with all images you're working with? If you’re able to share a short screen recording showing both behaviors, that would really help in reproducing the issue and passing it along to the team. If possible, please share a sample file as well so we can test it on our end.
Appreciate you flagging this, and I’ll be on the lookout for your update.
I'm almost always working with .tif images; I would have to see if this also happens with other kinds of raster images.
I haven't done screen recording before, so it'll take me a day or few to get to that. Unfortunately, I'm fairly busy at the moment. 😕 Hopefully by Tuesday after this holiday weekend I'll be able to get a screen recording for you.
FWIW, I'm not sure if it's directly related, but I've had files transmitted to me from a customer that's using Mac OS, and it seems like lots of formatting and images are getting lost in the translation as well. The image displays correctly in the thumbnail, but not when I actually open the file. And yes, I know that's a little cryptic
After a computer crash over the weekend, the problem... Disappeared. I haven't been able to reproduce any of the issues that I've been having. I still need to see if placed and embedded objects are stable between platforms now, but I dunno, man.
I'd been getting the issue consistently prior to that, and right now I can't reproduce it.
Thanks for the update. Funny how sometimes a reboot (or even a crash!) clears things up. Since you're not seeing the issue anymore, that's great news, but I totally understand wanting to be sure things stay stable, especially across platforms.
Once you get a chance to test if the placed and embedded images stay consistent between Mac and Windows, do let me know what you find. If anything odd pops up again, feel free to share a sample file or a quick screen recording (whenever you're able to), and I’ll be happy to dig deeper and loop in the team if needed.
Appreciate you keeping us in the loop and I’ll keep an eye out for your update.
I can record more if needed to show the exact process.
Embedding one image at a time doesn't cause an issue. Batch embedding does. The images are all .tif files. In this particular case, the actual image size is 74"W x 32"H.
Here's a longer video showing a start to finish. The imges that I'm dropping in are all 74 x 32, 100ppi, .tif files. They're RGB, the document that they're being dropped into is CMYK. I'm rotating them 90 degrees, and then resizing them to fit onto the document page. Rather than repeating the entire process for each image, I'm re-linking to a different image on each page.
When I embed the images, it's rotating and re-sizing some images. As you should be able to see in th video, it's consistently the 2nd to last in this batch; other groups of images will do it differently.
Prior to this, I used to be able to multi-select every image, an embed all of them at the same time.
This, BTW, was happening yestreday after a reboot.
Thanks for sharing the detailed screen recording. I tried replicating the same behavior on my end using a few sample TIFF files, but I could not. To identify the problem, could you try downloading a few sample files from the internet and then retrying your workflow to see if it behaves the same?
Also, try running Illustrator under a different administrator account (Windows / macOS) and share your observations.
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