Illustrator prompts to update links when links have not changed

[jamierob98757643]

Hello - I feel like this hasn't been a problem in the past, but now when I open up an .ai file with a linked image, I get the prompt "Some files are missing or modified in the Links panel. Would you like to update them now?" every time I open the document.

-The linked file is not in the same folder as the .ai document.

-The linked file has not been updated (the modify date on the placed .psd file is not modified either)

-When I click 'yes' to update the link, nothing happens. This is expected because the link has not changed

-The path to the linked image is correct and valid when viewed in the toolbar and links panel.

Why is the prompt happening?

Illustrator CS6/Mac OSX

Thank you!

[geoffball]

Is the linked file in your CC library, or a cloud-based location like Dropbox or Google Drive?

When you open the AI file and choose not to update the link, then go to the links panel, choose the links panel options in the top-right. Alternate between the different "Show..." options to see which applies to your image.

Does this problem occur in all of your AI files containing linked images?

[jamierob98757643]

No, It's not in a cloud drive or any CC library. As far as I can tell it's just a standard folder on a normal filesystem.

[Monika Gause]

Is there some backup taking place on the folders? Is the system clock working OK? Are all the user privileges checked?

[jamierob98757643]

TimeMachine is running, but I get the same behavior when I turn it off. Is Illustrator checking some sort of internal timestamp to see if the file is updated, or is it just the modify date on the linked file itself? These files are all in a single folder within my home/user folder, so i think all privs should be fine. I've attached a photo of the file details.

[jamierob98757643]

System clock is correct and timestamps on files make sense as well.

[Mike_Gondek]

I also wanted to ask about your filename, and if you seen an asterisk after the .ai. I get the asterisk when changes are made in the file and  when a links date is different.

Occasionally i get an asterisk even if neither of those have changed, but might be auto fonts syncing to another version of a font, or after our server is rebooted, of that I am not sure.

[sr45511561]

I had this problem and it was increasingly annoying.

I had images on a server linked in the document. Decided to move them off the server and into the same folder on my hard drive, and it seems to be fixed.

[Mike_Gondek]

What mac OS Version are you running?  Has anything changed recently, plug in , os update. Who are you doing on free hard drive space.

Run Disk utility to see how clean the condition of you drive is to fix permission.  To fix your drive your have to reboot in with Command R down to run in recovery mode. Even if disk utility does not hep your problem today, is good practice to run every few months to avoid bigger problems.

[sr45511561]

First, I'm on a PC, Windows 10.

As I said, it seems to be fixed since I moved the images off the server and onto my hard drive.

[Mike_Gondek]

I was not replying to you, but to the original poster.

The original poster's images are not on a server as per their screenshots, not sure what you are expecting from your posts.

[jamierob98757643]

I'm on MacOS 10.11.6. I do have an illustrator plugin installed called MAPublisher. Hmm, i haven't tried things without the plugin installed, but I've had it installed for a really long time, and I think that I this problem popped up mid-use of the plugin, but that is a good thought. more research needed...

After saying 'yes' to update links (which were not updated), the file loads into .ai, but no asterisk is appended to the filename.

[Mike_Gondek]

With the asterisk not showing up sounds like the modified dates being seen  match up what Illustrator has inside the file.

I would highly recommend to not update your mac OS anymore, until you update CS6. if installing the last free patch does not help Adobe - Illustrator : For Macintosh  then you want to look at roll back to 10.7, or 10.6.8 which was a good stable Mac OS.

CS6 was last updated to work with 10.7 System requirements | Adobe Illustrator , so this could be your problem. Issues like this happen when you run software on an OS version that is was never optimized for.

[jamierob98757643]

Mike - That's another really good thought. It could be something that happened when I updated my OS. I should try a test case on an older version of osx. Unfortunately, IMHO, Illustrator CC is not optimized for use as a vector graphics program. Even with GPU acceleration disabled, it's far too laggy with the large documents that I work on. So, i'm stuck with CS6 until Adobe fixes the performance issues. Thank you for your great ideas on potential problems, though!