Whats the best best to share a project that consist of lots of files linked into files?

[danezeq]

Hey there,

I have a project that has some Indesign files, that has photoshop linked files inside. and  those photoshop files has also Illustrator files linked in it.
That's the best way for me to work as files get updated all the time, and refreshing the linked files is easy.

All the aforementioned files are spraeded on different folders in my pc.
Now i want to share some of the projects with a graphic designer in remote place.
What is the most efficient way to send him all files while not being need to update all links manually?

Thanks in advance 🙂

Note: all the files are synced to cloud service. maybe it can help?

[Met1]

I'm pretty sure no "Package" is going to grab the linked files that are inside the linked files.

If you change the AI file, nothing in the PS file will change unless you open it and save, so you won't see any update to the link in ID.

[danezeq]

So, does anyone have an idea?

[Met1]

Work smarter from the offset.

It maybe a pain to have duplicate files on your hard drive as well as on your network, but it's easier and safer to work that way. No solution is going to magically update files placed inside other files that you are placing again in another doc unless you open and update (save) all those files in the placed chain too. Ideally, another work smarter not harder solution, is to only place in the main doc, not into other placed files - but sometimes you just have to do the work.

[Monika Gause]

All files in the same folder? Or a difficult folder structure in that cloud?

The same cloud? Or several Cloud services?

On top of that: Unfortunately Illustrator might have difficulties saving to some clouds (there are reports of that happening to people , not to everyone of course, but enough for making it difficult to figure out those issues).

[danezeq]

it's on one cloud service (pcloud) but the project scattered on different folders.

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @danezeq,

Thanks for reaching out and confirming that. Usually, File > Package locally on desktop and then zip the folder, upload it on the cloud to send remotely would work. But I am uncertain in your case as the files are scattered in different folders on the pcloud. However, the usual method I mentioned above is still the best option for you to send the package file with links.

I hope this helps!

Regards,

Anshul Saini

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

I could see this possibly solved with a custom script--however, it would need to work system-wide. 

Note: I'm not a scripter, so this is all speculation.

1. In InDesign, Edit Original for the PSD files.
2. If the PSD file has updated links, it can update them and Package them to a previously specified folder. (The script can ask about the folder.) Ideally, this would not create subfolders, but put all the graphics in one folder. [Another option here is to embed the linked graphics into the PSD file.]
3. The ID file can then package to the same folder, graphics can be replaced or not depending on what else is in the file.
4. Repeat for AI files with linked graphics if necessary,

I would also take a look at your filing system. Perhaps you can create a project-wide graphics folder to store the graphics needed. This could include all the necessary PSD and AI files. 

[Mike_Gondek]

This question really belongs on the InDesign forum, but am happy to answer.

If the photoshop files has linked Illustrator files as smart objects, then InDesign  >> File  >> Package will be fine, as the .ai is embedded into the smart object.

If you are linked to cloud images, then InDesigns package will collect that also.

[Scott Falkner]

This is one of those features that I am a little surprised hasn’t been added. It shouldn't be hard to either have InDesign read the info in the placed file to find other linked images within that file or for Adobe to add that file info as metadata that InDesign and other programs can read.

Until then I jsut handle packaging manually. I keep a list of images that are placed in other files. When I package the file I add those files to the Links folder.

[Met1]

I'm not so sure it's that straight forward. If you open an Illy doc that has a placed file that has changes, although the preview of the placed file in the main Illy doc "updates", if you do nothing else to the file AND the placed file doesn't change in size, there's no trigger to make the Illy doc realize that anything has changed - if you close the doc, Illy won't ask if you want to save it.