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Paige_G
Participant
November 14, 2019
Answered

Missing link pop-up on Illustrator 2020 on macOS Catalina v.10.15

  • November 14, 2019
  • 9 replies
  • 27856 views

I recently updated my Illustrator CC from 2019 to 2020. After doing so, no matter what file I'm working on in Ai. I get an error message saying "links are missing, do you want to relink them? Yes or No."

 

To my knowledge, there are no missing links and even in the links panel, there are no error symbols indicating that any are missing. However, when I click "Yes" to the error message nothing happens–

so I have no idea which links the program thinks are missing.

 

This has been a constant issue I've had since updating the program about a week ago and I'm wondering if anyone else has had similar issues and knows of a way to fix it.

I've tried to usual restarting computer and programs, and there are no updates as of yet for Illustrator CC.

 

 

{Renamed By MOD}

    Correct answer Photoshop49

    I know how to fix this. I just figured it out.

     

    Open your file in illustrator that is giving you the issue.  The program likely crashed and created a recovery file.  When it asks if you would like to relink the missing links, say no. You'll have to move rather quickly before it pops back up but if it pops back up, just click no again. Up top, go to Window > Links, this will open your links panel. You should see something in there that is linked, maybe an image or something you've placed in your project. You'll need to either find the original or replace it. You can do so my browsing your library, hard drive, cloud, etc. and find the missing link (image, shape, etc.). For me, it was an image that I copied and pasted in my project. Since it placed it that way, there was no actual file but rather a "link" of the image. I went and found that actual image file and replaced the link (in the links panel) with the actual file and that fixed it.

     

    I now understand why the message pops up. It wants you to repair the issue before it causes more issues in your project down the line. Hope this helps. 

    9 replies

    L
    LeoMcDonald
    Participant
    March 24, 2022

    I have exactly the same issue, to the point of annoyance. If 'it' could be disabled, please please let us know ( :

     

     

    T
    Tiffany2552005600fw
    Participant
    August 4, 2022

    I am keep getting this error message saying that "Some CC linked asset files cannot be found.  Click replace to relink assets using the Links panel."  When the file loads, it will have a missing logo symbol or some other object.  Nothing was saved through a link.  All images were embedded.  Seems like a bug to me because these files were working properly approximately a week ago.  Nothing was changed, they just open incomplete and give this new error message.  What do I do to fix it?  Choosing "Replace" does nothing.

    W
    warmPhase
    Participant
    February 3, 2022

    Illustrator began this behavior for me today. The project file is in a sync'd dropbox folder on the local drive. 

     

    I have read more than one other person who experienced the problem is working on a local but cloud-synched file location.  I can't help but think that there is some connection, since the synchronizing software must have to somehow "touch" all the files within the synch domain, checking for changes. 

     

    That is, Illustrator touches a linked file looking for changes.

      And  dropbox or onedrive, etc also touch the file periodically, looking for changes.

    There has to be some mechanism there that is ripe for unexpected behavior.

     

    Maybe, just maybe (?) the activity of the synchronizing software is triggering something within Illustrator (and maybe vice-versa)?

    I took the step of embedding linked images into the file, but not every user will want to do that, since it negates the entire purpose of linking.  One user above didn't prefer the "manual" fix because she wanted to be prompted as part of her preferred workflow.

     

    In short, it sounds like something that Adobe should definitely look into.

    G
    Graphicsbyte
    Participant
    January 24, 2022

    For me this issue only triggers when a PSD file is linked to an AI document. My work around is to save large PNG files. I hope this gets fixed in the next patch its quite annoying to deal with.

    OS Version: Monterey 12.1

    Computer: MacBook Pro 16 in with the M1 Max Chip

    Illustrator: 26.0.1

    Photoshop: 23.0.2

    A
    Angelica5F8B
    Participant
    December 22, 2021

    I am having the same issue. I go to to Windows>Links and all my image files are perfectly linked with no issues, so it doesn't make sense. It feels to me like it's a bug, to me it just started after the updates this year. I turn it off in preferences, like other user recommended, but it's obviously not ideal because there will be a time when the issue is real and I won't be able to detect it.

    Photoshop49
    Photoshop49
    Participant
    December 10, 2021

    Are you still having this issue? I know how to fix it. 

    A
    Alexander21762170oakr
    Participant
    November 15, 2021

    I just started using Illustrator and, after a couple days, I started having the same problem. I noticed it began when I was trying to edit something that I had already used the plug-in, Esko, on. And Illustrator did not like that at all. It crashed. I recovered what I was working on and that's when the problem started.


    Anyway, this seemed to fix it: Edit > Preferences > Esko...and then I unchecked "Update XMP on Document Save".

     

    Hope you can adapt this info to your problem and that it helps!

    F
    frank_coppola
    Known Participant
    January 17, 2020

    illustrator 24.0.1 updated with ma os catalina 10.15.2 still gets the pop up 

    annief42380069
    annief42380069
    Participant
    November 19, 2019

    I've been having this same issue since updating to 2020 as well. Every few minutes the message comes up saying "some files are missing or modified in the Links panel. Would you like to update them now?" The images are all just placed jpegs that have not been moved or modified in any way, and you can scroll through the Links panel and see that none of them have that yellow triangle warning next to them. I've closed Illustrator and restarted a few times since this has started happening and it never helps. 

     

    I'm on OS Mojave 10.14.6, and using Illustrator 2020. The files that are linked are saved in a folder on my desktop. I've never had these issues before when doing work exactly the same way. 

      Feelgood56
      Feelgood56
      Inspiring
      November 20, 2019

      I had a dig around in the preferences for Illustrator and found how to turn it off - go to 'Preferences' 'File handling and clipboard' and under 'files' set it to update links manually - no more annoying messages!

        Rishabh_Tiwari
        Rishabh_Tiwari
        Legend
        November 21, 2019

        Thanks for trying and sharing the solution! Feel free to reach out if you run into any other questions or issues in the future. Thanks!   

         

        Rishabh_Tiwari
        Rishabh_Tiwari
        Legend
        November 14, 2019

        Hi there,

         

        Sorry to hear about the trouble you are facing with Illustrator. I would request if you can share a few more details like: 

         

        1. Operating System and its exact version.
        2. Where are the files saved (Network Drive/ System Hard Drive/ Shared Folder on System /External Hard Drive)?

         

        Regards

        Rishabh

        Feelgood56
        Feelgood56
        Inspiring
        November 19, 2019

        I am having this issue too! If I forget and click on the 'update' button 50% of the time this will cause Illustrator to freeze. I am using a Intel Core i7 iMac running Mojave v10.14.6. All files are on my system hard drive.

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