Participating Frequently

Question

Broken InDesign links between Mac and Windows Pc

Forum|Forum|11 months ago
March 11, 2025
4 replies
1117 views

Hello everyone, we're experiencing a recurring issue with broken links in our InDesign documents stored on our shared network drives. The problem typically arises when a file is updated on one platform and then opened on another. For example, if a Mac user updates a file and then a Windows user accesses it, the links break, and vice versa. Any suggestions on how to resolve this cross-platform linking issue?

Bug

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @adobe ccm2616891,

Thanks for sharing the details! I checked with the product team, and they confirmed that if the file server is synced locally (like Dropbox), the absolute file paths will be different on macOS and Windows, which could be causing the issue. However, if you’re using a network location, the paths should ideally remain the same.

A good workaround is to package your files before sharing, as that will keep all links intact. Another option is ensuring that the directory structure is identical on both Mac and Windows, so InDesign can resolve the links automatically. Let me know if that helps or if you need any further guidance!

Looking forward to your update.

^

Abhishek

BobLevine

Community Expert

How long are the file paths? Are there any illegal characters being used in file names? Accents?

A

adobe ccm2616891Author

Participating Frequently

Windows \J: \server\department\Folder

Mac : //Volumes/Department/Folder

Robert at ID-Tasker

Legend

@adobe ccm2616891

InDesign stores absolute paths, so you'll have to relink every time.

What are the paths seen by Windows and Mac?

A

adobe ccm2616891Author

Participating Frequently

I know the Windows path used drive letter J: \\server\department\Folder

While Mac users used //Volumes/Department/Folder

Robert at ID-Tasker

Legend

I know the Windows path used drive letter J: \\server\department\Folder

While Mac users used //Volumes/Department/Folder

By @adobe ccm2616891

Can you map directly to the "Folder"?

So your file structure will look like this:

\file.indd

\Document fonts (folder)

\Links (folder)

Kasyan Servetsky

Legend

Try this script.

HARSHIKA_VERMA

Community Manager

Hi @adobe ccm2616891,

Thank you for reaching out and reporting the issue. Would you mind confirming the version of InDesign on both machines? Have you started experiencing this issue after the latest update of InDesign?

Does that happen with all files or with a specific file?

We will try our best to investigate the problem.

Thanks,

Harshika

A

adobe ccm2616891Author

Participating Frequently

This issue only started recently, in January. With Version 20.1. to further troubleshoot the issue users were rolled back to the previous versions however, they still had the same issue.

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