Cleaning up InDesign ghost image links (V 16.4.2)

I read through a number of posts about links to missing images. I created a little mess myself by renumbering and updating a collection of images for an InDesign article-- outside in the Finder. 

The solution for me was centered around the Links panel. 

I knew where my properly numbered photo files were stored. 

Out of 20 finalized and ordered images, I could see 8 red alerts listing older links for images that had been removed, re-ordered or renamed in the Finder. I had a vague certainty these would update inside InDesign's Links panel, probably because this is year 2022- things like links can be policed and updated, right? Wrong.

I kept looking through the various solitions to find how to delete the annoying ghosts in the panel, and then realized I didn't need the various interesting strategies such as InCopy editing, AppleScripts, Terninal chants, shamistic rituals, et al. 

One by one, I selected each ghost image using RELINK, which gave me the Open dialog.  I routed it to display the final stack of photos which were correctly ordered. Because the Links panel carries a thumbnail of each file, and it's easy to iconize files in the Finder, I found I could simply choose the correct file and the link would be established, overwriting the original error. I went tthrough 8 red-alert links, correcting each in this manner. One by one, the annoying red dotted files fell away. 

The result was a clean Links list, ready for packaging. One lesson I took from this- stay in InDesign to order and link image files or it may become confused and surly.

It would be nice to have an expected trash can available in the Links panel, similar to where it appears in the Hyperlinks panel. Trashing an old image link becomes easy- and if it's a mistake, why, then you can Relink it! Or maybe even UNDO it!

Best as always,
Loren