Deleted image and getting Missing Link error message

[Andrew33035959gsww]

I deleted an image from my hard drive and am now getting an error message:  "This document contains link to a source that is missing. You can find or relink the missing link using the Links Panel."

I'm assuming that image I see in my ID document is a watered down version of the original and will not print in color very nicely. Do I need to find a new image to use?

Thank you.

[Derek Cross · Accepted solution]

Yes.

[jmlevy · Accepted solution]

The problem will not result an inaccurate color rendering: the image you see in the InDesign file is a low res preview of the actual image, so when the InDesign file will be printed, the low res image preview will be printed instead of the actual file. So yes, either you are able to retrieve the file you have deleted or you find another one. 

[Andrew33035959gsww]

Newbie answer. Here is a step by step answer to the problem I had. Thank you Derek and Jim for confirming the issue: 

One way to deal with the below:

The missing link error message may appear when you are opening a document in InDesign. The problem is that InDesign doesn't save your images when you save a file in InDesign: InDesign only saves the link to the image file. (First thing to do when you create an InDesign file is to make sure you save the image in a folder on your hard drive, and don't rename the file, move the folder, or delete the file.)

If you moved or deleted the image after you saved the ID document, on opening the file in InDesign, you will get the above error message. If you have the image somewhere, then do this.

First off click on the "ok" on the error message.

In ID Click Window, Links.

If you see red question mark you have a missing link.

This is how the image in your ID document will look like with the red question mark:

If you can find the image, put it in a folder.

Go back to ID, Window, Links, and double click on the red question mark for the image you want to relink to ID. Choose your image and click open. ID will automatically relink to the image. Don't worry about the options beside OPEN, leave them as seen below.

The image should be relinked. 

What if you have your image in Word but you cannot get the image out of Word?

Go to the Word document and open it up. If the image you want is in the Word file, resave the Word file as an .html or .htm file. Click "Save As" in Word and choose .html or .htm. This will separate all the images in your Word document in a separate folder. Save the file and go to the file. You will see a folder close to the file you just saved.

All your images will be in the .fld folder.

However, after this is done you may get an issue with Word. Word may open up in a "View" format called "Web Layout." You can find this option in Word, View. "Web Layout" view got stuck as a prefence when you saved your Word file as .html or .htm. It looks like the below.

To fix this, go to Word, View, and Choose "Print Layout."