Export Indesign images with their clipping paths

[rachellefacistolmata]

Hi! I am new to Indesign. I have a file that contains images with Photoshop clipping paths. I want to export all the clipped images in a folder. I have tried doing the "Copy Links To" and it successfully exported the original images. However, I do not want the original images but the clipped images instead. Is there a way for me to export all the clipped images as JPEG or TIFF and not the original linked image? In short, I want to export the images without their background. Or maybe export each image (with its corresponding clipping path) as a file, then I'll just convert them in Photoshop. I hope I'm making sense.

I hope there's a way to do this. I have about 800 images so a batch processing method would be highly appreciated.
Thank you!

[rachellefacistolmata]

I actually found a way to export the images the way I want them to be. I just need to click the image container (not the image), go to File>Export and then export it as JPEG. It exports the images the way I want them to be. I just have two concerns:
1. Is there a way for me to do this by batch? Like select all the image containers and export them one by one?
2. Is there a way to automatically name the saved files according to the original image name?

[Steve Werner]

It's possibly scriptable. If you don't get an answer here, ask in the InDesign Scripting forum:

InDesign Scripting

[Migintosh]

Here are a few things to consider. A Photoshop image can have many clipping paths, or no clipping path. Once placed into InDesign, you can select the image and go to Object>Clipping Path>Options and select from the number of clipping paths the image has. So, your Photoshop images probably already have clipping paths.

[vinny38]

Hi

Maybe something like that could help (based on an existing script):

var myDoc = app.activeDocument,
  apis = myDoc.allPageItems, items, fileName;
while (items = apis.pop()) {
  if (!(items instanceof Rectangle) && !(items instanceof Oval) && !(items instanceof Polygon) || !items.graphics[0].isValid) {
  continue;
  }
  fileName = File(items.graphics[0].itemLink.filePath).name;
  fileName = fileName.replace(/\.[a-z]{2,4}$/i, '.jpg');
  app.jpegExportPreferences.exportResolution = 2400;
  app.jpegExportPreferences.jpegQuality = JPEGOptionsQuality.MAXIMUM;
  var myFile = new File("C:/YourPath/YourFolder/" + fileName);
  items.exportFile(ExportFormat.JPG, myFile);
}

[rachellefacistolmata]

Hi Vinny,
Thank you for your suggestion. I have tried your modification and it works, almost. I have one more concern though. Not all of my linked images are in a rectangles, polygons or ovals. Some of them are in arbitrary shapes (like the clipping path followed the edges of the image). Can you suggest a way for me to catch those instances too?

Thanks!

[rachellefacistolmata · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your inputs. I have combined all the answers I got from all the different forums I asked help from and finally came up with a script that iterates only through the linked images and disregards whether the container is a rectangle, polygon, or whatever. I also added a counter s !o that the images won't get overwritten in case the names are the same.

    var myDoc = app.activeDocument,

    apis = myDoc.links.everyItem().getElements(), items, fileName;

    var i = 0;

    while ( items = apis.pop() )

    {

        items = items.parent.parent; 

        if ( !(items.hasOwnProperty ("graphics") )){ continue; }

        i++;

     try{

            fileName = File ( items.graphics[0].itemLink.filePath ).name;

            fileName =  i + "_" + fileName.replace( /\.[a-z]{2,4}$/i, '.jpg' );

     }catch(e){};

        app.jpegExportPreferences.exportResolution = 2400;

        app.jpegExportPreferences.jpegQuality = JPEGOptionsQuality.MAXIMUM;

        //give it a unique name

        var myFile = new File ("Mypath"+ fileName);

        items.exportFile(ExportFormat.JPG, myFile);

    }