How to Remove Broken Links from InDesign's Links Panel

[Paul_Miller]

I'm reusing an InDesign (2015) document that had many images linked. Those images are gone forever, but the missing links are still in the Links panel. I just want to remove those linked images from the Links panel.

The images or the linked images do not exist in the document structure. There must be a way to remove these useless orphaned linked images from the Links panel.

Thanks!

[Steve Werner]

Try saving the file as an IDML (File > Save As > InDesign CS4 or later). That generally gets rid of phantom links and fonts.

[Paul_Miller]

Nope, that didn't work.

[Guest]

Thanks Steve Werner, saving in IDML corrected the problem after years trying to get rid of it:O)))))))))))

[Friendly_CrystalB82D]

Saving in IDML solved the issue (due to a sudden crash of the file) for me too, after month wasted to get a way out!

Thanks a lot!

[mamafour]

Saving as IDML fixed for me too, thanks so much!

[Alex5D34]

Worked for me too as far as I can see.

[atjgraphics]

I think the best way is to actually delete those individual unlinked images in the Document itself and then automatically the missing links will get removed from your links panel.

[Paul_Miller]

I deleted all the pages where these graphics once lived, so they are no longer in the document. All I can do is find and relink. Not sure why Adobe doesn't have some feature to just remove the link.

[Laubender]

Hi Paul,

can you upload a sample document containing the "phantom" links to a Dropbox account and post the link for downloading?
Could be an empty document saved with "Save As…".

I'd like to see into it.
Perhaps I can write a little ExtendScript (JavaScript) to get rid of the "phantoms".
There is no straight way, because a Link Object has no remove() method with ExtendScript.

Regards,

Uwe

[rob day · Accepted solution]

Unless there is something wrong with the document you should be able to delete the parent of all the missing links via a script. The parent, which could be hidden somehow, would exist whether the link is missing or not. So this AppleScript works for me—deleting the parent graphic removes the link reference in the Links panel:

tell application "Adobe InDesign CC 2014"

    delete (parent of every link of active document whose status is link missing)

end tell

[Paul_Miller]

Thanks Rob! Worked like a charm.

[Paul_Miller]

Hey Rob - I ran this script on my Mac and it ran perfectly. Do you the Windows version of this script?

It seems simple enough, but it's Windows.

Thanks!

[Laubender]

Hi Paul,

maybe I misunderstood you. I was under the impression that the "phantom" links did not have any connection to items on a page.

The ExtendScript version of Rob's AppleScript would be something like the snippet below.

The descriptional text for missing links in status is:

"The linked file has been moved, renamed, or deleted."

If that will fit your situation, then run the snippet:

var doc = app.documents[0];
var links = doc.links.everyItem().getElements();
var linksLength = links.length;

for(var n=linksLength-1;n>=0;n--)
{

     if(links.status == LinkStatus.LINK_MISSING)
     {
          links.parent.remove(); // That would remove a placed image, but leaves its container alone.
          // OR IF THAT WOULD FAIL REMOVE THAT LINE AND USE THE FOLLOWING ONE (just remove the two // from the beginning of the line):
          // links.parent.parent.remove(); // That would remove the container of the placed image plus the placed image
     }

}

This snippet is not tested.

Uwe

[Paul_Miller]

The links were associated to images on pages that were deleted. When the pages were deleted, the links remained in the links panel.

This may have been a result of upgrading an older existing document to a newer version of InDesign (2015).

I did a quick test, creating a multi-page document and placed a few images on pages.I then saved and closed the document.

I then opened the document, deleted the pages containing the images, saved and closed.

Reopened the document and InDesign didn't complain about missing images. So when I deleted the pages, it must have remove the links. The links panel was empty.

So again, I think my issue was directly related to upgrading an older InDesign document with a new version of InDesign (2015). Unfortunately I don't know what version the older document was created in.

~Paul

[Laubender]

Thank you for that description.
A strange beast of document, I think.
That's why I liked to have a look at it.

Uwe

[Peter Spier]

Paul_Miller wrote:

So again, I think my issue was directly related to upgrading an older InDesign document with a new version of InDesign (2015). Unfortunately I don't know what version the older document was created in.

That sort of weirdness happens a lot, and the bigger the version gap the more likely you are to have problems, and many of them don't show up right away. Much safer, in my opinion, to do conversions through either IDML or .inx (if the file is old enough) when you still have the creating app available, else the next best thing is to always export to IDML and work from that after the conversion.

[Phil Fountain]

Worthless to me, I delete all graphics, create new ones with different names and the links show up again. I never plan on using links again. I have no idea where the script is and how do I remove links that are linked. I do not want any of them.

[Laubender]

Hi Phil,

what kind of graphics did you place?

Perhaps InDesign pages?

Rob posted the code for an AppleScript that can be executed with InDesign on Mac OS X only.

My version of that code is in a different language, ExtendScript, that can be executed both with InDesign on Windows and Mac OS X.

See my code in reply 10, also read my comments in the code. Also see my reply 23 to understand how to save and run my ExtendScript code.

Regards,
Uwe

[Phil Fountain]

Screen shot from SnagIt.

Sent from my iPad

[Laubender]

Hi Phil,

I assume you answered by mail.

Unfortunately the forum system cannot transport attached screenshots this way.

You have to use the forum editor to insert images.

Regards,
Uwe

[Phil Fountain]

Ok, I’m busy right now and building a totally new file with links. I’ll get back when I have time.

You know it would be really nice if developers and book writers would create real help. Documents. Books and online always tell stories about the product which is truly not a help system. I’n been in a lot of software since 1985 and to have a book or online system that works from a really good index. The user would have specific items and be able to find it in the index go to the page and read information specifically about how to find it, how it functions, and how to use it. That’s it, don’t carry on another discussion of unrelated information. All these years books really do not do it.

I a retired corporate pilot and read many aircraft manuals. This concept might be extreme but they have good fundamentals. I’m at the end of the development of a cloud-based Safety Management System and creating a help system that explains the process. I big on visual communications which is why the screen shots

Thanks for your help and have a great holiday.

Phil Fountain

Sent from my iPad

[rob day]

You know it would be really nice if developers and book writers would create real help.

Google a topic and look for Adobe helpx in the results. This is the helpx page for “InDesign links”

Manage linked or embedded graphics in Adobe InDesign

[Frans_van_der_Geest]

‌Maybe present on a older unused Master Page somewhere? Or on the Pasteboard somewhere?

[BradRW]

Don't forget to check (or delete) Master pages. Sometimes, these links exist because of some content on the Master pages that you won't see on pages if the Master's aren't applied somewhere within the document. When you delete unused Master Pages that contain these "linked" graphics, the unwanted link list will update also.

Ask me how I know this...

It's easy to forget.