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ellenk20330004
ellenk20330004
Participating Frequently
October 25, 2019
Answered

Illustrator Links Show Hidden Layers in InDesign

  • October 25, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 7789 views

I am having a problem where artwork created in Illustrator and saved as a .ai file are showing hidden, locked layers when placed into InDesign.  The strange thing is that Indesign is recognizing some of the links with the hidden layer and keeping that layer hidden while not so with others. All of the links have been created from the same basic Illustrator file that I have done a "save as" over to create a new file. I just updated to the most recent versions this morning (Illustrator 23.1.1, Indesign 14.0.3). I have a workaround that I was able to come up with for this particular project I am working on, but I would like to know if there is a solution (an adjustment to preferences perhaps) I can use for the future.

 

I feel like I cannot possibly be the first person to have this problem, so if there is another post somewhere with the solution to this, please let me know—I just couldn't find anything. 

    Correct answer Charlie329572228uvx

    Thank you for the suggestions. In my case, I had to purge the file from the ID document, move it to a new directory, and remove extraneous artboards before I was able to get indesign to preserve the layer visibility in illustrator. It only happened for this one illustrator file out of 12 linked illustrator files in the document.

    2 replies

    C
    Charlie329572228uvx
    Inspiring
    October 13, 2025

    Hi,

     

    I am having the same issue. I am not sure why all of a sudden the layers that were hidden before are appearing. 

    Here is the dialogue doing a save-as of the illustrator file

    Here are the import settings

    I have all of these sublayers turned off

     

    But they are still appearing in Indesign.

    C
    Charlie329572228uvx
    Inspiring
    October 13, 2025

    I am trying with a brand new file and something is still not working

    Now all of these sublayers are NOT appearing!

     

    Willi Adelberger
    Community Expert
    Willi AdelbergerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 25, 2019

    Did you turn on the impor options when placing in InDesign and did you set up the layer section?

      ellenk20330004
      ellenk20330004Author
      Participating Frequently
      October 25, 2019

      That did the trick—I've never touched this panel, so I'm not sure how it got set to Keep Layer Visibility Overrides, but now I know. Thank you!

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