I posted this on the PC forum by mistake so I apologise for doubling up on the message for those who have found the same message twice. As far as I know this is a Mac only problem!
Having recently freelanced in 3 design studios since the CS4 release, the Collect for Output problem within InDesign seems to be widespread. I've seen this happen on a range of machines from a G5's to laptops. All have been running the latest version of Leopard.
For some unknown reason any document created in older versions of Indesign that is opened in IndDesign CS4 does not collect all the linked files when it's packaged. All preflight checks are fine, the new live preflight feature shows green light, I even tried re linking all files to a new source folder containing all links and it still only randomly collects one third of the needed linked files with no obvious pattern emerging between the files omitted, i.e clipping paths, colour profiles, file types.
The worst thing is that it happens randomly on documents created fresh in InDesign CS4 as well so I'm having trouble trying to pinpoint where the problem stems from.
This is driving people crazy, and I can see that it's going to be a major pain for numerous design agencies. I hope Adobe sorts this out quick or it's back to CS3 for most of us who charge for our time. I guess I can always send Adobe the bill for the time spent manually collecting all files for a job!!
Please no obvious suggestions on preflight settings as it's happening to people with twenty plus experience in the business.
Hello Matt,
Several of our designers have run into this problem, and slashes are not the problem (at least in our case), we don't use them in filenames (we do use underscores, dashes and periods on occasion). So I hope Adobe isn't solely concentrating on slashes as a culprit, because what that means to me is a much longer wait for a fix (and frustrated, upset designers to deal with).
Well, thats why Im asking! Do you have a test file that does not package completely (that differs from slash in the link name scenario)? The smaller the file the better for posting. That would ideal! Thanks again ...
🙂 And I appreciate you asking. But the file it happened with today is over a gig, it's a catalog. When it happened to me, it was also a very large file( over 500 mbs) with huge tiffs. Alot of the stuff I work with is actual size in Indesign so we're talking over 8-10 feet long or high. They tend to be pretty huge. I don't think I have had the link thing happen in any of my smaller files. Maybe that says something. I would be happy to snail mail a DVD with the files somewhere, or upload to an FTP that can deal with large files.
The designer that ran into the problem today said it was very random, the first time he tried packaging it took some links, but not the ones from an older version. Then next try it only grabbed one tiff. The last time he tried it is grabbed most, but missed a half dozen, so he did it manually. He also said it did not pull all the fonts, although I have not run into that.
If you would like me to send a DVD please let me know where to.
I have run into the same problem. Files were originally creatd in CS3, then finalized and collected for output in CS4. Out of six files, two did NOT collect for output. After being alerted (by the printer!) of the missing links, I RE-collected for output in CS4, but again it did not work.
None of the links use a "slash" or other character in the file name, only a space or an underscore.
Workaround was to export as Interchange, open in CS3 and collect for output; all worked out fine. I hope there is a fix soon, this affects workflow in a crucial way! In the meantime, I might resort to collecting links in CS3 only...hardly a workable solution.
@ Miles: good point, my links panel said there were 2500 links, but in reality, there were only 1700. But even still, the CS4 packing process only collected 299.
@ everyone: In my document, I was reminded today that I have 6 other .indd files placed within my document. I haven't seen anyone else mention that, but wonder if it's something all our documents have in common.
Just got ID CS4 and tried packaging my files. It did not collect any of my links, of which I only had 3 in my document. None of the linked file names contain strange characters, such as slashes. It is a very simple document and yet it will not collect. I do not receive any error messages during packaging and it reports that all is fine.
I am going to try this with one of my larger files to see if I get the same error...
Add me to the people that have this problem:
I have 162 links according to my links-panel - only 93 are in my Links folder when making a package. My document opens on another machine with missing Links!
Now, when I make a package in CS3 it leaves me with no missing links, 114 in total. So it seems that the CS4 links panel counts copied images os one more, that's OK, but making a package in CS4 leaves out 11 images, this is a problem!
I had this same problem with packaging an ID4 file. Same file had worked fine in ID2. Of 443 links, package only found about 220. I found 11 of the links with improper characters in the file name or in a folder name within the file path. That might explain why some people are having package problems, but don't find file naming issues. It might be that the issue is within the folder structure of a file that should be linked. Check the complete path of your files to see if a folder has a problem character. Mine were "%", "?" and "/". Good luck!
Hi, just wanted to remind everyone. It takes only one Link name with a forward or backward slash to abort the packaging process. In other words, once a link is encountered with a / or a \ the rest of your links will not package. So, for the time being, rename those links with this problem. Then try packaging. Thanks!
>It takes only one Link name with a forward or backward slash to abort the packaging process
Right! I had 1763 (!) images in my bookfile (12 documents) and indeed just ONE file was called 'x/y.jpg'
I admit I missed this one file in a total of 1763, renaming this one file solved all packaging problems.
After encountering the problem, I had to down save a copy to do the packaging. Even though the project is off to the printer, I am still looking into this problem.
I used Spotlight to search the links folder in my Finder. I searched for /. It found 78 images, although only 6 of them actually had a / in the file name.
So I can agree with the diagnosis now....
but I am concerned about the other 72 images my search found that don't actually have / in the name... why did they show up in the results? Will whatever it is that made these files come up in the search also trip the InDesign packaging up? I'll do some testing, time permitting.
>but I am concerned about the other 72 images my search found that don't actually have / in the name... why did they show up in the results? Will whatever it is that made these files come up in the search also trip the InDesign packaging up? I'll do some testing, time permitting.
Way late to the party, but this is just general Spotlight stupidity. Unless you specifically set Spotlight to use Filename as the search criteria (you have to go into "Other..." and add it to your favorites from the long list of hidden options there), it will also search the contents of the file.
Im not sure why spotlight is finding slashes in your filenames when the actual names don't include them (hidden path characters?), but Links will not have a problem unless the there are actual slashes in the link name itself.
Not sure if you can help me but the problem I'm having is that when I export, the links work but a security box comes up asking for the user to allow access... I have no security on my pdf and can't seem to fix this... can anyone offer a suggestion??? I'm using CS4
I also notice pdf files placed into CS4 and export to pdf get some fonts corrupt
If you view these pdf in Acrobat 9 you dont see the problem but using Acrobat 8 you see this problem. And when the files go to printer it will be corrupt fonts
A workaround is to print ps file or export to pdfx4 files (workaround not solution)
Most designer exporting to pdf have any glue about this
Maybe post in wrong tread but you might have a qlue about this also Matt
To those writing that it's a slash, full colon or other you are waisting your time on a patch as it won't fix the situation. I've just collected for output a file to work on another Mac. Low and behold, several files didn't collect with the artwork.
The names of the files are:
Picture 1.png
Picture 2.png
Picture 3.png
Logo Option 1 0640.ai
There is nothing within the file names, as has been told to us, that would, should or could cause an issue with collecting all links. So I hope that this might finally get those responsible looking further into the cause to working on releasing a patch that fully addresses the problem.
That type of statement has been made before. What happens is that once the program hits a file with a slash it stops and even files with proper names are left out. Go back and check all of your links. You can use bridge to search for them.
Bob, there are no slashes in any of the linked files!
The only other linked files and which were collected are
20mm TBTB PMS639 Rev.ai
D2X7638.psd
VITPMS3.EPS
No other links exist or are missing. I feel like those that are having issues with files not collecting are banging their heads against a wall, while others continue to post about slashes etc. where the problem goes beyond that to something more. There is a real problem here and it needs to be listened to, not brushed off.
It's not being brushed off at all. It is indeed a very real problem but if you go back you'll see even those that reported what you are finally found a file with a slash in it.
If you're having this issue without the slashes then you're apparently the first.
Will do Bob. I emailed over a period with a tech bloke from Adobe directly over the issue of email hyperlinks not working in Flash based websites created from IDCS4. I'll do the same regarding this issue. I can't remember his name offhand but he was extremely helpful.
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