InDesign says images are missing... but they aren't?

[DigitalChickster]

Hi all! I'm running 17.4 on my Mac. I have a file that I created. When I go to save it, it warns me that image(s) are missing. But they aren't! I went to the Links window... and it shows everything is fine. I checked the master pages and looked for anything that was locked. Nothing. It saved it... but it worries me that it thinks something is missing. It's a small file... just one page with 5 links. So it shouldn't be hard to find. But it is! 

Any ideas? Thanks!

[Mike Witherell · Accepted solution]

Try exporting to IDML then open the IDML to save as to a new clean INDD. See if you still have the problem.

[DigitalChickster]

Good idea! I'll do that and will report back. 

[DigitalChickster]

OK, so that did the trick! Not exactly how I expected it to work, but it worked. I saved the file as an IDML file. Then I opened that file in InDesign. I still got a message that an image was missing. And there were still no red or yellow warnings in the Links panel... BUT one of my images was now showing up as a gray rectangle instead of a logo. So I just re-input that logo and it worked perfectly. Thanks! 

[Bill Silbert]

Just to be clear. When you say that you checked the links window are you referring to the actual Links Panel within InDesign? You're not just referring to the window you would see when you select a graphic and use the Place command? Any imported graphics or images need to be showing in the Links Panel found under the Window Menu. If there is a red circle with a question mark inside of it next to the image's name then that image is indeed missing. If there is a yellow triangle next to the image name then that image has been modified outside of InDesign and needs to be updated in the InDesign file. Also have your images been imported originally using the Place command (File>Place) rather than copying and pasting from either Photoshop or illustrator? Please be specific as to how the images were originally brought into the InDesign file.

[DigitalChickster]

Yes, I was referring to the links panel. There are no red circles or yellow triangles. I clicked on every image in the panel and it showed me where it was in the document. As I mentioned, there are only five! And yes, I imported all of them using File > Place.