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InDesign taking forever to open and displaying "Finding linked files..." message

Explorer ,
Nov 06, 2019 Nov 06, 2019

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Here's my issue. I have an ID template file that is used company wide. The file is located on a server in St. Paul and we have users in Denver and Madison that access the file on a normal basis. Whenever our users try to open the file (from the St. Paul server) it gives this message "Finding linked file x of 18". There is only one linked file in the document so why would it be trying to find 18 linkes and why would it be taking so long to open up? I was reading something about absolute links but not sure if this is the issue. Thank you in advance for any help!

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , Jul 21, 2022 Jul 21, 2022

I should have looked up the Cross Reference panel. There you see them all listed:

01_hackenesch_fm.indd-CrossRefs-2.PNG

 

@julietw99713499 

So to speed up the process of opening your document, also open the referenced InDesign documents.

If you are working from a book file, open the documents from the InDesign book file.

( Or delete the text frame with cross references. )

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )

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New Here ,
Nov 24, 2020 Nov 24, 2020

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Did you ever get this issue resolved? I am having the same problem. 

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Explorer ,
Aug 18, 2021 Aug 18, 2021

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I am having the same problem too.  For every document I open, it says it's Finding file x of 63. There are not 63 images in any one of the documents I have opened in the past few weeks.  But I get this message for every file.

 

julietw99713499_0-1629304150989.png

 

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Community Expert ,
Nov 24, 2020 Nov 24, 2020

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Hi together,

you could disable the following options in your InDesign Preferences:

 

Preferences > File Handling > Links

[  ] Check Links Before Opening Document

[  ] Find Missing Links Before Opening Document

 

You could also disable live preflight.

 

But if you do this, make sure that you go to the Links panel and look for missing or out-of-date links every time you opened a document.

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

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Explorer ,
Mar 08, 2022 Mar 08, 2022

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No, images are not the issue.  As stated previously, this delay happens even in files with zero images.

 

Maybe it's looking for fonts, or something else?

 

 

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Explorer ,
Mar 08, 2022 Mar 08, 2022

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I think maybe it has something to do with this?

julietw99713499_0-1646760915190.png

 

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New Here ,
May 24, 2022 May 24, 2022

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I wish it was looking for 48 files... Mine is looking for 789 files... It also happens in InCopy when my editor opens the file. Takes almost 40 minutes to open my magazine to work on it.

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Explorer ,
Jul 11, 2022 Jul 11, 2022

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Same issue here. Do the files have tables in them? I only seem to get this message for files with tables. And the longer the table, the longer the waiting time and the higher the amount of files indesign is "finding". Also, is it consistent? Like do you get this message every time or only sometimes but not always?

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Community Expert ,
Jul 11, 2022 Jul 11, 2022

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Hi @Youn5CB2 ,

could you provide an InDesign document where you see the issue?

One page with a table would be enough.

 

Thanks,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )

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Explorer ,
Jul 19, 2022 Jul 19, 2022

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None of the files for which this is happening contain any tables. It doesn't have to do with images or tables or pages or documents. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the HTML engine.  The number of links listed in that progress bar matches the number of HTML engines.

 

I thought I might no longer see the message when I upgraded to a faster system with a more powerful CPU, but no such luck.  Same results.

 

I've attached one relatively small file with no tables but it's telling me it's opening 39 "linked files."

julietw99713499_0-1658270201263.png

 

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Explorer ,
Jul 19, 2022 Jul 19, 2022

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P.S. I just tried importing styles from another document--which is open.  And it said "Opening document" and did the whole file-counting thing again.  EVEN THOUGH THE FILE IS ALREADY OPEN.  What is going on?  I wouldn't care, except this causes delays, where I'm just sitting while it counts stuff.

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Explorer ,
Jul 20, 2022 Jul 20, 2022

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Hello, I had asked the same question in another post and found a solution to my problem. Are you starting the file from scratch or using a template or inheriting styles ? The solution that was suggested to me was to open the file, save it as idml, close it, open the idml and save a new file/template. This gets rid of a lot of background information that the file was keeping and opening is much faster. Tell me if that works for you. 

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Community Expert ,
Jul 20, 2022 Jul 20, 2022

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If the document to be opened has lots of cross-references to other files, InDesign checks all those cross-references. It opens all documents in turn several times, which slows it down to a lazy snail's pace.

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New Here ,
Jun 06, 2023 Jun 06, 2023

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you saved the mind of a full team of designers and writers 

we solved the troubles with your answare thaaaaaanks

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Community Expert ,
Jul 20, 2022 Jul 20, 2022

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Hi @julietw99713499 ,

as a workaround and if you only want to load the styles from this other document, you could save it to a new name, remove all pages ( but page 1 ) and also remove all things on the first spread. Save it again with Save As, also export it to IDML. Now load the style from the IDML file ( yes, that's possible! ) or the empty one-page document.

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )

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Explorer ,
Jul 20, 2022 Jul 20, 2022

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Peter, there are no cross-references. I never use them for exactly the reason you say.

 

Uwe, doing all of that work takes even more time than letting the links do its counting thing.  And what I wind up with is an empty document which I then have to repopulate from somewhere, somehow.  How does that get me faster to the solution that I want, which is just plain opening the document?

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Community Expert ,
Jul 21, 2022 Jul 21, 2022

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Hi @julietw99713499 ,

opened your InDesign document 01_hackenesch_fm.indd without that message with the progress bar.

 

It took only a couple of seconds, because InDesign noticed that one placed EPS graphic was missing and some fonts were missing as well. And I also had a warning about 7 Type-1 fonts that are used in the document. All of the Avenir font family. That were the missing ones.

 

But that's it. No speed issue so far.

I'm on InDesign 2022 version 17.3.0 on Windows 10.

 

Hm. I guess that this document is part of an InDesign book file.

Perhaps that's an issue? And the "Finding linked file…" is due to that?

When this message came up, did you open the document from the book file?

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )

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Community Expert ,
Jul 21, 2022 Jul 21, 2022

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Hi @julietw99713499 ,

me again on your InDesign document 01_hackenesch_fm.indd.

 

Looked with a script into your document and can detect 12 hyperlinks with names like:

"Cross-Reference 11", all with sources like [object CrossReferenceSource]. The value for the destination returns an error and produces a message that the external document cannot be found.

 

So, there are cross references in your document that point to other InDesign documents.

Found them. All 12 cross refs that point to other InDesign documents are on the pasteboard of the 4th spread:

 

01_hackenesch_fm.indd-CrossRefs.PNG

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )

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Community Expert ,
Jul 21, 2022 Jul 21, 2022

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I should have looked up the Cross Reference panel. There you see them all listed:

01_hackenesch_fm.indd-CrossRefs-2.PNG

 

@julietw99713499 

So to speed up the process of opening your document, also open the referenced InDesign documents.

If you are working from a book file, open the documents from the InDesign book file.

( Or delete the text frame with cross references. )

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )

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Explorer ,
Jul 21, 2022 Jul 21, 2022

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A-ha!  Those were left behind from some other book! 

I have deleted those and will look in all my other files for those things and delete them.  This is why I never use them, because they slow everything down immensely.

 

Thank you!

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Explorer ,
Jul 22, 2022 Jul 22, 2022

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Actually, I spoke too soon.  I just opened another file, it did the counting thing, and the Cross-Reference window is empty.

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Community Expert ,
Jul 25, 2022 Jul 25, 2022

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Hi @julietw99713499 ,

as with your other InDesign document I have no issues to open 01_drickamer_fm_final.indd with InDesign 17.3.0 on my Windows 10 machine. No counting of missing linked items at all. The only thing InDesign is asking me is about one missing graphic and some missing fonts.

 

Do you open that document from an InDesign book file?

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )

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Explorer ,
Jul 25, 2022 Jul 25, 2022

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If the file is part of a book, I open the book first, then the document.  If it is not part of a book, I open it as a document. I get the file-counting thing regardless.

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Community Expert ,
Jul 26, 2022 Jul 26, 2022

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Hi @julietw99713499 ,

this time I have no idea why you should get the file-counting.

Hm. The placed EPS file could not be the cause. No cross-references. No hyperlinks. No hyperlink destinations left, especially no hyperlink destinations to external InDesign pages.

 

There are two bookmarks that point to pages inside the document. I doubt this could be the cause.

 

Another thought:

You say that this document is not part of a book file.

But perhaps it was part of a book file in the past. At least the two included TOC styles point to this.

You could remove them and save the document to a new name. There is no active TOC in the document. Later you could add them by syncing TOC styles through an InDesign book file.

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )

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New Here ,
Jun 06, 2023 Jun 06, 2023

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LATEST

Soved: 
Save an .idml file and after resave it in .indd

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