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Hi all! I'm running InDesign CC 2017 on my Mac (Sierra 10.12.2) and experiencing issues with packaging files. (It's probably noteworthy that I'm also connected to a server here at work, and that connection can sometimes be exceptionally slow.)
Here are the issues I'm experiencing, using one recent book layout as an example:
1) Not all links get packaged. It looks like InDesign skips out on about half of them, i.e. there was a document with 112 links and it packaged 65. I don't see a pattern in its selection process... but here's the really weird thing: if I try to manually add one of the links it missed inside the Links folder, I get a dialog box from Finder asking me if I want to replace it. In addition, if I right-click on a link I know was skipped from the packaged .indd file's Links panel, and ask it to reveal in Finder — I watch it suddenly appear in the Links folder in front of my eyes. The links are there, but not there. Mostly, not there: if I send the package to another person, they get a missing link error for the 57 missing/"ghost" links. Definitely not packaged, then.
2) InDesign now refuses to package because of links. The above happened last week. This week, the program has decided to simply refuse attempts at packaging because it "cannot copy linked files".
3) Packaged files become corrupted in that they can no longer produce PDFs. Once I packaged the InDesign file, I can no longer open the resulting .indd and export Interactive nor Print PDFs from it. I simply get the error that it failed. I have to go back to the working file I created the package from.
Needless to say, our department's workflow is slowing down significantly and we have concerns about our final files at all times. Can anyone help me assess what's going on? My initial thoughts are: a) Trash preferences? and b) I've read theories about shortening link filenames, and deleting special characters from them (read that even 1 or 2 offending filenames can cause issues). I've also read a theory that InDesign will behave strangely when link paths are too long? Can anyone corroborate these thoughts? It will take forever to save these links differently, and our source content will always be on a server and thus have a lengthy path — I'm hoping that going forward I won't have to manage version control across local drives and servers just to cater to this issue.
Thank you!
Agree with the long path name. I’ve saved the file to a shorter name folder, and it works.
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I have roughly the same configuration as you but I'm not using a slow server. Everything is on my local drive. I have never had that problem.
I would copy a file you have problem with (including all the links) and try from your local drive to see whether it's the server that is the problem.
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Agree with Steve's troubleshooting idea. Would add the following.
Do the links have accented characters in the file names? Do they have illegal characters in the file names? Are they on the pasteboard?
Yes, long path names have been known to cause issues especially on network shares.
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Also to add to this, are items placed via the CC Library at all or using another cloud based storage app?
If this is strictly server based, it sounds like you have some serious network connections to your storage drives.
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Agree with the long path name. I’ve saved the file to a shorter name folder, and it works.
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From what you are saying I think you are on the right track with shortening the file names, removing special characters etc.
I would agree with what has been said. Can you tell what file are the problem? Is it all of the linked files or just one or a few? Maybe a file has be moved or deleted or renamed since the indesign file was created. You should see an error at the bottom of the window before you try to package if there is a broken link.
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Kasyan Servetsky has a script that is good for renaming links in a file. I've written about it here. Be conscious of using it though as it will rename the links, and if the links are shared with other users/indesign files, then those links will be broken.
https://colecandoo.com/2017/07/23/quick-tip-rename-all-links-in-an-indesign-file/
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Free bump.
I'm experiencing the same problem. We've had our working files on a network server for well over 8 years without issue. I would say that in the last 2 years we have begun to experience similar problems where when packaging book documents, artwork linked files do not copy over. The count seems to be random. One package may transfer 90 of 400. Another test may transfer 237/400. Numbers are just for example.
I've tried the Link's Panel Copy Links To... Utility with similar results.
Troubleshooting is difficult because the packaged IND file is actually linking back to the original Artwork locations. Opening this IND file shows no errors, because as far as the file is concerned, the artwork is there. From the user's perspective, though, 93/400 links packaged correctly. The remaining links never moved over, the IND was not updated, and so link back to the original working file structure.
The only way I can test this is to manually rename my working file path to break any inherited links. Only then do I see just how broken my links have become. Even still, when attempting to correct this by the Copy To... Utility, or by repackaging, it's a craps shoot as to whether additional files will carry over.
VERY frustrating!
Like I said. We've only started seeing this in the last 2 years. Before that, we've never run into this short of the odd character in a file name, file names being too long, or even hard drive space capping (that was a fun thing to trace! lol).
For the responses that suggest placing files on your local system, do you not work in a networked environment? We average 3-4 designers working a single book at any given time. If the suggestions are to work locally, how do you manage work flow and risk of duplication if everyone only has a piece of the pie?
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Hi yn,
This seems to an issue of packaging InDesign files to a server on Mac machine. If yes, it has been fixed with Apple’s MacOS High Sierra 10.13.4 Beta (17E139).
You can try out the fix by updating your machine to the beta update from Apple.
Let us know if the issue is fixed for you after aforementioned High Sierra beta update.
Thanks,
Om
InDesign Team
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Ohmnath,
Thank you for your follow-up! Unfortunately, we are on a Windows network here. Windows workstations/Windows server.
We've only experienced this I'd say in the last two years. I can add that there have been various causes each time I've tried to troubleshoot the matter.
My frustration comes in two parts.
In other words, the packaged document correctly links to the successfully copied 93 files within the newly created Links folder. That same document is also still linking to the ORIGINAL WORKING FILES ARTWORK FOLDER as if nothing went wrong. We open the packaged InDesign book, receive no errors, and assume all is good. Burn to disc or transfer files to client!
to avoid this embarrassment with our clients, we now have to manually change our file path name to force a break in any links that did not correctly update. Then when we open the packaged IND document we do see errors. Again, InDesign is not providing this notification. We are going out of the way to force-break content just to learn if everything has worked as we assume it should. Once we see the errors, we then troubleshoot to determine if the underlying cause is one of the three previously listed. Honestly though, there have been several package builds where I can find no logical cause for not packaging links. In those cases, I am left to manually select all files that show as broken links from the original workings files to then copy to the packaged, but incomplete, Links folder.
---
With all that said (typed!), I am grateful for your reply. I hope that these details help. Ideally, I would truly love some notification that these files have not successfully packaged. Even more, I would hope to see some dialogue panel with a brief text field highlighting the file name/location that has tripped the failure. Perhaps it is as simple as one file, in a list of cued transfers, has an odd character. Perhaps that one error stops all remaining transfers. Pointing to that list item would truly help users pinpoint at least which file created the break. In our case, we usually have to comb through a few hundred filenames one way or another to discover this. Even then, sometimes it was not a file name issue. Those instances have been filed away to our X-Files directory, where we pretend they do not exist and pray clients never wish to revisit those publications.
😜
Thanks again, btw.
❤️
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I am experiencing the same issue and it is not a server issue. Packaged file on a Mac, all files stored local and tried to open on a different Mac. Running the latest versions of InDesign and macOS 12 and 13.
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Wanted to edit my comment to say that I might have a different issue, after all. No way to delete or edit, though.
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Did you figure out what was going on? Mine just isn't creating a links folder at all