Links broken between 2 computers

[richard james vic]

Three people  are working on documents (a magazine). Files are on each individual computer, not networked.

File paths are identical, but when moving files to a differnt machine many links are broken.

The directory structure is:

.../Month/ < contains indd and indb files

../Month/article/ < contians text (word format) and images for each article in seperate folders.

The .../path and drive letter are identical between machines. (All Windows machines)

This file strucure has to be maintained (I understand "Package" does not do this).

It is not obvious why the links are broken.

Is there a simple way of relinking  *all* files at once, not going through each article linking files.

Richard

[richard james vic]

Short answer, no.

This is not a corporate environment, just a group of volunteers.

Richard

[tm907]

I'm having the same issue and don't want to package since we have a reoccurring InDesign Book with over 20 files in it, we just end up ignoring the links until the final compilation. At that time, one computer links any files missing. Odd that it only happens with one particular group of files from a folder called "Renderings" on our system.

From computer to computer, could it be an issue of computer compatibility or is it InDesign software not being able to recognize "Users/"name"/..." when the user 1 edits then hands it to user 2. Since we use Dropbox it could also be a Dropbox related issue. I'm not sure what the exact cause is at this time.

[rob day]

Since we use Dropbox it could also be a Dropbox related issue. I'm not sure what the exact cause is at this time.

You can collaborate using a sync’d workflow with either Adobe’s Creative Cloud or Dropbox, both work the same way. The Adobe sync folder is the Creative Cloud Files folder, which is installed by default in your computer’s user folder.

To maintain normal links, the linked assets have to be included in the synced job folder. There is no hand off or packaging because the links are automatically synced to the invited user’s computers on every save. If you are using Dropbox smart sync’ing should be turned off because InDesign links have to be saved (sync’d) on a local volume.