Recording what InDesign document an Ai file is used in

[Michael5ED9]

This was originally posted in the Illustrator forum but someone suggested trying here.

I produce vector infographics which appear in various InDesign projects for a client. For future reference, they've asked me if it's possible to record in which documents a given infographic is used. There might be 100 brochures but only 15 of them use a particular infographic. Now, I supose, I could jot this down whenever, for example, infographic A is imported into a brochure or leaflet but, of course, during a really busy session this might easily be overlooked. Therefore, I was wondering if there might be a way to automate said process.  Some kind of metadata perhaps or script?

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Only script could help you - what platform - PC or Mac? 

[Michael5ED9]

Hi, thanks for getting back. MacOS Monterey v 12.5

[Kasyan Servetsky]

Maybe something like this. You can sort it by link name to see in which documents it's used.

[Michael5ED9]

Thanks for this. Will take a look.

[rob day]

Hi @Michael5ED9 , You can try this script—open a document that contains the link you want to search for and direct select the link. The script will ask for a folder containing InDesign files to check—it returns a list of the files containing the selected link:

alert(checkLinks());

/**
* Opens the InDesign files in a selected folder and its subfolders
* and checks for the same link as the selected link
* expects a linked file to be direct selected and asks for a folder to check 
*/
function checkLinks(){
	//string to hold link names
	var b = "InDesign Files Containing The Selected Link:\r"
	var lnk,idList,doc,lnks,docx, odoc;
	try {
    	lnk = app.activeDocument.selection[0].itemLink.name
		odoc = app.activeDocument;
	}catch(e) {
    	alert("Please Direct Select a Graphic")
		return
	}  
	//Asks for a folder containing ID files to check
	var f = Folder.selectDialog("Select a folder with InDesign files to search");
	if (f != null) {
		idList = GetIDFiles(f);
	}

	//open the InDesign files found in the idlist
	for (var i = 0; i < idList.length; i++){
		//if the file path ends in indd open the file
		docx = idList[i].toString().split(".")
		if (docx[docx.length - 1] == "indd") {
			doc = app.open(idList[i])
    		lnks = doc.links;
    		var ln = doc.links.itemByName(lnk)
    		if (ln.isValid) {
        		b = b + doc.name + "\r"
    		} 
			if (doc != odoc) {
				doc.close();
			} 
		} 
	}; 
	return b
}

/**
* Checks a folder and subfolders for InDesign files 
* @ param the folder to check 
* @ return an array of InDesign file paths 
*/
function GetIDFiles(theFolder) {
	var files = [],
	fileList = theFolder.getFiles(),
	i, file;
	
	for (i = 0; i < fileList.length; i++) {
		file = fileList[i];
		if (file instanceof Folder) {
			files = files.concat(GetIDFiles(file));
		}
		else if (file instanceof File) {
			files.push(file);
		}
	}
	return files;
}

[Michael5ED9]

Thanks for the script Rob but – appreciate you going to all the trouble of providing one – on this occasion I think I'll live with it. I really didn't get why the client wanted the project-related data in the first place and have since managed to talk him out of it.

[rob day]

No problem, this has come up before—I had the code in my library

[Michael5ED9]

Still it's good that community professionals like yourself extend the helping hand to users, without the knowledge, like myself.

[Eugene Tyson · Accepted solution]

Adobe bridge can trace images - it's pretty manual setup at first 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZUKv9XUu1s&ab_channel=CreativePro

There was also a 3rd Party App a few years ago that showed a files relationship to where it was used before - for the life of me I cannot find it now.

[Michael5ED9]

Greatly appreciate the contribution Eugene.

[Michael5ED9]

Hi Eugene

Just tried the David Blatner Adobe Bridge video and looks like it might be the answer so you thank you so much for the link.