RGB images will not relink to CMYK images with "Search for missing links in this folder" feature

[Alesha_B]

This didn't used to be an issue, but it seems that the new version of InDesign does not make it easy to relink images in a new folder if the image has changed from an RGB to a CMYK.

We have times when we have to link to RGB images first in a document because they're smaller and easier to use/share on Creative Cloud with multiple designers. When I go to make final art for printing, I need to relink to the folder that has the CMYK images. I brake the path to the RGB images, and relink to a CMYK image, and check the box that says "Search for missing links in this folder" to find the rest of them that are in the folder I'm currently relinking to. Now it will just relink the single image and not find the rest of them that are in this folder. 

This used to work, and InDesign would find all the images with the same name in the folder. Now, it seems that it knows the difference between the original image being RGB and the new image (even with the same name) being CMYK, so it is not exactly the same, and it won't auto-relink it. I've had to relink hundreds of images for a magazine in 3 different versions now, and I need to find out why this doesn't work the same way it did previously. 

I did a test, and when I point to the old RGB folder, it will relink everything within this folder, so it definitely knows that it's not the exact same image. 

Thank you! 

[Willi Adelberger]

It should work.

But in my opinion it makes no sense. Leave RGB images in RGB and convert upon PDF export and never before. That is the way to go since 1999.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Alesha_B

Can't you just overwrite your RGB images with CMYK - in the original folder?

Or if you can't - folder on the server / shared / etc. - do package and then overwrite. 

[Alesha_B]

That's a good idea. I think I'll do that. Thank you for the idea! 

[Willi Adelberger]

But tell us, why you need to convert the images to CMYK. Do it upon PDFD export from InDesign and not in Photoshop. Photoshop uses the same color engine as InDesign does. With the very same stting you will get the same result.

[Alesha_B]

I mentioned it in another comment, but most of my printers want the collected file with CMYK image. They are not printing from a PDF. I appreciate the thought, they just want everything. Thank you Willi! 

[Willi Adelberger]

Danger!

A printer should print from a given PDF and never from an open INDD file., specially when the printer requires converted cmyk images. This indicates that the printer has not much knowledge to handle InDesign properly.

Opening an INDD file on a different computer can cause a recomposing because of many reasons, like different dictinary settings or a different user dictionary. It is really a danger.

The printer has to have thevery same version of fonts, InDesign, OS and  other components and plugins to get the same output. 

And InDesign is built to use RGB images for CMYK output. If the printer does not understand these columns of the program, choose a diffeent one.

[Scott Falkner]

Are you sure the filernames and extensions are the same between RGB adn CMYK images?

[Alesha_B]

Yes, they are an exact copy, I run a script that makes the CMYK version from the RGB, so I know it's the same. My process used to work fine up until recently, so I'm not sure what changed and why it will relink every image if I use the RGB but not the CMYK. 

I see other people's comments about letting a PDF do the conversion, but I will package the final art folder and send it to the printer. I work with printers that want all the files, not a PDF. 

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

[...]

I see other people's comments about letting a PDF do the conversion, but I will package the final art folder and send it to the printer. I work with printers that want all the files, not a PDF. 

By Alesha_B

That's quite risky ... unless you ALWAYS get a proof to be signed before printing starts.

[Alesha_B]

We do. 

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Just to pile on — printers that insist on obsolete methods like working from live files (or "outlining all fonts") need to have a DEFCON-1 level of justification for the requirement.

Export to PDF, following printer standards and requirements, has been the standard and preferred method of all professional printers for well over a decade, if not two decades. It completely removes the layers of interpretation, composition and other errors that were common in the "send your PageMaker file to Joe at Print-O-Matic" days. And most printers are quite happy with the process, since it relieves them of layers and layers of work, pitfalls and job problems.

"Filtering" complex print jobs through the PDF process is an unvarnished good, in a vast number of ways. Printing from InDesign is... at best a tricky, fault-prone process. (The two siutations are not unrelated; perfecting ID output fell by the wayside years ago.)

Put it this way: it's about like sending a handwritten manuscript to a book publisher, instead of a typed one, or more accurately, a fully typeset layout.

This is not just a matter of opinion or different workflow or "we do it differently" — this is a huge red flag, with red lights and sirens that your printer may not be... all you think they are.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

I'm a little confused. ID has always "known" if a source file is modified, and required a manual or semi-automated (by folder) relinking, for what I think are good solid reasons. You can't modify placed images, or replace the files, even with the same names etc., without triggering a link update. I don't think this behavior has changed any time in... decades.

But I second the question about needing CMYK in the first place. That's all but obsolete practice if you're exporting to PDF for print. Swapping low-res comps for the reasons you note is one thing, but swapping CMYK for RGB is... unnecessary.