Participating Frequently

Question

Unlink a text file

Forum|Forum|16 years ago
October 28, 2009
6 replies
29717 views

Though InDesign Help claims their is an "unlink" option in the drop down menu of the links panel, it seems at least that my version of InDesign 6.0.4 does not have that feature. I am aware of the option in preferences to not allow text files to be linked, but this is a furnished file that has missing links for text files, which we do not want to update.

Does anyone know how to activate this rumored unlink option in version 6?

This topic has been closed for replies.

Jamil Jonna

Participating Frequently

No one here has ever solved this issue. I have a perpetual problem of not being able to unlike my text files and it is highly annoying. They still exist but have not been updated because at some point we have to ditch the word files since they never import properly anyway and updating would simply throw our layout off.

So let me repeat the question: why is it not possible to unlink a file. Is Adobe ever going to fix this bug? It has ben around forever.

I suppose I should provide some evidence so see the attached…

Peter Spier

Community Expert

I've just run another test here, creating a test .doc file, making a new .indd doc and plcing my test.doc file as a link.

I tried first deleting the test .doc file, and I was able to unlink it just fine, then I restored the delted file, undid the unlink, modified the test file in word so ID would see it as modified as the links are showing in your screen shot, and that also unlkined just fine. Worked with linking both enabled and disabled in the prefs, too.

One thing I notice here is that you don't actually have a .doc file selected in your screen shot. You can only unlink text and spreadsheet files, so unless you select the correct file type the option will remain grayed out.

Jamil Jonna

Participating Frequently

I can assure you that it happens…and often. The only other thing I can think of that I've done differently is transfer this file between myself and another person: but they cannot unlink either.

As for your demonstration, I'm afraid pictures speak louder than words here. I also deleted a file, as you can see and no change. It should be obvious that it does not work and this same issue has existed for at least the last two previous versions. Peruse the forums yourself—you'll see that there are no solutions.

P

pete_down_under

Participant

I have been having the same problem. I placed a Word document into ID4 two years ago and have changed it considerably since. Every time I open the document (and also in the pre-flight check) it shows as a missing link. I started to Relink, but then it seemed to be replacing the new material with the old - not what I want.

It's only a little thing but having it show up all the time is a nuisance. Has anyone worked out a solution? There is no mention of "Unlink" anywhere, and I tried MattKelly's fix but "Update links" was greyed out.

ID 6.0.4, iMac 10.5.8

Peter Spier

Community Expert

It should show as modified, not missing, if ID sees the same file, so I suspect that's why it isn't giving you the new changes, if that's what you mean.

I'm a little confused though about what you do mean. Are you saying you've edited the file in Word or in ID? What is it that you want to happen?

P

pete_down_under

Participant

Hi Peter,

Sorry I didn't make things clearer. I had a text book written in Word,

but when it got to about 100 pages Word was struggling so I bought ID4

and placed the Word document into it. It was then heavily edited and

pages added in ID4. The new ID4 copy was then saved in a different

folder - not the one containing the Word original.

Now, whenever I open the ID4 document I get a message saying "This

document contains a link to a source that is missing." I tried to re-

link it to the Word original but it ID4 started to reformat the text,

so I cancelled that. I am assuming that ID4 want to make the updated

version the same as the Word original which is definitely not what I

want!

It is not a big issue, just annoying that the message box pops up

every time I open it, and I suppose there is a risk that I might

accidentally re-link the ID4 to the Word original. I have no need to

keep the ID4 version linked to Word anymore.

Regards,

M

mattlkellyAuthor

Participating Frequently

From all of your suggestions, I have attained a partial solution.

The InDesign file we received had a linked Word document that showed up as being modified. If we updated the link, all of the text in the document reflowed incorrectly. So the objective was to unlink this document and avoid the possibility of someone else working on the job would update it unknowing and cause a problem. So we wanted to unlink it prior to it being updated.

As an experiment, I went ahead and updated the link, and then the "Unlink" option did become available in the "Links" drop down menu.

Thus, the link needs to be up to date before it can be unlinked, at least on my copies of InDesign.

However, the "Unlink" still does not show up in the Menu Customization, whether or not the link text files option is selected in Preferences.

As they would say on Myth Busters, the ability to unlink, as far my settings go, is plausible.

Thanks to everyone.

M

Mark_Hebert

Participating Frequently

mattkelly,

I just now had no problem Unlinking a linked text file that had been 'Updated' or modified.

So something is very strange here...

M

Mark_Hebert

Participating Frequently

Well it is where you would not expect it.

Look under Preferences>File Handling - Links:

Turn this on and "Unlink" becomes available.

Hope this helps.

Peter Spier

Community Expert

Mark,

I really don't think that's the answer. Linking of wordprocessor and spreadsheets is not enabled on my system, and I still have the option to show or hide Unlink in the panel menu, and it is visible, though grayed out, in the menu. It's remotely possible, but not very likely, that you would have to have turned it on at some point to see the option in the menus.

M

Mark_Hebert

Participating Frequently

Peter,

Then this is strange...

That is what I have to do to enable text linking. I did not have that option in the Menus Customization dialog with it turned on but it is available in the Links Panel.

I am running ID CS4 6.0.4 on Win XP.

L

Lisa Forrester

Participant

Select the linked text file and go to the flyout menu and choose embed link. If you received the file and the link is missing then you will not be able to embed until you relink the missing link.

phyllisj9

Inspiring

I think the "Embed Link" option is just for graphics. If you have a linked text file, once you choose "Unlink" it embeds. The original text documents don't seem to be needed (you can unlink even if you've deleted the original text file).

Peter Spier

Community Expert

If you don't see it, perhaps you've got it turned off in your work space.

If it's enabled, repalce your preferences: Adobe InDesign CS4 * Setting preferences

M

mattlkellyAuthor

Participating Frequently

I think I must have the ToysR'Us version of CS4 Premium. Here is my Menu Customization:

Menu_Customization.zip

Peter Spier

Community Expert

I still get zilch.

Try resetting the workspace to "Advanvced." I don't think it will help, but it's quick.

Next is to try resetting your preferences (see the link in my first post). If that doesn't work, you may need to reinstall. A screen shot of the links panel would be helpful, menu open if possible.

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