In InDesing and Illustrator, linked files are embedded at the document level. In Photoshop, the nesting system is much more complicated - we can create a smart object inside which there will be a linked file, inside this linked file there will be another smart object with linked files inside, and so on. That is, linked objects in Photoshop are rather not part of the document, but part of the layer.
Try this script. It checks for files that need to be updated at the first level (without going deep into the linked files and smart objects themselves):
/**
* Is there a way to alert when there's modified content like in InDesign?
* https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/is-there-a-way-to-alert-when-there-s-modified-content-like-in-indesign/td-p/13678234
*/
#target photoshop
var apl = new AM('application'),
doc = new AM('document'),
lr = new AM('layer');
if (apl.getProperty('numberOfDocuments')) {
if (doc.hasProperty('numberOfLayers')) {
var len = doc.getProperty('numberOfLayers');
linkedObjects = [];
for (var i = 1; i <= len; i++) {
if (lr.getProperty('layerSection', i, true).value == 'layerSectionEnd') continue;
if (lr.getProperty('layerKind', i, true) == 5) {
var smartObject = doc.descToObject(lr.getProperty('smartObject', i, true).value)
if (smartObject.linked) {
if (smartObject.linkChanged) {
var cur =
{
layerID: lr.getProperty('layerID', i, true),
link: !(smartObject.link instanceof File) ? smartObject.fileReference : File(smartObject.link)
}
var copyOfLayer = false;
for (var x = 0; x < linkedObjects.length; x++) {
if (decodeURI(cur.link).toUpperCase() == decodeURI(linkedObjects[x].link).toUpperCase()) {
copyOfLayer = true
break;
}
}
if (!copyOfLayer) linkedObjects.push(cur)
}
}
}
}
if (linkedObjects.length) showDialog(linkedObjects)
}
}
function showDialog(fileList) {
var w = new Window("dialog {text: 'List of modified links'}"),
l = w.add("listbox", [0, 0, 600, 400], undefined, { multiselect: true }),
gButtons = w.add("group"),
bnOk = gButtons.add("button {text:'Update all files'}", [0, 0, 150, -1], undefined, { name: "ok" }),
bnCancel = gButtons.add("button {text:'Cancel'}", undefined, undefined, { name: "cancel" });
l.graphics.font = "dialog:12";
bnOk.onClick = function () {
w.close();
var ids = [];
if (l.selection != null) {
for (var i = 0; i < l.items.length; i++)
if (l.items[i].selected) ids.push(fileList[i].layerID)
}
doc.updateLinks(ids)
}
l.onClick = function () {
bnOk.text = 'Update ' + (l.selection == null ? 'all' : 'seleted (' + l.selection.length + ')')
}
w.onShow = function () {
for (var i = 0; i < fileList.length; i++) l.add('item', fileList[i].link instanceof File ? fileList[i].link.fsName : fileList[i].link)
}
w.show()
}
function AM(target) {
var s2t = stringIDToTypeID,
t2s = typeIDToStringID;
target = target ? s2t(target) : null;
this.getProperty = function (property, id, idxMode) {
property = s2t(property);
(r = new ActionReference()).putProperty(s2t('property'), property);
id != undefined ? (idxMode ? r.putIndex(target, id) : r.putIdentifier(target, id)) :
r.putEnumerated(target, s2t('ordinal'), s2t('targetEnum'));
return getDescValue(executeActionGet(r), property)
}
this.hasProperty = function (property, id, idxMode) {
property = s2t(property);
(r = new ActionReference()).putProperty(s2t('property'), property);
id ? (idxMode ? r.putIndex(target, id) : r.putIdentifier(target, id))
: r.putEnumerated(target, s2t('ordinal'), s2t('targetEnum'));
try { return executeActionGet(r).hasKey(property) } catch (e) { return false }
}
this.descToObject = function (d, o) {
o = o ? o : {}
for (var i = 0; i < d.count; i++) {
var k = d.getKey(i)
o[t2s(k)] = getDescValue(d, k)
}
return o
}
this.selectLayerByIDList = function (IDList) {
var ref = new ActionReference()
for (var i = 0; i < IDList.length; i++) {
ref.putIdentifier(s2t("layer"), IDList[i])
}
var desc = new ActionDescriptor()
desc.putReference(s2t("target"), ref)
desc.putBoolean(s2t("makeVisible"), false)
executeAction(s2t("select"), desc, DialogModes.NO)
}
this.updateLinks = function (ids) {
if (ids.length) {
for (var i = 0; i < ids.length; i++) {
var r = new ActionReference();
r.putIdentifier(s2t('layer'), ids[i]);
(d = new ActionDescriptor()).putReference(s2t('null'), r);
executeAction(s2t('select'), d, DialogModes.NO);
executeAction(s2t("placedLayerUpdateModified"), d, DialogModes.NO);
}
} else {
executeAction(s2t("placedLayerUpdateAllModified"), new ActionDescriptor(), DialogModes.NO);
}
}
function getDescValue(d, p) {
switch (d.getType(p)) {
case DescValueType.OBJECTTYPE: return { type: t2s(d.getObjectType(p)), value: d.getObjectValue(p) };
case DescValueType.LISTTYPE: return d.getList(p);
case DescValueType.REFERENCETYPE: return d.getReference(p);
case DescValueType.BOOLEANTYPE: return d.getBoolean(p);
case DescValueType.STRINGTYPE: return d.getString(p);
case DescValueType.INTEGERTYPE: return d.getInteger(p);
case DescValueType.LARGEINTEGERTYPE: return d.getLargeInteger(p);
case DescValueType.DOUBLETYPE: return d.getDouble(p);
case DescValueType.ALIASTYPE: return d.getPath(p);
case DescValueType.CLASSTYPE: return d.getClass(p);
case DescValueType.UNITDOUBLE: return (d.getUnitDoubleValue(p));
case DescValueType.ENUMERATEDTYPE: return { type: t2s(d.getEnumerationType(p)), value: t2s(d.getEnumerationValue(p)) };
default: break;
};
}
}
* using the File -> Scripts -> Script event manager you can add this script to the "open document" event (and it will check the content every time any document is opened)
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