Unlink a text file

[mattlkelly]

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?

[Mark_Hebert]

mattkelly,

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

So something is very strange here...

[pete_down_under]

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]

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?

[pete_down_under]

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,

[Peter Spier]

OK,

It still seems odd to me that the file is missing, rather than modified, unless the Word file was moved from it's original location, but that's not really the issue at this point. You've just discovered the problem with working with linked text, when you update it removes any changes you make in ID and replaces the current work with the updated linked text. The only good way to work with a linked Word file is to be sure that you have a good set of styles in the Word doc, and their use is strictly enforced, and that all changes get made in Word, not ID.

Since I've never had to deal with this exact situation, what I'm going to suggest may not be the most efficient method, but I think it will work.

Start by making a backup copy of the doc in it's current state. I haven't tested this, and the potential for something to go seriously wrong is pretty large.

Select each story in the document that is linked to an external source and export to InDesign Tagged Text, compact or verbose should make no difference, then delete the story, but leave the frames. Go into your prefs and turn off link to text files, and then finally place the tagged text back into the existing frames. I'm pretty sure this will get rid of the link and your text should be preserved exactly as it is.

Peter

[Dek-Mhrd8f]

Hi

I am getting exactly the same problem with some text files placed by someone else as I never link text files.

I have tried turning it off and on again with no luck, I can embed graphics but the unlink option is also missing for me in menu customisation.

I am not sure if this is the answer but the files which cannot be unlinked are missing for our subversion directory but if I place a new text file with linking on the unlink option appears and works so it may be that if InDesign thinks the files are missing it cannot unlink?

[rudytheelder]

I put this comment in another thread, but I'll put it here, as it seems relevant.

I have a large Word file (1000 pages) that I'm editing as a single InDesign document.

I'm using Indesign CS6.  When I place the Word file into my ID doc, I am unable to prevent it from putting the Word in as a link.  Even if I turn off the "Create Links When Placing Text..." selection, this happens.

So okay, but I worked on the ID doc for a couple of days, and then I happeend to change the Word file, and I didn't want ID to do a "relink" as I didn't want to wipe out my in-ID edits. 

ID hung and froze when I told it not to relink.  I used Task Manager to turn off ID, then opened my ID Doc and tried to Unlink the Word Doc in the Links dialog, and again the program hung and froze.

I changed the name of the Word Doc so ID wouldn't keep wanting to use it.  Then I got a warning exclamation point on each page.  Plus a hang and freeze.

And then my document refuses to open at all.  I'm having to start over. This time I'll make a copy of my Word document and label it DONT_EDIT, and place that and be sure never to open that Word doc again...

The moral seems to be either (1) you can't embed a text file at all, and it can only be added as a link or (2) maybe my text file is too BIG to be embedded.  I do recall that Dreamweaver has a size limitation for pasting Word in, and there IS a workaround, see this link:

http://www.jdhodges.com/2009/09/dreamweaver-document-too-large-copy-past/

I wonder if there's a similar size-limitation workaround for ID?

[Peter Spier]

I believe in your other thread you mentioned you reset the preference to not link the word file. Did you do that with the file open? It's a document level preference setting.

[Jamil Jonna]

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]

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]

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.

[Peter Spier]

Have you tried trashing your preferences? See Replace Your Preferences

What version and patch level of ID are you using? Any non-Adobe plugins installed?

I can see that you still don't have the Unlink option availble, but I can assure you that wahtever is wrong is specific to your system configuration, not a bug in ID (at least not one that remains unpatched, if it ever was a bug).

[Jamil Jonna]

Trashed my prefences and caches and the only change I noticed is that "Unlink" changed to "Embed." I certainly have no explanation for why that changed.

Remember, this also happens on another computer that happens to be a PC, and that has just had a fresh installation. In addition, there are definitely others with the same problem. Here are the specs.

• OS X Mountain Lion (happened on previous two operating systems as well) & Windows XP SP3
• ID v8
• no plugins

One other potential peculiarity of my setup is that I use a template file for each issue of my magazine. And it has linked files that we replace with new links. But I don't see how that would make any difference.

Also, if it makes an difference—I can unlink some files, sometimes. I wonder if this happens when two different computers link the same file? Like I said, we transfer the file back and forth.

I do appreciate for your help, regardless.

[Peter Spier]

Seeing "embed" makes me think you've selected the wrong file type again.

I can't think of a reason why moving the file from one computer to another, or using a file that was linked when on another computer would make any difference. As far as ID is concerned the link is either up-to-date, modified, or missing, and that's based entirely on the path information and timestamp in the pointer that is the link. Are these files stored on a network, maybe? A bad time synch with the server might be an issue (and would cause all the links to show as modified even if they haven't been, as I would guess is the case with most of the images).

You mentioned if I perused the forum I'd find ohter refences to this problem, but my search has turned up only this thread. Do you have some other links?

[Peter Spier]

Two other things you might want to try...

Although it sounds more like a systemic problem of some sort than a specific fiel issue, try exporting the file to .idml: Remove minor corruption by exporting

And see Adobe Forums: InDesign crashes at startup for a list of additional files besides the regular prefs files that you can delete on your Mac to freshen things up.

[Peter Spier]

I've been thinking some more while I ate dinner, and while it doesn't address why the unlink option isn't working for you, the following procedure should accomplish the same result:

Make a backup copy of the file, just in case.

Make sure that linking is disabled for text files in the document currently.

For each story that you want to unlink, place your cursor int tohe story, select all, then export to InDesign Tagged Text (verbose or abbreviated is OK). Delete the text, but not the frames holding it (that's why you selected all). Place the Tagged Text file you just exported back into the threaded frames.

Repeat the process for each story....

[Jamil Jonna]

Peter: I can't thank you enough, not only for miraculously fixing my file but for showing me the trick of using Tagged Text. I can see that being extremely useful in the future.

I knew that somehow deleting the text frame would resolve the problem and I achieved that in a much more crude way (by deleting copying, deleting the whole tex frame and then pasting back in and reflowing text) . However, when I tried your method on my current file and template, it seemed to have fixed something else—perhaps a bad preference file or something? I'm not sure but, in any case, I can even unlink in other files now as well.

Again, thank you so much for taking the time to help me out with this problem

[Peter Spier]

Glad it worked out.