Comments on: Fixing Links to Missing Stories

By: Laura

Laura — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:40:12 +0000

My company is trying out InCopy, and we are having a similar problem where the editor cannot edit files because InCopy doesn’t see any InCopy stories, and the links are messed up. I have heard this might be because the InDesign file had too many images in it, and when we deleted the images, that did solve the problem, but that’s not really a good fix. Does anyone know if this is just a bug in InCopy, or if there is any way to fix it?

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:36:51 +0000

In CS4 it’s called “Unlink” or “Embed” (depends on what is selected). But if you’re talking about a linked InCopy story, then you can also just select the missing link story in the Assignments panel and choose Unlink Content or click the trashcan icon, which does the same thing. The text stays in the document, just the link is deleted.

By: Christa

Christa — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:48:29 +0000

In CS3, there was an option in the Links panel to “Break Link to Source”. But now I have CS4, and I cannot find this option anywhere! Unfortunately, someone deleted the file that was originally linked, so there is no possible way to Relink it. I need to keep the text in the document, but it continually shows an error because I can’t Relink and can’t Break Link. Now what do I do?

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:31:21 +0000

Dale, I don’t think the Links panel ever had a trash can. I think you’re thinking of the Assignment panel.

By: Dale

Dale — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:46:31 +0000

With CS4 version of Indesign/InCopy – I can not see a trash can in the’ links’ menu?
Do you know of any work arounds?

Dale

By: Kasyan

Kasyan — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 08:03:53 +0000

As an option you can use this script to update path names in links in InDesign, including InCopy stories: http://kasyan.ho.com.ua/relink.html.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:08:42 +0000

Anne_Marie,

Problem is fixed. It was a permissions issue on certain folders.

Thanks for your help in solving the problem!

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:02:13 +0000

Gah. So were you ever able to use IC/ID over the network, and this suddenly cropped up? Because if you’re just starting out, I want to assure that what you’re describing is not common. FWIW, I have heard (anecdotally) that Novell servers and OS X Leopard servers have issues with ID/IC (and maybe with Adobe files in general… dunno.)

While IT fixes things, you could go to Plan B and use email-based-assignments, that way everyone can work locally. Just put the packages on the server and people can download them from there, then copy the return InDesign packages to the server. (And then you copy the INDP files to your local computer that holds the layout.) In other words you’re the maestro running the show from your local Mac computer.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:38:53 +0000

We’re all on the same version.

IT is checking on permissions, but I’ve tried copying a file to the server and making changes to it, then tried unsuccessfully to save the changes. The only options were to “Save As” or “Save a Copy”.

Don’t know the cause of the missing links, as the editors pathway to the links is exactly where I made them, and there are no file name changes.

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:26:01 +0000

So you’re all on 5.04 (CS3 fully patched) is that right?

If you can’t save changes in the ID file from InDesign, and you’re positive you made changes to it, it sounds like it might be a server issue (and nothing to do with InCopy/ID itself). Perhaps your read/write privileges for the server are corrupt or broken. Can you make a new ID file on the server and save changes to it without a problem?

What was the cause of the missing links in the first place? (What did the Location field of Link Info say for your editors for the missing stories; and what happened to those?)