PDF (adobe.com)

Links panel overview



All files placed in a document are listed in the Links panel. These include both local (on disk) files and assets that are managed on a server. However, files that are pasted from a website in Internet Explorer do not display in this panel.

Note: If you’re working with files from an Adobe Version Cue project, the Links panel displays additional file information.
Links panel

A.
Category columns

B.
One or more instances modified icon

C.
Modified icon

D.
Missing-link icon

E.
Embedded-link icon

F.
Show/Hide Link Information

When the same graphic appears several times in the document, the links are combined under a disclosure triangle in the Links panel. When a linked EPS graphic or InDesign document contains links, the links are also combined under a disclosure triangle.

A linked file can appear in the Links panel in any of the following ways:

Up to Date
An up-to-date file is blank in the Status column.

Modified
This icon means that the version of the file on disk is more recent than the version in your document. For example, this icon appears if you import a Photoshop graphic into InDesign, and then you or someone else edits and saves the original graphic in Photoshop.

A slightly different version of the Modified icon appears when a graphic is modified and one or more instances are updated while others are not.

Missing
The graphic is no longer in the location from which it was imported, although it may still exist somewhere. Missing links can happen if someone deletes the original file or moves it to a different folder or server after it’s been imported. You can’t know whether a missing file is up to date until its original is located. If you print or export a document when this icon is displayed, the file may not print or export at full resolution.

Embedded
Embedding the contents of a linked file suspends management operations for that link. If the selected link is currently in an “edit in place” operation, this option is not enabled. Unembedding the file restores management operations to the link.

If a linked object does not appear on a specific document page, the following codes indicate where the object appears: PB (pasteboard), MP (master page), OV (overset text), and HT (hidden text).

For a video on using the Links panel, see www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4027_id.

Use the Links panel

  • To display the Links panel, choose Window > Links. Each linked file and automatically embedded file is identified by name.
  • To select and view a linked graphic, select a link in the Links panel and then click the Go To Link button , click the page number of the link in the Page column, or choose Go To Link in the Links panel menu. InDesign centers the display around the selected graphic. To view a hidden object, you show the layer (or condition if it’s an anchored object).
  • To expand or collapse nested links, click the triangle icon to the left of the link. Nested links occur when the same graphic appears several times in the document or when the linked EPS graphic or InDesign document contains links.
  • To sort links in the panel, click the category title at the top of the Links panel to sort by that category. Click the same category again to reverse the order. For example, if you click the Page category, the links appear in their order from the first page to the last page. If you click Page again, the links are sorted from last page to first. Use Panel Options to add columns to the Links panel.

Work with Links panel columns

You can display additional categories, such as Creation Date and Layer, in the Links panel to display more information about the graphics. For each category, you can determine whether the information appears as a column in the Links panel and in the Link Info section at the bottom of the Links panel.

  1. Choose Panel Options from the Links panel menu.
  2. Select the check boxes under Show Column to add columns in the Links panel.

    Folder 0 is the folder that contains the linked file; Folder 1 is the folder that contains Folder 0, and so on.

  3. Select the check boxes under Show In Link Info to display the information in the Link Info section at the bottom of the Links panel.
  4. Click OK.

You can change the order of columns by selecting a column and dragging it to a different location. Drag the column boundaries to change the column width. Click a category title to sort the links by that category in ascending order. Click again to sort in descending order.

Change the Links panel rows and thumbnails

  1. Choose Panel Options from the Links panel menu.
  2. For Row Size, select Small Rows, Regular Rows, or Large Rows.
  3. For Thumbnails, determine whether thumbnail representations of the graphics appear in the Name column and in the Link Info section at the bottom of the Links panel.
  4. Click OK.

Display link information

The Link Info section of the Links panel lists information about the selected linked file.

To change the information displayed in the Link Info section of the Links panel, choose Panel Options from the Links panel menu, and select check boxes in the Show In Link Info column.
 Double-click a link, or select a link and click the Show/Hide Link Information icon, which is a triangle on the left side of the panel.

View metadata via the Links panel

If a linked or embedded file contains metadata, you can view the metadata using the Links panel. You cannot edit or replace metadata associated with a linked file.

 Select a file in the Links panel and choose Utilities > XMP File Info from the panel menu.