CreativePro Forum

Return to Member Forum

• Author
  Posts
• • June 14, 2021 at 3:27 pm #14340199
    Brad Grigor

    Member

    I’m attempting to use InDesign Datamerge to load about 300 images and captions into a book from a very deep folder structure and long file names. I’m running on the latest Windows 10 64-bit with Long Paths Enabled and the latest InDesign 2021. The Datamerge is working in general, but it fails to load any image where the file path is longer than 260 characters (which is quite a few of them). I have reviewed all the Preferences and I don’t see a setting that controls if InDesign actually supports long paths or not. Does it? My plan B is to write a script to rename and move all these files to a different, flat folder structure, but I hope I can count on InDesign 2021 to qualified for Windows Long Paths. Thoughts?

    Thanks and stay well everyone!

  • June 14, 2021 at 3:57 pm #14340200
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    wow, that’s interesting… I don’t think I’ve ever tried it with such long names. The Data Merge feature is really old, and it would not surprise me if it does not work with long names on Windows. (I’m currently running Mac, so I can’t test this for you.)

  • June 14, 2021 at 4:24 pm #14340201
    Brad Grigor

    Member

    Hi, David. Good to hear from you. You’re suggesting maybe the file handling in Data Merge is not sharing the same code as the file handling in the rest of InDesign. I will try placing one of those images using Ctrl-D and see if InDesign chokes on the path.

  • June 14, 2021 at 6:40 pm #14340202
    Brad Grigor

    Member

    The plot thickens David. Bottom line: I cannot manually place a file with a long path through the “Place” dialog box. The dialog box will display the folder and thumbnails, but when I click the image to place it, I get the following error:

    “The file could not be opened. You may not have permission or the file may be in use by another application.”

    If I navigate to the folder using Bridge and then attempt to place the image from Bridge into InDesign, I get the same error in InDesign. I’m beginning to think that Adobe has not “manifested” InDesign to support the Long Path feature in Windows.

    FWIW, Photoshop 2021 has no trouble opening the file.

  • June 15, 2021 at 2:57 am #14340203
    Dieter Stockert

    Member

    That’s interesting. I got the same error (“The file could not be opened. You may not have permission or the file may be in use by another application.”) yesterday, when I tried to open jpeg or tiff files from my Dropbox with Photoshop. I could open the files with the Preview app on my Mac. Then I closed Preview (without saving) and now Photoshop did load the file too.

  • June 15, 2021 at 7:40 am #14340243
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    On the Mac, it looks like the max file name is 255 characters (including file extension). And when I nest that file inside several folders, I can still place it. When I check the file path, it is 285 characters. Hm!

    You might consider posting this as a wish list feature (InDesign should allow long file path names on Windows) here:
    https://indesign.uservoice.com

  • June 15, 2021 at 10:05 am #14340254
    Brad Grigor

    Member

    Good morning folks. As I explore this issue further, it spreads! Here’s something to try:
    1. Locate the deep folder in Bridge.
    2. Right click the image file.
    3. Choose Place > In Photoshop
    4. ERROR: Script Alert: Error: Expected a reference to an existing File/Folder.

    So this issue affects other CC components besides InDesign.

    I will post this on the wish list.

    Cheers and stay well everyone! Someday soon perhaps you’ll be able to come visit us in beautiful British Columbia again.

  • June 16, 2021 at 1:38 pm #14340285
    Brad Grigor

    Member

    I have contacted Adobe support and they confirm that this is a known issue in InDesign (and evidently it also affects the Bridge “Place in” command). They are unable to commit if/when it will be fixed and confirmed the only way to formally report it is through https://indesign.uservoice.com, which I’ve done.

    Sadly, this path length limit in Windows was removed at least 5 years ago, and while Photoshop 2021 seems to have been updated, it seems InDesign and Bridge did not get that memo. I have found other folks suffering with the same problem, e.g. unable to create an InDesign Package because that blows the path length limit. The problem tends to affect folks who have structured folder structures and naming conventions that they want to stick to (or are required to use by clients). In other words, this will tend to affect enterprises and professionals, such as myself. I’m sure a lot of folks have never tripped over this problem.

  • June 16, 2021 at 1:50 pm #14340286
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Thank you for coming back here and letting us know of this limitation, Brad! That is very interesting.

    Of course, you could just put ALL your files on the desktop, with no structure at all, and that would fix it. ;-)

  • June 21, 2021 at 4:51 pm #14340387
    Brad Grigor

    Member

    ;-) indeed!

• Author
  Posts