Recently, a designer on an InDesign listserv said she missed PageMaker’s “Save As/with Links for Printing” feature, which she had found useful to get all of her original image files into a “clean, new folder” along with her saved-as PageMaker file.
Though InDesign lacks that specific feature, you can easily achieve the same end result with one of my favorite commands: Copy Links To. It’s fast, easy, and helps keep things organized as you work. I use it all the time.
- Choose Save As to create a new version of your InDesign layout, and in the Save As dialog box, create that “clean new folder” to save it into. This is optional, of course – Copy Links To doesn’t require it – but we’re replicating the Pagemaker feature here.
- Your Saved As file is the current, active document. Open its Links palette and select all the entries: Click to select the top link, scroll to the bottom of the palette and shift-click the last entry.
- Choose the Copy Links To command in the Links palette menu. InDesign will copy the selected links; the original images, PDFs, etc. that you placed, and duplicate them to the folder you specify in the next step.
- An Open/Save dialog box opens, asking you to select a folder where you’d like the links copied to. To do that Pagemaker thing, navigate to the location of your current InDesign document, add a new subfolder (perhaps called “Links”), select it and click the Choose button.
When the dialog box closes it doesn’t look like anything has changed. The entries in the Links palette look exactly the same as before. But try double-clicking an entry to view its Link Info, specfically, the path to the original file.
As you can see, InDesign has automatically updated the links in the current document to their new location, just like the Update Links checkbox does in the File > Package command. So it acts like a “mini-Package” without the tedious routine of a forced preflight and instruction form.
But it’s not a complete replacement for Packaging, as you don’t have an option to copy the fonts, for one thing.
On the other hand, if you’re prone to forgetting that the Package command puts a copy of the current InDesign document into the Package folder, leaving the current layout open (into which you might be entering last-minute changes); you should consider using Copy Links To for an “almost ready for the printer” intermediate step.
This article was last modified on December 18, 2021
This article was first published on April 21, 2007
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Genious! In ID 2023 all you need to do is right click them links you want added and then the “Copy link(s) to” command and choose your links folder. Thanks for this oldie but goldie tip! :-)
I wonder if I can do this because I am working on a 2000 page manual and there are many many pdfs placed into it and I receive an error every time I package the file.
This was a great help. I used this when moving my Thesis from my MacBook to my new PC, to collect figures that were all over my computer and get them into one place, in a Dropbox subfolder. Packaging actually kept crashing the program, and I didn’t need the fonts etc. Thank you!
Thank you! Such an incredibly useful tip. I have never thought of right-clicking on the linked files when the menu of the panel does NOT show (!) this “copy links to” option. I can image Mac users will be even more upset about this.
I wish Adobe paid more attention to usability. When I imagine professionals using their software every day and having to write scripts for tasks they use daily, it makes me upset.
Probably a silly question: What about TypeKit fonts that I have synced to my desktop? I usually submitt PDFs for press, but every once in a while the printer wants the ID package (fonts obviously included). Thank you.
Hi Paul, not sure what you mean by “cloud-based” fonts. Fonts that you sync from a cloud-based service like Typekit work fine. You can still Package the file. It’s just that Typekit fonts won’t be included (the recipient will need to be a CC subscriber or have a standalone Typekit account).
This is a great workaround is you are using Cloud fonts with restricted licenses and want to gather images for say, CMYK conversion for a publication. InDesign will fail to ‘Package’ if fonts are cloud-based.
I’ve not heard of a package update script. But there is a script that can export all the fonts (except CJK and Typekit) used in the document to the folder you specify:
https://ajarproductions.com/blog/2013/04/16/copy-indesign-fonts-to-folder/
Does anybody know, if there’s a script or addon for ID CC 2017 with this “Package Update” Option? Updating picture Links works fine, but with fonts, it would be great too – or even an automation script for copying the links.
Best regards
Daniel
Alan G wrote back in 2007 that he’d like a feature that “updates” you links folder. In other words… you’ve already packaged everything, client requests 10 photos be swapped out. Wouldn’t it be nice if InDesign could simply update your links folder with the 10 new images, instead of repackaging everything?
Maybe there is a script (or new feature in CS5+) that I’m not aware of?
Would love to see this feature.
InDesign CS4, CS5 and now my CS6 don’t package all the links into the links folder when package is selected (and copy all links option IS checked off). Does anyone have a solution for packaging ALL of the documents links? Very frustrating.
Thanks for the information. This was very helpful to me as I am in the process of handing over a draft report over to another designer, and I wanted to make sure they have all the “stuff” they need.
Hi – Has anyone noticed that when you package in the latest in-design, (or use the copy links to option) only the links on master pages move into the new links folder, … can anyone help me? am i missing something.. it seems to be fine on documents with no master page links, but on ones that have just leaves all other links..
Trev, can InDesign import smp files? I’ve never heard of these (just googled them… Xionics?). The quick answer is no, you can’t swap out like that automatically. You might want to take a look at Teacup’s Image Swapper plug-in.
We work with low-res .smp files within Indesign file link to the Hi-res image for the final PDF output for print.
Sometime we are ask to collect the files to sended to a 3rd party. Is there a way Packaging in Indesign can collect the hI-RES image and not the low-res which was place in the Indesgin document.
( Is “Copy Links to?” A CS2 only command? )
Working between a central server and a desktop at my job, it’s often necessary to move around all the image files in a document, or put updated ones back onto the server.
A way to accomplish something similar to the above is the old “embed, unembed” trick: select all your links in the links palette; in the fly-out, select “Embed Links”? you’ll get a dialog asking “Are you sure you want to do this etc.”; click okay.
After the progress bar is done, reselect all your links and choose “Unembed?” from the fly-out; ID will prompt you, asking if you want to link back to the old files, or copy your links to a new location.
To copy to a new folder, select the somewhat cryptic “no” and you will be prompted for a “Save As?” location.
The really nice-to-have functionality that I’d welcome in Package is Update Package. Maybe it’s only my clients who request last-minute changes after a job is already packaged, but there have been a few times where this would have been very useful. Creating a fresh package is a bit of a pain, and updating the already-packaged file leaves an unsychronized original in the project folder.
Anne-Marie: You touched on an important gotcha — Package leaves the original in place. In CS2 it was easy to forget that the Open Recent list now contains two identical entries that refer to different .indd files (the one in the package and the original). CS3 now inserts the full path, which helps a lot, but an “Update Existing Package” option in the Package dialog would still be very useful.
Here’s how I use this feature: if I’m working on a series of related documents (say, issues of a newsletter), rather than work from a template each time (does anybody have the discipline to do that?), I open the previous issue, save it to a new folder, delete all the images that were specific to the previous issue, and then I use Copy Links To… to create a Links folder for the new issue that as a result starts out with all the repeating images needed for this issue.
One significant difference between Package and Copy Links To is that the former ignores linked images on the pasteboard while Copy Links To does not. Copy Links To gives you all the links in your document while Package gives you only those that are needed to print the document.
Dave
Hi Piers. Yes, the Package command puts copies of the images into a Links folder.
What I’m writing about is a way to gather all the images in one spot without having to Package. Sometimes you need to do that, in the middle of production for example (way before you’re ready to send the file off), and this way is faster than using the Package command.
Sorry I also meant to say – what have I missed? regards Piers
Hi there… isn’t that what “package” does in the file menu?… copy a new copy of the file plus all links AND fonts in to a new folder?