Hey, Buddy. Can You Spare a Layer?
Back in February, Ted discussed the use of Object Layer Options with placed Illustrator files. This is a terrific feature that everyone should be aware of. In addition to Illustrator graphics, it also works with Photoshop files containing layers or layer comps.
So, why the new post you may ask? Because like many features of InDesign, it’s not without its limitations. The biggest problem, which was alluded to by one commenter, is that should you update the graphic and either add or remove layers, InDesign will get very confused and simply reset the graphic to the visibility as it was when saved. Not a big deal if you only placed the file once, but if you’ve placed it multiple times you’re going to need to fix every instance of that graphic.
An additional problem will rear its ugly head if you scaled the graphic since the scaling will be lost as well. Preventing this is actually quite simple but it does require a bit of advanced planning. If there’s even a minuscule chance that you’ll need to add a layer, then add a blank layer or two before placing the graphic and leave it set to non-visible.
Think of it as a spare tire for your graphic. Hopefully you won’t need it, but if you do, you’ll be happy it’s there.
And what if you no longer need a layer? Don’t delete it, just turn its visibility off.
Finally, for those of you still on earlier versions of InDesign. The original default for placing layered images was to reset the layer visibility when updating the graphic. Be sure to set it to Keep Layer Visibility Overrides.
Hopefully, by keeping these tips in mind you can save yourself some pain.
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One or two spare layers is a great tipp! Thanks
Cool tip, but it needs a catchy nickname. I like “The Layer and the Spare.”
So InDesign doesn’t pay attention to the layer names, but just to the number of layers in the placed document?!
No, it keeps track of both. See my post from a while back on INX Tricks.
https://creativepro.com/more-inx-tricks-changing-pdf-pages-and-layer-visibility.php
But I can see the problem Bob is describing. Import a layered PSD. Alter the object layer options. Edit original and add a layer. When you get back to ID, you see the error message.
Let’s hope Adobe makes InDesign CS5 smarter by giving us an option to “update link but only display layers that were visible before updating” or “update link and show the layer options dialog”, along with a “pages options dialog” to change which page of a placed PDF or which artboard of a placed Illustrator file gets used.
Then again, Illustrator could (IMO) use an option to auto-sort objects into layers per artboard too, as it’s a pain the way it’s set up now.
Has there been any developments on this? I am using Indesign CS5.5 and have just discovered that my multi-layered psd keeps reverting if I add a layer. I thought putting an identical graphic on different layers and simply changing the colour would save me time but every time I add a new layer I have to re-link where-ever graphic is placed in file. its a pain. and the linking option don’t seem to make any difference whichever I choose.
Is there a script to change the Layer Visibility of all instances of a placed PDF or AI file? For example I have placed 15 artboards from an AI file into InDesign. I then changed Layer visibility and added layers in the Illustrator file and I want InDesign to pick up those visible layers. Without having to select each instance and changing layer visibility to “Use PDF’s Layer Visibility,” can I globally make these changes for all instances of a placed file?