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• • August 6, 2014 at 1:41 pm #69923
    Sandra Hovatter

    Member

    Hi Folks,

    I inherited an InDesign file in which Excel files were placed in such a way that the link was maintained. I didn’t realize that and have made significant changes to hundreds of Excel Files and when I packaged the file realized that it’s bringing along the old XLS files. NOooo. How do I unlink the Excel files within the InDesign file so that when I delete the XLSs InDesign no longer gives me an error message.

    What’s interesting (to me anyway) is that my file isn’t set to link text and spreadsheets and when I open the INDD file if the XLS files are in the links folder I get no error messages and it does not update the file. That means INDD is going out to check for the link but it’s not updating the INDD file to match the data in the link (which is a good thing – I don’t want it to). Why is it even looking for the link if it’s not updating anything? However, if I delete (or move) the XLS files, the data in the INDD file is still correct, but I have link errors for all the XLS files. That makes recognizing a REAL error difficult.

    I just want INDD to stop looking for the link so I can delete the XLS files.

    Any ideas? I’m using INDD CC.

    Thx,
    Sandy

  • August 6, 2014 at 2:05 pm #69924
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    You should be able to select all the links in the Links panel and then choose Unlink from the Links panel menu.

  • August 6, 2014 at 3:13 pm #69925
    Sandra Hovatter

    Member

    That’s what I thought!… But I don’t have an Unlink option in my Links Panel menu. I’ve gone to the panel options and don’t find “unlink” as a column that I could add to my panel. Any other thoughts?

  • August 6, 2014 at 3:21 pm #69926
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Do the Excel files show up in the Links panel, as though they were linked graphics?

  • August 7, 2014 at 6:02 am #69956
    Sandra Hovatter

    Member

    Hi David – thanks for responding so quickly. Yes, the files show up in the Links panel in the same way that my linked graphics show up.

  • August 7, 2014 at 7:32 am #69962
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    I believe Unlink should show up inside the links panel menu when (and only when) you select one or more of the XLS or XLSX files in the Links panel. It’s not there?

  • August 7, 2014 at 8:22 am #69965
    Sandra Hovatter

    Member

    I don’t have an unlink option when I have selected the XLS/XLSX file OR when I’ve selected an EPS file. I don’t have it from a right-click menu or from the panel menu.

  • August 7, 2014 at 9:22 am #69966
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Wow, that’s weird. Here’s how it looks for me.
    If you don’t see this, then I would suggest rebuilding your InDesign preferences or possibly exporting the file as IDML and then opening the IDML file to rebuild the doc.

    

  • August 7, 2014 at 10:18 am #69967
    Sandra Hovatter

    Member

    “Rebuilding my InDesign preferences” – I’m not sure what you mean by that.

    FYI, where you have highlighted “Unlink” I have “Embed Link” – does that give you a hint about what’s going on? All other options are the same except “Reveal in Finder” is “Reveal in Explorer” because I’m on a PC. I just tried this on another system in our office – also PC and both on INDD CC (64 bit) – and that machine is the same as mine.

    BTW, if I click on embed, it embeds the table and the option in the menu becomes “Unembed.” Again, same whether I have graphic or XLS/XLSX file selected. Also, This seems to be my menu option no matter what file I have open, indicating it’s a program issue, not a file issue. I never unlink files so I’ve never noticed it – been using CC for more than a year (and previous versions and PageMaker versions before that back to 2 or 3 I think).

    (We’re nearing the end of creating a 450 page catalog and don’t want to go to CC 2014 until this catalog goes to print.)

  • August 7, 2014 at 10:38 am #69969
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Well, that’s curious. “Embed Link” is what shows up when you have a graphic/picture selected, not an excel document. Hm. Are you sure these are spreadsheet files and not graphics?

    If so, I would try exporting as IDML (from the Save As or the Export menu) and then opening that IDML. That clears out corruption and weirdness.

  • August 8, 2014 at 9:08 am #69979
    Sandra Hovatter

    Member

    Hi David,

    I’m starting to think it’s something in my setup of INDD CC. With more investigation, I am seeing that “Embed Link” is the menu option I have no matter what type of file I have selected (EPS, TIF, XLS, AI) and no matter what file I have open. It’s like that on both of our PCs and our iMac.

    I exported to IDML and opened the IDML file. Same result.

    Maybe I have some option set somewhere that’s giving me the “embed” option instead of the “unlink” option.

    Thanks for all your troubleshooting.
    Sandy

  • October 6, 2014 at 3:15 pm #70902
    Erin Hatch

    Member

    Hi Sandra –

    Not sure if this is helpful, or if you still need help with this problem, but I have encountered something similar that might be of use:

    I too am on Indesign CC and wanted to unlink an excel file. It was copied from another document; I wanted it only to copy the formatting. I wanted to unlink the file, but didn’t have the ‘unlink’ option when right clicking. Turns out, I needed to relink the file, and then the unlink option appeared, and worked as desired.

    Maybe this will help you.

    Thanks!

    Erin

  • October 13, 2014 at 6:11 am #71017
    Sandra Hovatter

    Member

    Thanks, Erin – I haven’t solved the problem yet and that might be the secret to the different menues. I’ll give it a try. Problem is that I don’t want to relink because I know there have been changes to the INDD file. Ugh. Search continues… Have a great day. Sandy

  • July 11, 2018 at 12:04 pm #104894
    Yazmin Coveney

    Member

    Thank you so much for this post. Helped tremendously!!

  • January 9, 2019 at 7:00 pm #113456
    Abhaya Jayadbala

    Member

    I had the same problem. The linked file showed on the Link Panel but could do anything from there.

    I solved mine by going to Data Merge Panel. (It is in Windows>Utilities menu) You should see your data file there. So you should be able to Remove Data Source from the Panel.

    Cheers!

  • January 9, 2019 at 7:02 pm #113457
    Abhaya Jayadbala

    Member

    Sorry, what I meant was I couldn’t do anything from the link panel.

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