Importing and Modifying Graphics

This chapter is from the book

Adobe InDesign CC Classroom in a Book (2019 Release)

Learn More Buy

This chapter is from the book

This chapter is from the book 

Adobe InDesign CC Classroom in a Book (2019 Release)

Learn More Buy

Managing links to imported files

When you opened the lesson file, you saw an alert message about problems with the linked files. You’ll resolve those issues using the Links panel, which provides complete information about the status of all linked text and graphic files in a document.

You can use the Links panel to manage placed graphics and text files in many other ways. For example, you can update graphics and text files that have been modified since they were placed, and you can replace graphic and text files with different files.

Identifying imported images

To identify some of the graphics that have already been imported into the document, you’ll use two different techniques involving the Links panel. Later in this lesson, you’ll also use the Links panel to edit and update imported graphics.

1. Center page 4 in the document window by choosing it from the Page Number box at the lower-left corner of the document window. Chose View > Fit Page In Window.

2. If the Links panel is not visible, choose Window > Links.

3. Using the Selection tool (), select the Songs of the Garden logo type on page 4. (Click outside the content grabber in the center of the frame so that you select the frame and not the graphic.) Notice that the graphic’s filename, Title.ai, becomes selected in the Links panel when you select the graphic in the layout.

   

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   A. Filename column
   B. Status column
   C. Page column
   D. Show/Hide Link Information button
   E. Relink From CC Libraries button
   F. Relink button
   G. Go To Link button
   H. Edit Original button
   I. Select Next Link In The List button
   J. Select Previous Link In The List button
   K. Update Link button

   Now you’ll use the Links panel to locate another graphic in the layout.

   TIP

   You can click the page number to the right of a filename in the Links panel to jump to that link and center it in the document window.

4. In the Links panel, select milky-way-background.tif, and then click the Go To Link button (). The graphic becomes selected and centered on the screen. This is a quick way to find a graphic in a document when you know its filename.

   These techniques for identifying and locating linked graphics are useful throughout this lesson and whenever you work with a large number of imported files.

Viewing information about linked files

The Links panel makes it easy to work with linked graphics and text files and to display additional information about linked files.

1. Make sure that the graphic named milky-way-background.tif is selected in the Links panel. If you cannot see the names of all the linked files without scrolling, drag the horizontal divider bar in the Links panel downward to enlarge the top half of the panel so that all the links are visible. The Link Info section at the bottom half of the panel displays information about the selected link.

2. In the Links panel, click the Select Next Link In The List triangle () to view information about the following file in the Links panel list, RR-logo.ai. You can quickly examine all the links in the list this way. Currently, every link displays an alert icon () in the Status column. This icon indicates a linking problem, which you’ll address later. After you’ve examined the link information for various images, choose Edit > Deselect All, and then click the Show/Hide Link Information button () above Link Info to hide the Link Info section.

   By default, files are sorted in the Links panel by page number, with files used multiple times in a document listed at the top. You can sort the file list in different ways by clicking on the column headings. Next, we’ll add more column headings to make more information available at a glance.

3. Another and faster way to view link information is to customize the information displayed in the Links panel columns. Click the flyout menu in the Links panel and choose Panel Options. Click Color Space, Actual PPI, Effective PPI, and Transparency, under Show Column. Click OK. (The important information in your workflow may vary from this example.)

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   Effective resolution combines the actual resolution of the image with the amount it’s been enlarged or reduced in size within InDesign. The standard minimum resolution for high-quality printing is 300 for the effective resolution. Therefore, caution must be used when enlarging images so that the effective resolution does not fall below 300.

4. Pull out the panel to the left to see the new columns. The Links panel now shows this information in additional columns. Drag the first column divider to the right to make the first column wide enough to see the filenames. This customized view is a fast way to see important information about imported graphics, such as whether something has been scaled up so much that it will look bad (jagged edges, blurry, or pixelated) when printed.

   

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Showing files in Explorer (Windows) or Finder (macOS)

Although the Links panel gives you information about the attributes and location of a specific imported graphic file, it does not let you make changes to the file or change the name of the file. You can access the original file of an imported graphic file by using the Reveal In Explorer (Windows) or Reveal In Finder (macOS) option.

1. Select milky-way-background.tif. From the Links panel flyout menu, choose Reveal In Explorer (Windows) or Reveal In Finder (macOS). The folder where the linked file is currently stored on your computer opens, and the file is selected. This feature is useful for locating files on your hard drive.

2. Close the window and return to InDesign.