Created a book in Indesign 9 yrs ago...Missing graphics in new version

[wendyr57906917]

Created a cookbook in ID nine years ago when I open now missing tons of graphics. Is there a way to recover without redoing so much?

[BobLevine]

Not without having all of the assets.

[wendyr57906917]

Crazy thing is thought they were all there and shows where they go but missing. I have only done 2 projects in indesign like this so I am trying to see best route to get book ready for print again

[Scott Citron]

Had you embedded the graphics or packaged the project nine years ago you'd be all set. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do now short of replacing all graphics with new graphics.

[BobLevine]

You can’t possibly be using the same computer, can you? How did you package up the old files?

[wendyr57906917]

LOL no my iMac just died 2 weeks ago. I had it 11 yrs. I have a new one now. Its awesome! Not sure how files were packaged. I'm sure not right way as I was new to everything in ID. Now I am starting to use more. I have to get cookbook files from old harddrive and see. I need to get a cord today to do that.

[BobLevine]

That would be the first step.

[Scott Citron]

When you click or mouse over the missing links in InDesign's Links panel, a tool tip will pop up showing the original path to the assets. This might help you figure out where they were stored on your old computer.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com · Accepted solution]

One recovery method we've used in similar situations.

It's messy, but it does recover serviceable versions of the graphics. We use it as a "last resort."

With either of the 2 methods below you will get:

• A raster/bitmapped version of the graphic, even if it originally was a vector graphic in the InDesign layout.
• The graphic with whatever resolution (ppi/dpi) it had when the PDF was originally made.
• A graphic that will be serviceable, but not ideal.

Method 1:

1. Locate a PDF of the book. Use a  press-quality or PDF/X version so that it has a high enough resolution.
2. From Acrobat, click to select a graphic (it will become highlighted with a blue box).
3. Right-click the selected graphic and choose Save Image As.
4. You will now have a JPG of the graphic.

Method 2:

Given that this is a book with many images, here's another way to recover all of the graphics from a PDF (it's best done on Windows but we've used it with mixed results on Mac):

1. Open the PDF in Acrobat Pro (latest version is best, such as DC:2019).
2. Export it to Word.docx (not .doc/Word 97-2003).  File | Export To | Micorsoft Word | Word Document.
3. Change the dot extension on the file from .docx to .zip (few people know that a Word.docx document is actually a Zip file, and we're taking advantage of that little trick here).
4. Open/extract the ZIP file with your favorite software to decompress it into several folders and files.
5. Drill down through the folders and you'll find the Word / Media folder with all the graphics from the original PDF document. They are JPEG versions of the graphics at whatever resolution it had in the PDF.

Note:

If this is a long document, you don't want to end up with one humongous Word.docx file; it will be too big for your computer to process.

If that's the case, break up the original PDF into smaller sections of the book, such as frontmatter, chapter1, etc.

You can do that quickly: select the pages from the Thumbnails panel, right-click on the pages, and choose Extract Pages.

And as my colleagues above mentioned, this could have been avoided if InDesign's "Package" utility had been used years ago to archive the project with all of its fonts and graphics. Learn how to use this important tool here: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/preflighting-files-handoff.html#package_files

[rob day]

I have to get cookbook files from old harddrive and see. I need to get a cord today to do that.

If you select a placed file and look at the Links panel Link Info you should be able to get the path to files on your old drive.

[Test Screen Name]

It isn't clear whether

(a) you have the graphic files but InDesign doesn't seem to use them

(b) you don't have the graphic files and hope InDesign will manage without, or

(c) you are sure you embedded the graphics so the files shouldn't be needed.

The steps to take depend on your situation (from making changes, to wailing and gnashing teeth).