Finding pasted/embedded images in a messy file

[CrankshaftStudio]

Hi,

I searched the community and didn't see anything for my specific question. I inherited a file- a large book with several dozen images. Most of the images (I assumed all) are linked. I output the file to PDF and received no warnings. Preflight passed. I found out later that an image was very low res. I went back to verify and found that the image was not in the links panel and, when selected, gives no info. As mentioned, it also gave no warnings on output nor in the preflight report- in essence, it didn't exist at all to ID. I believe this image was copy/pasted into the doc after reading some of the discussions. I now worry that there are several of these images throughout the document.

So here is my question- Is there a way to find out how many or which images are embedded or pasted in without having to go through and select each image and verify the link?

I haven't come across embedded images in a while. It used to be that any embedded graphic/image would show as such in the links panel and would be labeled as 'embedded.' This seems to no longer be the case. It makes it difficult to preflight when a placed/pasted graphic does not show up anywhere or give any warnings. Am I missing something?

Thank you for any and all help.

[Steve Werner]

This is not a new problem. I found this InDesignSecrets.com post from 2006 which points out the pasted graphics don't show up in the Links panel. Pasting basically takes control of the process from InDesign.

http://indesignsecrets.com/copy-and-paste-vs-place.php

If you want an Embedded Graphic, you select a linked graphics and choose to Embed it from the Links panel menu. Then it shows up in the Links panel with a special icon.

However, a pasted graphic does show up in the Layers panel as a <pasted graphic>:

There is no preflight option, but here's a couple things you could look for in Preflight:

* Choose IMAGES and OBJECTS and look for low resolution images using Image Resolution. They are almost certainly low res images

* When I tested with images from Photoshop and Mac Preview, Preview made the graphics transparent. So you can also turn on Transparency Not Allowed. Photoshop doesn't make the transparent when you copy and paste.

Good luck.

[Steve Werner]

Another thought: There is no way to search InDesign's Layers panel. But someone may have created a script to look for a <pasted graphic>. You might ask in the InDesign Scripting foru.

[CrankshaftStudio]

Thanks for your input, Steve. I'll look into both of those options. It really would be nice to have some way to see it in the links palette or something- especially when prepping final files with dozens or hundreds of images that get passed around. It's easy enough for someone to accidentally paste a graphic or image unconsciously. It would be great to have a way to easily see, catch and repair that kind of thing. It's pretty rare that I've come across this, but clearly it happens.

[rob day]

If you are using OSX you could also try this AppleScript. It's similar to Peter's script, but it links the pasted object out to a PDF which retains all of the original file info (color space and resolution) rather than converting it into a bitmap format:

http://www.zenodesign.com/forum/LinkPasted.zip

[Wosven]

Hello,

You can use Peter Kahrel's script:

http://www.kahrel.plus.com/indesign/unembed_images.html