“There are missing images (missing links).”
InDesign and Illustrator don’t store placed photos and logos inside the design file; they link to the image files on your computer. If those files aren’t sent along, or have been moved or renamed, the printer opens the layout to find images missing, or a PDF is made with low-resolution previews in their place. Send a PDF exported with every link in place, or use File → Package to collect the layout, images and fonts into one folder.
Updated November 3, 2026 · by Azaan Ali, print designerWhy printers ask for this
A layout file is more like a map than a box. When you place a photo in InDesign (or link one in Illustrator), the document keeps a small preview and a note of where the real file lives on your drive. Send only the .indd or .ai file and the printer gets the map without the photos. Move or rename the images on your own computer and you get the same problem.
If you export a PDF while links are missing, InDesign warns you, and if you carry on, it uses those low-resolution previews in place of the real images. The PDF looks fine at a glance and prints soft. That’s why printers check links first and send the file back rather than guess.
How to fix missing links in a print file
- InDesign: open Window → Links. A red question-mark icon means the image is missing; a yellow warning triangle means it has changed since it was placed.
- Select a missing image, click Relink (the chain icon) and find the file. Tick “Search for missing links in this folder” to relink the rest at once. For changed images, click Update Link.
- Illustrator: Window → Links shows the same icons. Relink from the panel, or choose Embed Image(s) from the panel menu so the images travel inside the .ai file.
- If the printer wants open files, use File → Package (InDesign or Illustrator). It copies the layout, every linked image and the fonts into one folder. Adobe Fonts aren’t copied, so embed or outline those in a PDF instead.
- If they want a PDF, relink everything first, check the Preflight light at the bottom of the InDesign window is green, then export a print PDF (PDF/X-4 or whatever the printer asks for).
Or send it to us
- Relink every image, or recover missing ones from your originals or an older PDF
- Check each image’s real resolution at the size it prints
- Package the open files, or export a print PDF with every image at full resolution
- Tell you which images couldn’t be recovered, and what we’d suggest instead, before doing anything else
Questions
- Should I link or embed images?
- Linking keeps the design file small and lets you edit images separately; it’s the norm in InDesign. Embedding puts the images inside the file, which is safer when sending open Illustrator files. For a PDF it doesn’t matter: exporting builds everything in.
- I don’t have the original images any more. What now?
- Sometimes they can be pulled out of an older PDF, but the previews inside the layout are low resolution. Logos can be redrawn as vectors; photos may need a licensed replacement. We check which is which before you pay for anything beyond the fix.
- The printer asked for “packaged files”. What’s that?
- A folder with the InDesign or Illustrator file, every linked image and the fonts, made with File → Package. It lets the printer make changes themselves. If they only need to print it, a PDF is simpler.
Terms on this page: Linked images (links), DPI / PPI (resolution), Preflight, Outlined fonts.
Other things printers say
More on this kind of work: Print file fixing.
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