I'm more Autodesk than Adobe - but tasked with planning the migration of data to a new server, I've been posed the question (challenge?)

"What will happen to our InDesign links? Last time we changed server they all broke!"

My first response, (being more Autodesk than Adobe) was "You might have better luck asking someone who knows about InDesign" - that person then looked at me funny when I asked about relative/absolute paths (a commonly known term for our CAD people).

So I've done a bit of googling... found a few old (circa 2008) inconclusive conversations, and am still none the wiser. But I get the impression, apart from "Packaging" the files (ours aren't, or at least only are once they're done with and go into archive) there isn't the option to use relative-pathing.

So come the migration, the links will break.

So (having googled this as well) - is there a batch/script/method for speedily repairing the links?

If you call the new server *exactly* the same name as the old one, including any external volumes, then it should be OK. InDesign's pretty intelligent at handling links, what's more important is to ensure when the files are copied, the modified dates are unaffected - a clone would probably work best rather than a drag and drop copy.

Or is the new server just sharing the same old volume as the old server?

We're three generations of server down the line of a long line of poor decisions - and I refuse to go to a fourth. The server name is going to change. The folder "structure" is going to be overhauled. That is going to happen. For the greater good.

But we're faced with certain consequences - this (with InDesign) being one of them -and although It's very difficult for me to understand how Adobe's DTP program doesn't support relative paths - I need a solution rather than a compromise.


We'll be testing a few files tomorrow... hopefully it is - but I fear since we're not disconnecting the old server tomorrow, the links will still path correctly and we'll not "see" any problem, until it's too late.

If any other images are in the same folder as one you update, it'll see them. I've had it before where you tell it where one of the images has moved too and it automagically finds others in different folders.

I have a feeling it does understand relative links, it just doesn't have it as an option. Or when it sees that a hard drive or server has changed name, it seems to cope okay.