Relative paths for linked assets
An option to use relative paths for linked assets. Because links use absolute paths, simply moving the folder your artwork is in will break the links unless the links are in the same folder. For example:
c:\artwork\project-1234\layout.ai
c:\artwork\project-1234\assets\logo.jpg
c:\artwork\standard-title-block.ai
If logo.jpg and standard-title-block.ai are both linked to inside of layout.ai, renaming the project folder will break the links. Moving the project folder will break the links.
Instead of storing the link paths absolutely, store them relatively. This way at least renaming the folder will preserve both links and moving the folder will only break links that point to file outside of the project directory structure.
Jeremy
shared this idea
10 comments
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Jesse
commented
This feature is way over do and badly needed. How is one expected to collaborate with other users on complex Illustrator projects without relative paths? I thought this would have been fixed 10 years ago.
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Shawn Winchester
commented
This would certainly help with development issues. Please add the option to select relative linking of assets.
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Kostis K.
commented
Relative Paths FTW!
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Kostis K.
commented
Please!
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David Siebenförcher
commented
Creative Cloud is absolutely useless without relative links!
It's so annoying to work together on a project. When my collaborator starts an Illustrator file and I want to work on it, all the links are broken and vice versa and the cycle never ends. Sometimes I don't even know what folder some linked files are stored in, so it's impossible to continue his work without his help!
Everyone who works together on bigger projects has this problem, especially in times of home office.
I figured the Creative Cloud wasn't just meant to be a backup storage. But as it is, it's not useful for much else, unfortunately.
I can't understand why it's taking so long to at least add an option for that. -
Ryan
commented
This feature is needed especially when working WITHIN Creative Cloud's own sync'd folder. In the past I have been able to set up my two PC's with the exact same drive/path structure so using links in the CC folder would work on both machines, but my new setup requires different drive letters so any time I have to switch a project between computers I have to spend time re-linking. And the assets are not just in one folder but spread across an array of folders corresponding to the link's type. Product Photos, UPC codes, Logos..... If I could just say "Start in Folder X and then all paths are the same" that would be so helpful!
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Anonymous
commented
wow -how is this still not a feature?
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Anonymous
commented
We create design kits at work that change monthly where a photo is replaced that links across multiple artboards. We have a template folder that we duplicate and change the few elements within art file. I thought placing the linked photo in a folder with the art file called Links would allow for a simple swap of photos but the new art files link to the original photo from the template folder. Seems like a simple ability to have.
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Glen Moyes
commented
Our design agency wastes a ton of time relinking assets whenever another designer works on a project. It would be nice to have a "single source of truth" for logo files and other assets, but we can't do that with Adobe Illustrator. We don't have that problem with other graphics software that properly implement relative links by using ../ to go up the directory structure for these assets.
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Martin Fink-Jensen
commented
This is also very much needed when working on a shared drive or cloud storage.