Groups, Smart Groups, and Searching in Links Panel
The links panel should support Groups and Smart Groups. Large numbers of links in projects -- especially those that include a lot of InCopy assignments -- get unwieldy.
Ideally you would be able to make groups and manually move links into them, and also create smart groups that would automatically update. Ideas for common filters that smart groups would be used for:
All CMKY images, all non-CMYK images, all InCopy links, all links that need to be updated, all links that are embedded or not, all links that are currently on a Hidden Layer or hidden via conditional text, etc.
Also, just having a simple text box that can be typed into and have the visible Links narrowed down according to that search would be a big help -- similar to the way the Quick Apply interface works as you type.
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Tony Melena commented
Make link file name selectable to facilitate searching for the missing link
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Frank
commented
Please Adobe, we want this!
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Anonymous
commented
Please Adobe! That would be a great feature!
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Rainer Klute
commented
Great idea! Maybe, if it's too complicate to make (smart) groups happen, just focus on the search field, Adobe. :-)
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Adam Jury-Last commented
@Brian -- hot dang! That is a _great_ idea, as sometimes you want to organize things based on filetype, but other times you want to organize things by content type ("maps," "master page elements," "sidebar textures") and keeping those things sorted out (especially elements that are globally used in a line of books) is one of the major flaws of the single "Links" folder.
You next-leveled the idea, kudos!
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Brian Smart
commented
Great idea! And I'd suggest the option to keep those link groups when packaging the book file. I understand that the package function is designed for delivering the file to a printer, but it is also a handy way to gather linked files together when working from different network sources.
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Glen Saville
commented
Nice idea just finished a project that would have suited this my grouping would have been by icc profile :)
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Phantom Steve
commented
I like this a lot.
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Alan Gilbertson
commented
Yes, we need all of the above! The "live search" UX would speed up working in the Links panel the same way it does in the font dropdown, Quick Apply or any browser search field.