In the current version of Illustrator, it’s quite hard to spot which images are unlinked.
In older versions (up to 2021), Illustrator displayed unlinked images as empty boxes, making them easy to identify. But since the 2022 update, that behaviour has changed. Now, unlinked images are shown as low-resolution previews, which seems fine—until you actually try to find them.
detecting and inspeting images
The CEP system provides events that notify specific moments, such as when a document is saved or switched. I used these event handlers to develop the Extension. The Extension automatically detects when a document is saved or switched, and then checks whether the images are linked or unlinked. If it finds any unlinked images, it sends an alert in the host application.
Details
While the Extension is open, it automatically detects any unlinked images. If you don't need this feature, simply close the Extension—that's all. It won't detect anything in the background. other than that, the Extension displays placed image list. In addition, the Extension displays a list of all placed images. Any unlinked image will appear with a red label, though no further details are shown. Clicking an item in the list will select the corresponding image in the host application, making it easy to locate the image you see in the panel.
When does the Extension detect
the Extension detects images when....
- document was saved
- document was switched(activated)
In any other case, the Extension won't detect or inspect images. Even if you edit the document, the image list won't update automatically. In this case, you'll need to click the Load button to refresh and update the image data manually.
DownLoad
download the zxp file here