Using the Package feature of InDesign (File > Package) is the ideal way to close out a document. All the document’s fonts, images, and other linked assets are collected in a central location, and the document updated to point its links to that new location. Package deposits everything–including a new copy of the INDD document itself–into a new folder, ready for transport to the press or back up to CD, DVD, or tape. The INDD document is placed in one folder, all fonts in a Fonts subfolder, and linked assets in a Links subfolder. It does this every time you run the Package command, which is nearly always a wonderfully handy feature to have.
But what do you do if you’ve added linked assets to a document that has already been packaged? Jules S. asked that very question on the LassoSoft InDesign Talk mailing list.
When I try to repackage a document, it makes yet another folder. How do I get it to collect the new files from their original locations and put them in the current Links folder?
The obvious answer: Run Package again, collecting the document and its assets to yet another folder, and then go back and delete the first set of folders.
The better answer, however, is to use a relatively obscure feature most people don’t know exists: Copy Links To.
Open the flyout menu on the Links panel/palette. There you’ll find the Copy Links To command. Execute the command and InDesign will present you with a file system Browse for Folder dialog box; pick the folder into which you’d like image copied (the aforementioned Links folder, for instance), and click OK. InDesign will simultaneously copy the linked assets to the new location and update links in the document to point to the new copies in the new location.
Select one or more entries in the Links panel before executing Copy Links To to limit the action to those specific assets, or run Copy Links To without pre-selecting Links panel entries to copy all linked assets.