Not including links when saving AI.eps

The other day a co-worker of mine who doesn't work with Illy that much asked me for help. He was trying to open a customers Illustrator EPS file to make an edit, and did not know what to make of the "can not find linked file <filename> etc..." message.

I told him if they did not send the link choose to extract the image, and then open the newly extracted link in Photoshop and resave for the preview as the extracted imge will not have one.

He came back in about 5 minutes and said that extract was not an option.

That threw me off, so I went to his machine and sure enough, his only options were to find the link, ignore or cancel (which do the same thing... open the file with the linked image gone).

As it happens, the link was somewhere else on his machine, in a "links" folder so all was well, but this got me to wondering.

I am guessing that this particular EPS file was saved with the "include linked images" check box unchecked otherwise "extract" would have been an option. ...and in this case, we all know that "include" really means "embed".

<tangent alarm> I find it odd that embedding images this way embeds them for the purposes of placement and printing in a layout program, but if you try to open the ai.eps file and the links are not in the same folder as said ai.eps file, or are not in the same location that they were in when they were first linked, then Illustrator insists on relinking to the image even though the image is embedded.

Beside the extract feature for when a user sends the EPS without the links, one has to wonder why one cannot open such a file in the same manner as a file in which the images were embedded during file>place, or during editing via links palette flyout. A "re-establish links" dialog box would be nice were you can choose to use the embedded images as fully embedded images, or relink them.

But I digress.

What I was wondering about was that other type of Illy EPS file, were you choose NOT to include links.

I know there is a good reason for doing this and certain workflows that it is a good thing for (OPI ?) but for the life of me I can’t remember what those good reasons are.

To finally get around to my actual question: what are the potential problems of saving an Illy.eps file without the linked images, then placing the eps into a layout and printing? I am guessing that for it to work, the links would be best to reside in the same folder as the Illy.eps file, and if a prepress tech moves the links to a new folder of his making called “links” or something, then they will not be picked up by the print stream from the layout app. And in such a case would there be some type of error message from the printing application, or would the images simply not show up at the rip?

Now, if Bill the designer links to images in a “links” folder on his harddrive, saves the Illy.eps without the links, in another folder altogether, places in QXP and prints, will everything be OK since the Illy.eps contains the proper filepath for the links, “i.e. Bill the designer’s McIntosh HD/Client Files/Nabisco/Corporate Brochure/linked images”?

Then if Bill copies his job to a CD and sends it off to the printer, the printer uploads the files, and now the linked images are no longer at “Bill the designer’s McIntosh HD/Client Files/Nabisco/Corporate Brochure/linked images” but “Bob the Printer’s Mac/Jobs in Progress/109357 Bill’s Design Emporium/linked images”. He opens the QXD updates the link to the Illy.eps file, which is not in the “linked images” folder, but in the “artwork” folder, and prints. Will that be a problem?

What if Bob the printer moves the linked images out of the “linked images” folder and puts them in the “artwork” folder along with the Illy.eps folder? Will this solve the problem assuming a problem exists? Or if Bob the printer opens the Illy.eps file and reestablishes the links, now to “Bob the Printer’s Mac/Jobs I Progress/109357 Bill’s Design Emporium/ linked im