The File Handling preference Link Placed PDF and .ai Files
(linkPlacedPdf) is removed. File › Place with Link now places a page of
a PDF, .ai or .ait file read as PDF pages as a linked placed document,
as it links a raster image, and link: false embeds the page. Link is on
by default in the Place dialog and in file.place, so a PDF or .ai page
placed from a file, which used to be embedded, is now linked unless
Link is off. A password or textAs: "outlines" still embeds, and so do
EPS and PostScript .ai files.
The Place dialog's Link tooltip describes a PDF or .ai file as a
document.
A .ai file read from its editing data (its PDF part only a placeholder)
finds the files its art places by name, beside it. Package now copies
those files into the same folder as the .ai file, and warns when one has
to be copied under another name.
File › Place with Link kept a link only to raster images and VectorCraft
documents. A PDF, .ai or .ait page was always embedded as a group, so
Update Links never saw a newer version of the file.
A new preference, File Handling › Link Placed PDF and .ai Files
(linkPlacedPdf), is off by default. With it on, Link places the page as
a placed document, as it places a VectorCraft document: the object
keeps the file's bytes, a preview, the page number and the page's box
(crop, art, trim, bleed or media, stored as page_box). Links check,
update and relink it, Break Link and Object › Expand give the group
placing it without Link gives, every output draws the page's vectors,
and saving and reopening keep the link. With the preference off, or
with a password or textAs: "outlines", the page is embedded as before.
EPS and PostScript .ai files are still embedded.
Package copies a placed PDF or .ai file as it is. The Place dialog's
Link tooltip describes a PDF or .ai file as a document while the
preference is on. Relinking a placed document to a file that is not a
VectorCraft document, a PDF or a PDF-compatible .ai file says so.
Docs: docs/mcp.md, docs/target-app-parity.md.