Where I work, we've upgraded from CS1 to CS6.
We've created many newsletters in InDesign (40+ pages each; 1 per month) that have hyperlinks.
Working with the Hyperlinks and Hyperlink Destinations, while rather cumbersome before, was manageable.
However, in CS6 an aspect of it makes them unworkable.
First off, we're working in a new newsletter that has essentially been opened and converted from a previous month's CS1 version to the new CS6. It carries forward all the previous hyperlinks, naturally. However, InDesign treats all of these as "shared" hyperlinks.
So, when I have to troubleshoot a link, I can straight up delete the link and create a new, unshared URL-type link.
No real problem, except having to write down where the link goes and retype it into the new link creation dialog, since I can't select the original and copy & paste it.
However, if I accidentally forget to avoid opening Hyperlink Destinations like the plague, then all the Destinations created previously in CS1 will be accessed in order to open that pallet. Since all "shared" Destinations are stored in whatever original document they were made in apparently, that means InDesign will open and convert effectively every single CS1 INDD that still shares a link in common or that still has a Destination listed in the palette ... or something.
This process takes about 1 hour (or more) and effectively hangs InDesign for me. I can not cancel the process (that I've found yet); I can not close the palette before it's refreshed and processed every single Destination; I have to manually hit Esc or click cancel on every single Destination as it tries opening it if I wish to try short-circuiting the process (which means I'll still have to sit there for at least half an hour, since there's so much time between each dialog that pops up).
I'm not the one who generally works in the file doing all the design work; I'm the one who does the processing for creating the PDF for the web. I'm willing to understand and work with InDesign to a fuller extent of its capabilities, but the actual designers are generally as ignorant as they can get away with about InDesign's tools and innards.
They're the ones that work with and create the links (until there's a problem, then it's me); and getting them to clean up their methods or to at least only create "unshared" hyperlinks going forward is pretty much impossible.
If somebody doesn't know a way to get around this problem, then I have a request that an update to InDesign is implemented to accomplish any of several things:
• All "old" Hyperlink Destinations are not created as shared ones, thereby avoiding InDesign's desire to open and convert all the old INDD files.
• All shared Destinations are stored elsewhere, not in their original INDD (or whatever is going on with them right now).
• Implement a method to short-circuit this update process (like hitting Esc exits the opening of the Hyperlink Destinations palette, or prevents the action if I masochistically try selecting and editing a Hyperlink Destination once it opens, etc).
Thank you, especially if there's any help getting around the problem short of me deleting all Hyperlink Destinations (once I get the palette open and sitting still again) to force the designers to start over.