Image Linking - Can it be done w/o embedding

[Former Community Member]

I have wasted far too much time on this.  Once and for all, "can you dynamically link an image WITHOUT embedding it?"  Is is a bug or not!!!  I have not seen anyone address my app as follows...

1)

If I "LINK" to an image (image.jpg) and then change the contents of said image (image.jpg), the pdf does not reflect the change.  This tells me that the image is embedded regardless of whether I have embedding checked or not.

2)

What about Image Fields?  I tried to link a field via XML (either the reference to the image location or the Base64 data and this does not work either.

Who has the right answer and working example?

Regards,

Frustrated!!

[Former Community Member]

You cannot have linked images in a PDF (well, technically, the PDF spec allows it, but Adobe products won't generate this variation of PDF).

Among the reasons:

a) With a linked image the document is no longer portable (the 'P' in PDF)

b) With a linked image, you cannot reliably sign a PDF, since the referenced image could change

The linking/embedding option you see in Designer applies to whether the image is embedded in the template.

When the PDF is generated from the template, any linked images will be added to the PDF.

  John