Dreamweaver can update links to and from a document whenever you move or rename it within a local site. This feature works best when you have your entire site (or an entire self-contained section of it) stored on your local drive. No changes are made to files on the remote site until you put or check in the local files on the remote server.
To turn on link management in Dreamweaver:
| 1 | Choose Edit > Preferences, then select General. |
| 2 | Select Always or Prompt from the Update Links pop-up menu and click OK. |
| If you choose Always, Dreamweaver automatically updates all links to and from a selected document whenever you move or rename it. (For specific instructions on what to do when you delete a file, see Changing a link sitewide.) If you choose Prompt, Dreamweaver first displays a dialog box that lists all the files affected by the change. Click Update to update the links in these files, or click Don't Update to leave the files unchanged. | |
| If check in/check out is enabled, Dreamweaver automatically attempts to check out the file before making any changes. | |
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To make the updating process faster, Dreamweaver can create a cache file in which to store information about all the links at your local site. This cache file is created when you select the Cache option in the Site Definition dialog box, and it is updated invisibly as you use Dreamweaver to add, change, or delete links to files on your local site.
To create a cache file for your site:
| 1 | Choose Site > Define Sites. |
| 2 | Select the site in the Define Sites dialog box, then click Edit. In the Local Info category, select the Cache checkbox under Link Management Options. |
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To re-create a cache for your site:
Choose Site > Recreate Site Cache.
The first time you add, change, or delete links to files on your local site after launching Dreamweaver, Dreamweaver prompts you to load the cache. If you click Yes, the cache loads and all links to the file you just changed are automatically updated. If you choose No, the change is noted in the cache, but the cache does not load and links are not updated.
It may take a few minutes for the cache to load on larger sites; most of this time is spent comparing the timestamps of the files on the local site with the timestamps recorded in the cache to see if the cache is out of date. If you have not changed any files outside of Dreamweaver, you can safely click Stop when the button appears.