Repairing Broken Links in a QGIS Project:

Why Broken Links Happen

Working on GIS projects in QGIS (Quantum GIS) can be an enriching experience, but it’s not uncommon to encounter issues such as broken links to data sources. Broken links occur when the paths to your data files change, which might happen due to file relocation, renaming, or transfer to a different system. Here’s a  guide to repairing broken links in a QGIS project to ensure your data is correctly loaded and your project runs smoothly.

Broken links in QGIS typically occur due to:

Moving files: If you move your data files to a different directory or drive.
Renaming files or directories: Changing the name of your data files or the directories they reside in.
Relative paths: Using relative paths in your project and then moving the entire project to a different location without updating the paths.

Identifying Broken Links

 When you open a QGIS project with broken links, QGIS will alert you to the missing layers. Here’s how you can identify them:

Notification on Load

 When you open a project, QGIS will display a message box listing the layers that couldn't be found. Select the Keep unavailable layers option.

Layer Panel

 In the Layer Panel, layers with broken links are usually displayed with a red exclamation mark or an error message.

Repairing Broken Links

 When the dialog box shows the layers with broken links opt to keep them in the project.

Using the Data Source Manager - Open Data Source Manager

You can open the Data Source Manager by right-clicking on the problematic layer in the Layer Panel and selecting "Repair Data Source”

Change Data Source

 In the "Repair Data Source" dialog box you can browse to the new location of your data file

Apply Changes

After selecting the correct file, click "Apply" and then "OK" to update the data source. Then repeat this process with any other layers containing a red triangle.