An image that worked before a folder cleanup is not proof that it will work afterward. The dependable method is to keep a baseline EPUB, move one asset, rebuild, repair the source reference, and rebuild again. This guide focuses on that before-and-after sequence for a map in chapter two of a four-chapter book.
Preserve a baseline
The baseline contains Beginning, Map, Gallery, and Afterword, two body figures, and one cover. Its navigation has four entries, its package has three images, and it reports no missing images. Save this EPUB rather than overwriting it.
Without a baseline, a later count of two images gives no clue whether one disappeared. Record chapter order, image count, missing-image count, and the map’s alternative text before reorganizing files.
Move one asset and observe the failure
Move images/body-a.png to images/maps/body-a.png. Then read chapter two. In the worked example, the chapter still referred to the old ../images/body-a.png location.
To isolate one failure cause, only the map was moved outside Rune Studio, one build retained the stale path, and that single reference was then repaired manually. This is a diagnostic comparison of image and missing-reference counts. An in-app move or rename follows the separately documented automatic-update path, so this result is not applied to it.
The next build completed, but the map asset was absent and the inspection reported one missing image. A produced EPUB is therefore not automatically a complete image-rich EPUB. Keep this failed output as evidence of the broken state.
Correct the source and rebuild
Change the chapter reference to ../images/maps/body-a.png without altering chapter order or the other figure. The recovered EPUB again contained three images including the cover, reported zero missing images, and preserved “Map of the harbor” as alternative text.
The useful comparison has three states: successful baseline, failed build with the old reference, and successful recovery. It identifies both the cause and the effective correction.
Diagnose in source order
If recovery fails, check that the new file exists, that the relative path is correct from the chapter’s location, and that filename capitalization matches. Then confirm the chapter was selected for export and inspect the packaged image list. Do not keep duplicating the picture before checking where the reference starts.
Also check that alternative text remains. A repaired path with empty alternative text restores pixels but not the image’s meaning. Cover replacement and image compression are separate workflows.
The finish line is a rebuilt EPUB whose chapter order matches the baseline, whose unaffected figure and cover remain, and whose missing-image count returns to zero. That before-and-after evidence prevents a broken link from reaching distribution.
