hi. thanks for the feedback…
it does seem like a problem that isn’t affecting a lot of ID users. mentions of it on the Adobe forums are scarce (although there are a couple). The ‘workaround’ was the closest thing to a solution posted anywhere, although it’s not official Adobe info that i can tell. ‘Preserve Image Dimensions When Relinking’ is the default setting in ID, if I’m not mistaken, so if it IS a bug, obviously Adobe needs to fit it in the near future.
To answer your question – to the best of my knowledge (a number of people were working on the annual report during the length of the project), images we’re initially placed WITHOUT using any of the import options. Nearly all of the charts/graphs were built at a standardized size in Illustrator, a size that corresponded to the size of the graphic frames in InDesign.
cheers