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As an example, I have two of the Martha Stewart fancy cake cartridges. Neither has been linked.

When I was having trouble linking cartridges through my first Explore, Cricut's Customer Service people gave me a code number and had me take photos front and back of my cartridges and e-mail the photos in. I learned I had to reduce the photos to like 800px, or Cricut's e-mail system would block them.

To their credit, Cricut's people linked several of them correctly. (One, the Happy Hauntings cartridge, wasn't linked properly and I had to call them back later and argue them into giving me all the images on the thing, instead of a handful.)

But they refused to link my Martha Stewart cartridge that way. They said, "It's under copyright, so we can't link that based on a photograph." The same is true of cartridges that contain content from DC, Marvel, Disney, Anna Griffin, Teresa Collins, and others.

So when I upgraded to an Explore Air 2, I thought I should be able to finally link my Martha Stewart cartridge, since would electronically hook back to the Cricut database. But when I put it in and click the "link cartridge" button, nothing happens at all.

I had several other cartridges (including some with externally copyrighted material) that I got second-hand that might have been linked already. One got me a "Already Linked" message. Fine. But most of the other cartridges don't do anything either. If they got an "Already Linked" message, that would be fine, at least I would know. But since at least one of my unlinked cartridges doesn't work either, it make me wonder.

At any rate, this is another warning that if you count on having continued access to the images on your favorite cartridges, keep them and the old Cricut they work on until you're dead sure you really got the images linked to your online account.

Just got a new-in-the-box cartridge that won't link using the Explore Air 2's cartridge port. In fact I have NEVER had a cartridge link using the port. Back to the calling-and-whining, photographing, and e-mailing bit, I suppose.

Regarding the method of linking your cartridges by calling customer service, photographing your cartridge(s), and e-mailing the photograph.

There was a lot of pushback the first time I did this, in early 2021. One or two seemed to think I was "cheating" somehow. But now that I bought a brand new Explore Air 2, and NONE of my cartridges will link through its port - even ones that I've broken the seal on myself, they seem more willing to help.

Now most of the people I talk to do it as a matter of course, though I still find folks who don't know how to do it until they ask someone else in their system.

At this point, I honestly think I have linked every cartridge I'm likely to want linked (except for the ones they wouldn't link by Theresa Collins or Martha Stewart), so this is becoming a "moot point" anyway. Or it will after I get my "Scandinavian Christmas Cards" cartridge linked, hopefully some time today.)

But I'm leaving this here because I have any number of friends who don't think they'll ever need to upgrade from their Expression or whatever, but who will come to that eventually.