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Participant
April 3, 2018
Answered

Exclamation marks on photos in Book mode

  • April 3, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 2373 views

I am working in a desktop based version of Lightroom 4.1. I have created a photo book without problems. Suddenly, I am seeing exclamation points all over my photos. When I click on the exclamation point, I get the message, "This photo is offline, or cannot be found. It will not be printed when you print your book."  This occurs whether I try to send it to Blurb or create a PDF. I have created a number of books in the past, and this has never happened before. The message does not appear in either Library or Develop mode.

Can someone tell me what is going on and how to fix it? Thank you.

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Correct answer cmgap

The exclamation marks you see while in the book module indicate that the images are smart previews. You can continue to work on the book but you can't print it unless you make the original images available by connecting the device the originals are located on. You won't see this message in Develop or Library because of the Smart Previews made either upon import or later. You can confirm they are smart previews by selecting an image and going into the develop module. There you can expand the histogram panel and look directly under it at the rectangle with Smart Preview to the right.

Once you connect your External and go back into the book module the exclamation marks will go away.

2 replies

cmgap
Community Expert
cmgapCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
April 3, 2018

The exclamation marks you see while in the book module indicate that the images are smart previews. You can continue to work on the book but you can't print it unless you make the original images available by connecting the device the originals are located on. You won't see this message in Develop or Library because of the Smart Previews made either upon import or later. You can confirm they are smart previews by selecting an image and going into the develop module. There you can expand the histogram panel and look directly under it at the rectangle with Smart Preview to the right.

Once you connect your External and go back into the book module the exclamation marks will go away.

99jon
Legend
April 3, 2018

This is usually where the folder or files have been moved outside of Lightroom. There should also be exclamation marks on the thumbnails in the filmstrip. Click on one and go to the metadata panel in the library and check which folder they should be in.