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lensschool
lensschool
Inspiring
August 25, 2020
Answered

Export presets no longer remembering location

  • August 25, 2020
  • 7 replies
  • 4772 views

I have only just encountered this problem so I am not sure when it started.

 

In the past export presets remembered the location set in the preset.  This no longer works.

 

Please fix, or am I doing something wrong?

 

Anyone else noticed this?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer lensschool

Thank you for all your support and suggestions...

With a bit of experiementation I figured out that the preset was corrupt.  So on deleting the preset and making new ones all worked again as it used too.

It seems it was a corrupt preset.

7 replies

E
Etrephotography
Known Participant
July 29, 2024

Hi, I am also having this issue after having to re-install Win11, and at the same time as LRC update. Initially I just recreated the EXPORT preset and encountered the issue. I have just now found the orignal preset (in a backup I keep ) and replaced the new preset I created but i still get the same result. I right click on a image once I've finished edited. select Export, then the EXPORT preset i want to use and instead of dust doing the export like it used to, it keeps giving me a select folder dialogue which defaults to the last folder I used (it wouldnt be so bad if it was actually the folder I want to use).

 

Rob_Cullen
Community Expert
Rob_CullenCommunity Expert
Community Expert
July 29, 2024

In your Export dialog, which of the options do you have selected?

Is it this one?-

 

If you have the option set to "Specific Folder"-  Does that folder still exist in the exact same path as it did BEFORE you re-installed Windows?

 

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.0, Photoshop 27.0, ACR 18.0, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0 .
E
Etrephotography
Known Participant
August 4, 2024

I first recreated the export preset after re-installing LRC, and the issue was there (in fact I created it a couple of times thinking I had made an error when making the preset), so I then deleted the new preset, and imported my original, with the same result. 

B
Bewitched_mindset0D45
Participant
November 1, 2023

This is what happened:

I had to replace my laptop which died. My new laptop has a 1 TB harddrivve. I had the filews from the old computer downloaded to the new onbe. This caused the new laptops C/drivew to lock up-completely full! I was told that teh Lightroom backup files filled the drive and no space was available. I tried to find trhe backup files on teh C/drive so I coould remove them, but could not find them. In desperation, I moved asome probrams (lightroom) to an external drive. That gave me spome room on the man C/drive. However, when I opened Lightroom Classic and was ready to export a Jpeg file, I got an error message: "Unable to Export: Export settings are missing the LR_Export_destination Path Prefix:" I'm a casua; user of Lightroom and have NO clue how to fix this. PLEASE HELP ME!

Rob_Cullen
Community Expert
Rob_CullenCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 2, 2023

You have jumped on an old thread but I will try Addressing some of your comments-

"My new laptop has a 1 TB harddrive"-  It is suggested you need about 20% of free space on the working drive for LrC to work efficiently.

" was told that the Lightroom backup files filled the drive" - Who told you that? And were they actually referring to the Backup ZIP files, or the Previews folder, or even your image folders?

"backup files on the C/drive .... could not find them." - Where did you look? And what folder location have you been using for Catalog Backups all the time you have been using Lightroom-Classic? They will be ZIP files contained in dated folders similar to  this-

"Unable to Export:..." -  Make a screen-clip of your Export dialog screen and add it to your post with the [Insert Photos] icon above your text-

You need a valid folder address for the Exported files-  That (an Export default) may have been lost in the move from the old drive.

 

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.0, Photoshop 27.0, ACR 18.0, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0 .
B
Bewitched_mindset0D45
Participant
November 2, 2023
Rob:
I noticed that my new laptop was running real slow and LRC was
sometimes crashing. I took the laptop to a computer tech I had used
before. He admitted that he knew nothing about LR but he showed me
some graphics of my screen that he said showed the backups had filled
the drive to capacity, which was why the computer was running poorly.
I am a casual Lightroom user, and am not very familiar with all the
ins & outs of the program. When I got home I opened the explorer and
saw that the drive was locked.. I started to move files from the C:/
drive to an external drive to free up space. I freed up 216 Gb from
the 940 GB drive. I previously used 4 external drives for my images,
but it seems that I need to connect them separately even though I have
a 7 port hub, My laptop has 20 GB of ram on board. I'm looking for
someone who knows the ins & outs of lightroom but it appears that none
of the people I know are very knowledgeable. The backups I'm referring
to are the backups lightroom creates when you exit the program.
I will get into lightroom tonight and try to take the screenshot of
the error messsage in question and send it to you as you suggested.
Wish me luck!

Steven Rosenblum
lensschool
lensschoolAuthorCorrect answer
Inspiring
August 27, 2020

Thank you for all your support and suggestions...

With a bit of experiementation I figured out that the preset was corrupt.  So on deleting the preset and making new ones all worked again as it used too.

It seems it was a corrupt preset.

    kimballisms
    kimballisms
    Inspiring
    August 27, 2020

    Good job figuring out how to fix it.  I had this exact same problem a few months ago.  All of my export presets had folder locations pre-programmed and yet they would still ask me every time to select a folder for the exported images.  Didn't make any sense.  I ended up recreating all of them and the weird behavior stopped.

    S
    SteveBracken
    Known Participant
    December 3, 2020

    A few months on and I now have the exact same problem as described by the OP. Rather than recreating each pre-set completely I just chose the folder that the pre-set should have saved as the export destination when it was first created (and did until last week) then right clicked on the pre-set and selected Update with Current Settings. That has worked so far. I have a lot of presets that all save to different folders so it will be a while until I know whether this is a definite fix.

      JohanElzenga
      Community Expert
      JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      August 25, 2020

      If I understand it correctly (and I did ask the OP to explain it better), then the OP is not talking about the location of presets (or plugins) but about the location where an export preset saves the exported image.

      -- Johan W. Elzenga
        TheDigitalDog
        TheDigitalDog
        Inspiring
        August 25, 2020

        So when I use Context Menu, select a User Preset and select Export... the location is sticky; the last place I located for such a save from LR (not necessarily from another application also locating to a folder):

         

         

        Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
        JohanElzenga
        Community Expert
        JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        August 26, 2020

        That is not what I think the OP means. I believe he means this: he has specified a specific folder in an export preset, and for some reason the export preset now does not save the exported image in that folder anymore, or it asks to select a folder. I'll let him reply however, because we are only speculating and (possibly) giving irrelevant answers.

        -- Johan W. Elzenga
          Todd Shaner
          Todd Shaner
          Legend
          August 25, 2020

          Unexplained issues like this are often due to a corrupted LR Preferences file. Close LR and move the below Preferences file to your desktop so you can restore it if the issue persists. Restart LR and it will create a new Preferences file with default settings. Try the export presets again. If this fixes the issue you will need to reinstall your plugins and update your Preferences settings with any changes you made previously.

           

          Windows—C: \ Users \ [your username] \ AppData \ Roaming \ Adobe \ Lightroom \ Preferences \ Lightroom Classic CC 7 Preferences.agprefs

           

          Mac—Macintosh HD / Users / [your username] / Library / Preferences / com.adobe.LightroomClassicCC7.plist

          TheDigitalDog
          TheDigitalDog
          Inspiring
          August 25, 2020

          Coming into this late but....

          The OP is talking about presets, some are talking plug-ins. 

          Presets can be found in one of two locations depending on preferences and OS. 

          I always use "Store Presets with Catalog" preference and that's where they live. If I turn off that preference, then it isn't. 

          There's also the issue of a Save location being sticky (and at least on MacOS, some use utilities like Default Folder X) that can override the OS. 

          I agree that this still works so it could be 'user error' or something else but the preferences play a role as to where and how LR 'sees' presets.

          FYI, on my Mac, using Symbolic Links makes finding and backing this all up really easy. 

          Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
          JohanElzenga
          Community Expert
          JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          August 25, 2020

          "In the past export presets remembered the location set in the preset."

           

          What do you mean with 'location set'? Export plugins can either export to a specific folder, or leave it to you to choose the folder on export. Both still work.

          -- Johan W. Elzenga
          lensschool
          lensschoolAuthor
          Inspiring
          August 25, 2020

          Prior to presets... I used to set a specific location folder and it would remain embedded in the preset.  I have two presets I use regularly... one is 2500 px and they live in a folder in my hard drive called 2500 px photographs.  I have a different preset called full size jpgs for printing, which I have set to go to a folder on my hard drive called 'Full sized jpgs for printing'.

           

          I used to be able to click on one, export and then later click on the other and export, then back to the first and export and the exports would turn up in the right folders as specified in the preset.

           

          Now, each time I choose the preset, I have to go back and navigate to the folder again. The preset does not remember the destination folder any more... I remembers the last one I used, despite which preset I use.  This behaviour has clearly changed recently. Though I am not sure with which build of lightroom it changed.

           

          Thanks in advance...

          JohanElzenga
          Community Expert
          JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          August 25, 2020

          Can you show screenshots of these two presets? It should still work and does on my systems.

          -- Johan W. Elzenga
          Tony_See
          Tony_See
          Inspiring
          August 25, 2020

          Post your LR and brief OS specs thanks.

          In the meanwhile this might help if it fits your issue, but it might depend on your current LR version.

           

          Plugin to reset Presets & "Manage Presets"
          Lightroom Classic doe not organise presets in physical folders anymore. You can organise them in groups in the presets panel like before, but you do that by using the 'Manage Presets' option within Lightroom. If you want the old behavior back, look at this plugin: http://www.johnrellis.com/lightroom/fixpresets.htm
          lensschool
          lensschoolAuthor
          Inspiring
          August 25, 2020

          Lightroom 9.4 release

           

          Mac OS Catalina version 10.15.6

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