P: Blurb Book Module Page Numbering Bug

[RILloyd]

There is a bug in the latest version of Lightroom 6.1 introduced in updates sometime after January 2017 in which the Lightroom Book Module pages in multi-page view start at page 1 on the left hand page while the actual Blurb book numbering starts at page 1 on the right hand page. In addition to this, the left hand page (Lightroom page 1 or Blurb page 0) shouldn't allow any formatting or adding of pages but now has a + plus sign that allows this to happen. I have checked this issue with Blurb and they have confirmed it is a Lightroom bug.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Richard, 

If, instead of publishing to Blurb, you choose to publish to PDF instead, do you still see the page numbering anomaly?

Also, would you be willing to share with us a fragment of your catalog with a few of the first images so we can do some testing? 

[RILloyd]

Hi Rikk,

Thanks for getting back to me on this. Yes, the page numbering anomaly appears with PDF output also. In a test I also added a photo to Page 0 on the left hand page after the cover, which Lightroom is calling Page 1 by mistake. This is an illegal move and not supposed to happen. Lightroom shows Page 2 under the thumbnail and page view of what is actually Page 1 on the right page.  I have made a PDF of this you can view at:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yi3p9ajfmbtp4cm/BookPagesPDF.jpg?dl=0
Another image of the same problem without the addition of a photo on Page 0 can be viewed at:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/c7fd4nhhjxy7kxn/BlurbPages.jpg?dl=0
I just made another small Test Book and the anomaly doesn't appear - Lightroom's Page 1 is on the right where the actual page 1 is and where it should be. Does this mean I have inadvertently changed a Lightroom setting somewhere that interferes with the pagination on my other book? The only difference in preparation I can see is that my recent Test Book that works has only 6 photos in its Collection but my previous book that doesn't paginate properly has 800 photos in the collection for that book.
  

[RILloyd]

Hi Rikk,

Further to the above, in a copy of the original problem book, I've just found out that if I Clear the Layout, Lightroom reverts to the proper numbering with Page 1 on the right. This indicates I have done something to induce the error or that the original pagination somehow didn't work. 

I'm sure Blurb can print my book properly if I leave Page 0 blank. It was a big job making the book (220 pages with photos and text) so I don't want to risk Clearing the Layout just to get Lightroom's pagination to match the book's. 

[J453]

If you can create a sample catalog that exhibits the behavior that you can share, that might help our engineers to track down what triggered the problem.

[RILloyd]

Hi Rikk and Jeffrey,

I had Blurb print three copies of my book at a cost of over $400. Despite the layout in Lightroom showing the book starting on a right hand page 1, Blurb printed it with the 1st right hand page appearing on the left, throwing off all the double page spreads and sequencing. Their response was that it was a Adobe Lightroom problem despite the fact that I have been talking to them about this  problem since April 12th. I'm not sure if you can access the thread of my support conversation with Blurb but it appears here: https://support.blurb.com/hc/en-us/requests/749914: 
If not, the Blurb support person I have been dealing with is Sheryl Perry and the case number is 749914.

I feel like both Blurb and Lightroom are fobbing me off on this problem. I did raise it weeks ago and no one has suggested a solution. Blurb is suggesting I start the book all over again which at over 200 pages and 700 photos who be a mammoth task. They are also asking what responsibility Lightroom are taking while at the same time suggesting I pay for making all three books again which I feel is unreasonable. 

At this stage I would like Adobe to accept some responsibility for this. I'm not interested in trouble shooting the problem from a technical software point of view - I just don't have the time for that. The fact that the book module can allow this pagination error is what matters and I would like to get this corrected and my three books printed properly.

First off, if I start a new book I will lose everything. I've tried but there doesn't seem to be a way to copy pages and layouts from one book to another easily. I have suggested Blurb work with the PDFs to eliminate the extra that has thrown their printed layout off. Is this possible and would shipping PDFs be an alternate solution? What are your thoughts on how this could be handled and corrected?

At worst I could add a single page to the front of the book which when printed would add another blank page that would hopefully would get the pagination back in order so the double page spreads work.

At this stage I feel let down by both Blurb and Adobe. I took the time to notify both parties about the software anomaly but I am now being told it is somehow my fault. I tried to get help and advice on how to correct this problem from both Blurb and Adobe but it seems to no avail. Surely between the two of you, you can accept responsibility for this and try to correct the problem in the most expedient way possible.  

[J453]

Hi Richard, sorry you're having trouble. I don't have access to Blurbs support system. I'll check in with my contact there to see what we can do. I did talk to him back on 4/19 and he said their support folks were not able to reproduce the problem which is why I posted back to you on 4/20 requesting more info. I'm not sure why you think we're 'fobbing' you off. I responded and offered to try and help track down the source of the problem two weeks ago but you never replied: https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/blurb-book-module-page-numbering-bug?topic-re...

[RILloyd]

Hi Jeffrey,

Thanks for getting back to me on this issue. The reply I got today from Sheryl Perry of Blurb was as follows:

-------------------------------------------------------------
Sheryl Perry ( Blurb Support)

May 3, 6:02 PM EDT 

Ian,

I understand that the printed version of your book did not have the desired results you were hoping for. We're not able to review books before they go to print. Since we're a self-publishing service and not a publisher, we're unable to do anything that involves reviewing, proofing or approving the layout, design, and content of books printed through us.

You should review your book carefully in the program used to make it before you upload. Make sure everything looks the way you want it to. You can also use the online preview as an additional way to review the book after you've uploaded it.

Since the problem is within Lightroom, their developers will be the ones who need to resolve it. Blurb is unable to make any changes or correct any issues within this proprietary program. We are also unable to make any changes to your submitted files or the design of your book. 

I don't know if you missed this in my last message as it was towards the end of it, but I've created a promo code for you for a 35% discount should you want to order your book once it's been corrected and uploaded again. This code is in lieu of a reprint, is valid for one use, expires in 90 days, and can't be combined with any other code, discount or gift card.

You can redeem this code during checkout by entering it in the promo code box then clicking the "Apply" button. The code is: 
1_SP_5888441

Please let me know if you have any other questions,

Best regards,

Sheryl
Blurb Customer Support
-------------------------------------------------------

I don't think it is very helpful and as you can see she is shifting the responsibility to Adobe and Lightroom. Her offer of a one time discount is a bit lame as I have already printed three copies of this book with one of their frequent discounts of 35% with a total discounted cost of over $400. Her new offer really is nothing more than what standard customers  already get - but limited to one book.

I didn't try to re-create the problem in a new catalog as per your request 2 weeks ago as I was unable to recreate the problem in my current catalog and was too time pressed to start a new catalog and hope for the same problem to re-occur. I will give it a try later today and let you know the results. 

In the meantime, I am trying to salvage my book project and get 3 properly printed copies re-printed. Blurb says they cannot review the book and make PDF adjustments and that the problem originated with Lightroom. The only way I can review the project is in Lightroom itself which has the wrong pagination - for whatever reason. 

You didn't answer my earlier question about how to correct the layout, so I am presuming there is no easy way to copy pages with photos from one book to another without complete reformatting, captioning etc. Is this true?

My workaround idea of adding another page at the beginning will make the Lightroom layout look wrong but may in fact upload to Blurb with the correct pagination - albeit with two extra blank pages at the front of the book. I can check this with their Bookstore Preview after uploading to make sure it has somehow forced the right pagination. Do you see any other way around this?

I would like Adobe Lightroom to accept some responsibility for this problem Jeffrey and I welcome your offer to liaise with Blurb about a possible solution.

Regards

Ian Lloyd
www.rianlloyd.com

[RILloyd]

Hi Jeffrey,

As you requested, I created a new Lightroom Catalog for testing purposes this afternoon and made a number of Collections. From there I made a number of test books to try to replicate the pagination error. Each book created responded in Lightroom as it should with the pagination correct and an opening blank left hand page. I tried to trip it up by deleting pages and changing things around but the correct pagination did not budge. 

To give you some more technical details I am using a late 2015 iMac with OS10.12.4 and 32 GB of Memory. In my main catalog I created another Blurb book with no pagination problems in January this year. If I try to make a new book in that same catalog now, it always produces the correct pagination. How the incorrect pagination you saw in the screen shot was produced is beyond me. Please let me know if you would like me to do any other testing for you.

Regards

Ian Lloyd

[J453]

Hi Richard,

"You didn't answer my earlier question about how to correct the layout, so I am presuming there is no easy way to copy pages with photos from one book to another without complete reformatting, captioning etc. Is this true?"

Sorry, I couldn't answer your question without being able to reproduce the problem or troubleshoot with a catalog that exhibits the behavior - which is why I asked for you to create a sample catalog for troubleshooting. When I talked with the Blurb folks, they weren't able to reproduce the problem either. Unfortunately, we really need a sample catalog that exhibits the behavior and/or steps to reproduce the results in order to try and troubleshoot and fix an issue.

Can you select the problematic book collection in your primary catalog and choose File > Export as Catalog... - If the resulting catalog still exhibits the problem I can make arrangements to try and get this catalog from you.

[RILloyd]

Hi Jeffrey,

As instructed, I exported the book collection as a new catalog. I then opened this new test catalog and tried to create a book which worked with perfect pagination. It did not re-create the problem.

Where do we go from here? Do you want want me to send you my original catalogue? Its 3.2GB.

Ian Lloyd

[J453]

"I then opened this new test catalog and tried to create a book which worked with perfect pagination. It did not re-create the problem."

Sounds like you were creating a new book. Did the existing book still exhibit the pagination problem? (I'm hoping the exported catalog with the existing book can be shared - and hopefully smaller than the 3.2gb)

[RILloyd]

The exported test catalogue does show the anomaly in my original book. Its 268 mgb. How would you like me to send this to you?

Ian

[J453]

I'll send you an email.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Setting Status

[richardd54009203]

Hello, this issue has just happened to me. All this correspondence seems to have been from years ago but the issue has clearly not been fixed. I am using Lightroom Classic 11.1 which should be the latest. My old books open correctly with a greyed out left hand page and page 1 on the right hand side. This new book did the same but suddenly changed to page 1 on the LHS, so I suspect it will not print correctly. I have rebooted the system but no change. I cannot see any 'switch' to change it back so suspect a bug. I was editing text on the real page 1 when this seemed to happen. Help!

[richardd54009203]

Hello, this issue has just happened to me but I see it was reported in 2017 but I can't find anything about it since.  I am using Lightroom Classic 11.1 on a PC (win11) both of which should be the latest. I have made many blurb books without issue. My old books open correctly with a greyed out left hand first page and page 1 on the right hand side. This new book did the same but suddenly changed to page 1 on the LHS. I have rebooted the system but no change. I cannot see any 'switch' to change it back so suspect a bug. I was editing text on the real page 1 when this seemed to happen but I don't know what caused it. I have loaded the book to blurb and the pages all print incorrectly ie with spreads broken apart. I can frig about to get round this but it is clearly not right, and I am now not feeling very confident to put lots of time into making a book this way. Attached is what the book looks like now with incorrect first page Help!