P: Switching between PDF and Blurb Photo Book in LR Book Module

[DCLewis]

I posted about this a few years ago but this problem remains unfixed.

I regularly make large "Blurb Photo Book"s in the LR Book Module that bump up against the 440 page limit using standard paper.  I also have really lousy internet.  I sometimes have to print a "PDF" book to a thumbdrive to upload at a different location with faster internet.  This works well.

The problem occurs when I want to switch back to a "Blurb Photo Book" from "PDF" in the Book Module.  I get the following error message:

Clearly this is a serious problem for me and one I dont dare try to experiment with to work around.  I believe it would not be difficult to set the Blurb Photo Book paper to "standard" paper to avoid this problem.

[Rob_Cullen]

I have experienced this problem also.

My work-around has been to stay in the 'Blurb Photo Book' mode and for a PDF use the button in the lower left [Export as PDF]. The problem with this is that it is not possible to set 'quality, ppi, etc'

Alternatively always design in the 'Blurb Photo Book' mode and 'Duplicate' the saved Book Collection in the Collections panel. Use this 'copy' of the book to convert to 'PDF' mode, and the pages (>240) are preserved. If you want to change the book design- work in the 'Blurb...' book Collection and make another duplicate copy book collection for the PDF.

My guess is that Lr tries to conform to Blurb's requirements.

There is a Blurb help page that is interactive- Changing the paper quality limits the pages. (eg. Set pages to 241 and 'Standard' paper is the only selectable option.)

https://au.blurb.com/make/pdf_to_book/booksize_calculator#book-attributes

[DCLewis]

Thank you and I wished I had thought to duplicate my book(s) before exporting to PDF.  I will be sure to do that in the future!

I think I will be alright if I remember to always stay in the PDF Book Settings when editing these books and always export to PDF.

It's rather like the Sword of Damocles hanging over my head!

[Rob_Cullen]

I am inclined to suggest the opposite, ie. always edit in [Blurb Photo Book] mode.

You can always go [Blurb Photo Book] > [PDF] with >240 pages preserved,

but you cannot go [PDF] > [Blurb Photo Book] with >240 pages preserved.

And yes, it would be good if LrC could autoset the page to 'Standard' if changing from PDF to Blurb.

[DCLewis]

Yes I understand and my previous post wasn't clear.  I meant to say that I will have to remain in the PDF mode only for the books that are currently PDF and greater than 240 pages.  I can still edit them as needed in LR but they will always have to be exported to PDF.

New books going forward will be Blurb Photo Book and duplicated for PDF export.  

And really how hard a fix would this be to fix this problem?

Thanks for your help.  I feel a little stupid for not thinking of this myself.

[erichschlaikjer]

I have this exact problem. After months of work I finished a photo yearbook.

Then I noticed that I had done it all in Standard Landscape size when I wanted Large Landscape.

When I changed the size, Lightroom trashed a lot of pages. That is a separate bug.

So I undid the size change, and output the book as a PDF so I could look at it on a different computer while I fixed the pages that had been badly reformatted.

But now, when I switch back from PDF to Blurb mode, Lightroom says: "Your book will be migrated, but your book has 314 pages, and the new format supports only 240 pages. The extra pages will be removed."

Obviously I want to keep all the pages.

What I suppose is happening is that Lightroom is trying to switch back to the default book, which has heavy paper instead of plain. Plain paper books can have up to 440 pages.

But more generally no program should ever delete a user's work! The correct fix here is to allow any number of pages in a book, and only when the user wants to upload to Blurb should it warn or refuse to do so. The user could want to have more pages for many reasons. I like to autolayout a book, then work my way through it condensing, reformatting, and deleting pages as I go. The final book will have the correct number of pages. Or maybe a user would just like to make a PDF with more pages than Blurb allows.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

If I could prevail upon one of you to fill this out for me with exact reproduction instructions, I would appreciate it. 

@erichschlaikjer  If you did this before on the previous forum, can you give me the link?

Method:

1.
2.
3.
4.

Result:

Expected:

Workaround:

Note:

[erichschlaikjer]

Hi Rikk, thanks for the reply. Here is the old link: https://feedback-readonly.photoshop.com/conversations/lightroom-classic/lightroom-classic-switching-...

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

I don't find a step-by-step there either. Engineering is going to want a concise method of repetition and I would rather have it from someone afflicted with the issue that inserting my interpretation of what I think is going on. 

[erichschlaikjer]

Method:

1. Create a book with 240 pages. The quickest way to do this is to put a lot of photos in your book collection and then do autolayout. If you have more than 240 pages it will stop at 240.
2. Change paper type to "Standard"
3. Add some more pages
4. Switch book type to PDF

5. Try to switch back to "Blurb Photo Book"
5. It will give the message about truncating your book, see image

Result: You lose your work

Expected: Just switch back to a Blurb book but with standard paper, not premium luster, do not lose pages

Workaround: None

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Thanks Erich! I appreciate it.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Setting Status to Acknowledged - 

Adding Bug Number - 

Remember to upvote if you are experiencing this issue. 

[DCLewis]

Thanks Erich that describes my problem exactly.  I am hopeful this can be fixed.  I dont think it should be hard.  Dan