P: Undo function fails and applies a preset instead

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

LR4.2 When removing a photo from a collection and then pressing "undo" the photo is not returned to the collection and instead a preset is applied to the next photo.

[ilopix]

System is Win7 64-bit Home Premium SP1 / 8GB / i5@2.40GHz

Develop Presets: 21 folders with 713 presets (53 of those are LR presets); I've only added a handful of presets since L3, the problem began with LR4 (but at this point I can't remember what version of 4).

When this occurs (the undo issue) nothing else works, for example I can't File -> Exit (that applies the preset too), the only way out of LR is to use the windows "X" top right corner to exit.

I've followed every direction to optimize my catalog and I haven't found a specific series of events that triggers this. My catalog is 3.3 GB.

[TrevisT]

Win7 64 bit. Had this problem win LR4, still have it with 5.

I don't think that I have that many presets but I do have the Seim Efx color and silver set. A couple of Kubota sets and maybe a few even smaller ones.

I'm also an app developer so if you need a tech savvy person to help diagnose the issue I may be able to help.

[johnrellis]

I have just a couple of custom develop presets. The problem has only struck me a few times. (Windows 7 64, LR 5.2RC and probably LR 5.1.)

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Win 8 64bit, problem in LR5. Even in catalogs with only a couple of dozen images total, it will randomly just a apply a pre-sent when trying to undo. Both using ctr+z and the undo from the dropdown menu. Couple hundred pre-sets installed. Seems to always want to apply a pre-set that is for black and white conversion,

[Benjamin Warde]

Thanks, everyone. We have a couple theories that we're investigating. I'll post back here when I have more info, or if I have additional questions.

-Ben

[Benjamin Warde]

Huzzah! A couple of my esteemed colleagues have figured out what's causing this problem. We don't have a fix yet, but we're working on it, and everyone agrees this is a nasty bug.

Thanks,
Ben

[J453]

Hi Ben, thanks for being fastidious in tracking this down!

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Great to hear Ben may be finding a fix, this is becoming an increasingly frustrating bug.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

wooho sounds really awesome. 🙂

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Great news!

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

It has been occuring since today morning. Instead of going step backward it applies a certain preset. I am using LR 4.4.
It cannot be undone via EDIT - UNDO either, the only way to get to the preivous status is to go to Develop - History and select a status there.
It sucks,

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

it does indeed suck as I have had this problem for over a year! 🙂 I think Adobe are sorting it now.

[TrevisT]

Would it be presumptuous of me to think that this 5.4 update that LR is notifying me about has this fix?

[Benjamin Warde]

Responding to Trevis's question above, this bug is not fixed in 5.4 (sadly, 5.4 was locked and loaded before this issue was figured out).

-Ben

[Benjamin Warde]

Hi All,

I have a temporary workaround for anyone who is hitting this problem very frequently. This bug happens because of the way that menus are built on Windows. It can conceivably happen in pretty much any situation, but it becomes much more likely to happen if you have a menu that contains a whole lot of items. The most likely way to end up with a menu that contains a whole lot of items is to have a lot of Develop presets (since there are some menus in Lightroom that will list every Develop preset you have). So, there are two ways to prevent this problem from happening (or to make it much less likely to happen):

1. Reduce the number of Develop presets that you have. Do you have 1,000 presets, but you really only use a dozen of them? Try removing the others temporarily.
2. Avoid using any menu that lists the Develop presets. This includes most of the menus you get when you right-click on an image (because they contain a "Develop Settings" submenu) and also the "Saved Preset" pop-up menu in the Quick Develop panel in Library.

Obviously neither of these workaround is very appealing, but if you're having this problem a lot, I wanted to give you something to try while we work on a fix. If you do try either of these workarounds, I'd be interested to know if it helps.

Thanks,
Ben

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Downloaded 5.4 and now ctrl+z launches a email module. This is worse because now I have to wait for it to compress images and open a pop up window! Does limiting the number of presets even matter now since its a different problem?

[areohbee]

I have had that happen too - not Lr5, but Lr3 or 2 I think (maybe 4). This problem has been in Lightroom for a long time. But I haven't had it happen for a long time - knock on wood..

[Benjamin Warde]

The problem has been in Lightroom since version 1. 😞 Yes, limiting the presets, and limiting the use of any menu that includes those presets, will still help. It's not a different problem, it's the same problem. The underlying problem can eventually cause random things to happen. Usually that means randomly applying a Develop preset, but as you've discovered, not always. It's theoretically possible for almost anything that can be invoked by a menu command to happen.

[dilbertaz]

I have had this issue for a number of versions of Lightroom now, (PC) after editing for so long all of a sudden when I attempt an undo, instead of undoing the last action it applies some random preset instead. It has been happening for all versions of LR5 and I think it was happening under LR4 but can't be positive.

[johnrellis]

This person reports that the extreme slowth in the Library is directly correlated with a large number of develop presets:

http://feedback.photoshop.com/photosh...

Another side effect of the core problem with large menus?

[johnrellis]

LR 5.5 fixes this:

http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjourn...

[Benjamin Warde]

This has been fixed in 5.5 (sort of - see below). You can download 5.5 from within the Lightroom application via Help>Check for Updates..., or you can download it manually from here:

http://www.adobe.com/support/download...

It turns out that fixing this correctly involves very invasive, far-reaching changes to the way that Lightroom handles menus on Windows. These changes were too extensive and potentially destabilizing to be thoroughly tested in time for the 5.5 release. So, we have opted for a temporary fix that is incomplete, but much safer than the real fix. As such, it is still possible to hit this bug, but it is much less likely. And if you do hit it, the consequences are much less bad. We plan to provide a real, complete fix in a future update.

Thanks,
Ben

[TrevisT]

Cool. We'll upgrade and see how it goes.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Benjamin Warde, is there an update that will fix this problem for LR 4.4?

[Rikk-Flohr]

4.4 Will receive no updates. You would need to upgrade to 5.5.