Cannot Export Book to PDF...

[Brian5CDC]

I have create a Book in the Book Module. In Book Settings, it is set up as a Blurb Photo Book. There is a "Send Book to Blurb..." bottom right which works. There is a "Export Book to PDF..." bottom left which doesn't work. Usually a window pops up where you can "Save As:" and "Where", but nothing happens. Lightroom Classic V10, Mac OS Catalina 10.15.7

[cmgap]

Can you try a test? Take any collection of a dozen images and open the book module - don't worry about layout etc. just  test the print to pdf, print to jpg. Is it just this book that won't print?

[DaveWilsonPhotography]

Let me piggy-back on your problem since I'm seeing similar issues with Lightroom Classic and a 52 page book I'm trying to create. In my case, neither "Send Book to Blurb..." nor "Export Book to PDF..." do anything at all - no dialog is shown, no errors are reported, buttons just appear dead. I tried creating a small book with 6 pages and see the same problem there so it's not likely related to size. I have successfully created books from Lightroom before but this is the first one with this particular update (10.1.1).

[DaveWilsonPhotography]

Some more info. I opened a book I had previously exported both as PDF and to Blurb successfully and see the same problem there - I can no longer export it. The latest book was successfully exported to PDF when I last did an update back in December. That was on the same iMac but prior to my upgrading to Big Sur and on an earlier LR release.

[DaveWilsonPhotography]

Next attempt - I gave LR full disk access in System Preferences.../Security and Privacy. Still no luck.

[Todd Shaner]

Try using the Creative Cloud app to uninstall LrC 10.1.1, shutdown and restart your system, and reintsall LrC 10.1.1.

[DaveWilsonPhotography]

Thanks. That feels a bit draconian but it's better than "format your hard disk and reinstall the OS". I'll give it a try and see if anything improves.

[DaveWilsonPhotography]

No luck - exactly the same problem after uninstall/reboot/reinstall 😞

[Todd Shaner]

A LrC uninstall and reinstall retains the old Preferences file, which may have become corrupted, which can happen during updates. Try resetting the LrC Preferences file as outlined at the below article. Renaming the file allows the old file to be restored if of no help. Make sure to close and reopen LrC to load the new Preferences file.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/

[DaveWilsonPhotography]

Sorry - still no luck after removing the Preferences file.

[cmgap]

Since you are not the original poster here can you confirm what OS you are running?

[DaveWilsonPhotography]

Apologies - I only just saw this request! I got an email notification for your later one, though.

[Todd Shaner]

Also what LrC version you have installed. 10.1.1 is the latest.

[DaveWilsonPhotography]

From my initial post, 10.1.1.

[Todd Shaner]

I just found this post. Are you using Smart Previews with the original files offline (disconnected external drive, or no permissions).

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic/lightroom-exporting-book-why-or-why-can-i-not-expor...

[DaveWilsonPhotography]

All files are online and accessible to LR, stored in the same Thunderbolt RAID drive that they were last time I managed to create a book.

[cmgap]

What version of OS are you running?

[DaveWilsonPhotography]

macOS Big Sur 11.2.1 (20D74)

[DaveWilsonPhotography]

After a silent week, can anyone tell me how to escalate this? I've seldom had to contact Adobe support in the 25 years I've been using their products and I assume this forum isn't an official support channel.

[cmgap]

Hi Dave - I am still running Catalina and can't replicate the problem. Export to pdf (and jpg) work indepedently and with any of the Blurb book settings. It would be great if someone here on the forum that has Big Sur installed can test it and reply. Also I'm not sure what you've done for trouble shooting... for example what happens if you take a small collection of images (a dozen), and go to the book module, be sure to Clear Book at the top and tap on auto layout (it's just a test). Then first try to select Print to JPG and see if that works, then print to PDF, both of these can be printed from the bottom right hand column - then select one of the Blurb book settings and try to print to pdf in the left column.

[DaveWilsonPhotography]

Everything I've tried is detailed in previous posts to this thread. I've also spoken to friends who have confirmed that this is not a problem which exists for them despite the fact that they are also running Big Sur and LR Classic 10.1.1. At this point, I'm at a loss unless someone can bump this to the next level of support and perhaps let me know if there are any logs I can gather that may offer some insight into what's going on. I'm a software developer by profession so I'm quite happy to help out in any way I can to debug this.

[DaveWilsonPhotography]

I tried the "create a new book with a few images and auto layout" again. I can't see any "Print to JPG" anywhere but I can confirm again that both "Export Book to PDF..." and "Send Book to Blurb..." do absolutely nothing. The buttons depress when clicked (they aren't disabled) but no dialog box appears and no UI feedback occurs at all.

[Rob_Cullen]

I sympathize with your difficulties. This is only a reply to your comment- I can't see any "Print to JPG"

Change the 'Book' option in the 'Book Settings' panel. Then the button below changes to [Export to JPEG]-

[Todd Shaner]

Dave, I suggest posting this as a 'Problem' in the Photoshop Family forum which is monitored by Adobe Staff. Place a link to the report in a reply here so others with the same issue can add their comments.

https://feedback.photoshop.com/

[DaveWilsonPhotography]

I finally raised an official Adobe support issue on this and had various technicians controlling my iMac for 6 hours over the last 3 days. No-one could figure out exactly what was going on but eventually it was suggested I upgrade from macOS 11.6 to 12.0.1. After doing this, all my problems (this one and some pretty egregious issues relating to the new masking features in LRC 11) magically disappeared.