Print module draft printing a contact sheet excruciatingly long

[ash_ess]

Hi

I'm using Lightroom Classic 9.0 on Macbook Pro High Sierra

I have configured a contact sheet (3 rows x 6 columns) within the Print module of Lightroom Classic to print in Draft mode and then instead of printing to a printer, I use Mac's option of saving as a PDF.  For reasons which elludes me, it either succeeds in a reasonable time or it would literally take hours to finish the job.  This is especially egregious when there are more than 2 pages.  As far as I can see I have ample disk space for any scratch work needs it may need internally.

Also to note is that the photos being processed are not raw - they are relatively tiny 900x1350 pixels jpegs. The only processing needed would be reducing the size of the files before composing the contact sheet grid.  Also to note is that I am adding a watermark to each image using the Identity Plate option and turning this off does not seem to affect the processing time.

To get an idea of the time it takes, it takes as long to process the PDF as it would take to export my original Fuji RAF raw files to 900x1350 jpegs!

I'm including screenshots of my settings.

Thanks in advance for your help

[Tony_See]

Can I ask how have you customised the Photo Info menu?

What task have you set the software to perform there?

[ash_ess]

Hi Tony

This would give the ordinal number of the photo within the contact sheet preceded by the constant "c" for colour.  Thus, c12 would mean the 12th photo in the (colour) contact sheet.

Thanks for your interest

[ash_ess]

Hold on. I just tried something I haden't before.  Instead of saving as PDF, I actually printed it.  It goes very quickly.  The issue may be on the Mac side where it translating the (postscript?) file generated for the printer to a PDF...

[ash_ess]

OK. I think I now know the circumstances under which it labours to finish the job.

It is indeed during the convertion of (postscript) to PDF - my original page size was set to my Mac's monitor.  If I change it to A4, then the convertion is instantaneous.

So the issue is probably conversion of "odd" postscript format pages to PDF.  I reckon the problem is "solved" - I'll keep this open for a while while I try my hypothesis on other libraries and then shall close it.

Thanks for showing interest

Ash

[ash_ess]

Aaargh. It's not the paper size and the conversion to PDF.  It is related to the internal cache generation.  The second time I generate the PDF on a set that has already been processed, it finishes very quickly...  Very annoyed.  I just deleted the Helper and Preview files and the problem returns.  Once I reinstate the old Helper and Preview, it goes very quickly again. It is taking a disproportionate time to create internal previews/thumbnails/cache etc.

I've now started from scratch by deleting the Helper and Preview files and created a new Print set removing all fancy settings such as Identity and Photo Info and the problem persists.

It amazes me if I'm the only person suffering from what seems to be a fundamental fault of the software: It seems inept in doing the basic functionality of creating a contact sheet.  I am complaining about this also because it is not possible to run multiple instances of Lightroom - once it is working on something that takes an hour to finish, you can't work anymore on anything else.  I am having to start the "job" before going to bed ready for the morning.

[ash_ess · Accepted solution]

OK. I think I've finally narrowed it down.  The issue is when you check "Draft Mode Printing".  The workaround is to print normally but setting the Print Resolution to something like 72 dpi.  Am happy I found this workaround.