How to stop a file export

[Dave Clark]

Lightroom Version Number

12.3

Operating System

1. Windows 10

I don't often Export large blocks of files but when I do sometimes I realize I made an error and want to stop the export operation. Normally I expect to see such operations in the progress bar and I can click the X to stop it. When exporting (a slow operation) I don't see a progress bar so I don't see a way to stop it. Is there a way to stop and export?

 

[johnrellis]

Normally, exports do appear in the progress bar:

Try resetting LR's preferences:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/articles-page/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/

LR sometimes soils its preferences file, and resetting it can fix all sorts of wonky behavior. That article explains how to restore the old preferences if resetting doesn't help.

 

[Dave Clark]

I am now seeing the progress bar, but when I click the X to stop the export LR keeps exporting many more files. For example, I started an export of 226 raw files. I see the progress bar, so after 3 files had been exported, I clicked the X. I got the following error message.

I have no idea what that means.
The progress bar disappeared but LR continued exporting files for a few more minutes until a total of 185 of the 226 files had been exported. Bizarre.

The biggest problem is that the keywords are a mess. I had selected to export all keywords. The keywords in the exported files include all the synonyms and included keywords. The files are loaded with many more keywords than the original files. If I select to use the LR hierarchy that helps a bit, but synonyms and included keywords are still there.

Worse yet, my LR keyword hierarchy is now polluted with synonyms that have been attached to the exported files that have been created at the top level. I now need to sort through top level keywords and delete all the synonyms that have been promoted. What a mess! It seems the only solution is the go through the hundreds, maybe thousands, of keywords and either delete synonyms or deselect exporting them. Ouch!

 

[johnrellis]

readMetadata: Error when Lightroom attempts to process a catalog master image file: "dng_error_file_not_found" (look at the part after "dng_error" for a clue to the problem)

One cause of that obscure message is that a file is missing / offline:
http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/twitter

(search for "dng_error_file_not_found").

Do the command Library > Find All Missing Photos -- are any of the photos you're trying to export missing?

 

[johnrellis]

The keywords in the exported files include all the synonyms and included keywords.

You can stop synonyms and containing (parent) keywords from getting exported by setting the appropriate options for each keyword. In the Keyword List panel, double-click a keyword and uncheck Export Synonyms, Include On Export, and/or Export Containing Keywords:

Unfortunately, you have to do this one keyword at a time.

 

[johnrellis]

Worse yet, my LR keyword hierarchy is now polluted with synonyms that have been attached to the exported files that have been created at the top level.

This only happens when you import one of the exported files back into the catalog. The easiest way to stop that is setting the appropriate keyword options as described in the previous post.

To clean up, you could remove those re-imported files from the catalog and then do Metadata > Purge Unused Keywords, which will delete all keywords that aren't assigned to any photos.

 

[Dave Clark]

This only happens when you import one of the exported files back into the catalog. The easiest way to stop that is setting the appropriate keyword options as described in the previous post.

To clean up, you could remove those re-imported files from the catalog and then do Metadata > Purge Unused Keywords, which will delete all keywords that aren't assigned to any photos.

One trouble with a general purge is that I have an IOC keyword hierarchy for birds, most of which I have not used since I have not yet photographed that bird. I don't want to delete unused entries in the hierarchy.

Cleaning up the top level keywords is not too tedious.

 

[johnrellis]

One trouble with a general purge is that I have an IOC keyword hierarchy for birds, most of which I have not used since I have not yet photographed that bird. I don't want to delete unused entries in the hierarchy.

Right, I forgot to mention that use-case.

 

[PhilBurton]

Right, I forgot to mention that use-case.

@johnrellis

When I read your posts sometimes it occurs to me that YOU should be the software architect or the CTO for the Lightroom team. (Just kidding but only by half. )

Phil Burton