Printing multiple, non-sequential pages, again

[Bruce J]

Earlier, I put in a feature request to Adobe for this issue:
http://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/showthread.php?t=231&highlight=printing+multiple

Now, I consider it a bug, and for me a serious bug. Here's what I'm doing:

I have a folder w/ 13''+ images, mostly NEF files from a D2'' with a few JPEG files thrown in for good measure. I want to print proof sheets, 2' images per page, with some metadata for each image. And, to save paper, I want to print them on double-sided paper. When I go to the Print module and select my saved template, LR correctly shows me 64 pages of proof sheets. I need to print the odd pages, re-load the paper, and print the even pages. No way to do that in LR w/o going through the print dialog for each page (That was the essence of my previous feature request). So, I patiently go through the print dialog once for each page as fast as the dialog becomes available again. That is tedious, but it worked in LR 1.2.

In LR 1.3.1 it no longer works! If I stack up more than a couple pages, I now get missing images on each page (although the metadata is always there) and some images replaced by "Out of Memory" error boxes. The only way I can now reliably print this job is to sit at the computer and wait for each page to get sent to the printer before requesting the next page. Hardly the way I prefer to spend my evenings and totally unacceptable for a supposedly professional tool.

Hopefully, someone will be able to point out the error of my ways before I have to revert to PS for printing proof sheets again. Thanks,

 

[rcannonp]

What kind of printer are you using? It worked perfectly with my Epson 22''. I did a 6 page test. I sent it to print twice, once for the odds and another time for the evens. I changed the settings in between printings, but you could save presets for each setting. I think that configuring this sort of thing isn't really Lightroom's issue. Your printer driver should handle this.

 

[Bruce J]

Cannon,
Thanks for the quick response. I'm using an Epson R8''. But, I don't see how it could be a printer driver issue. Perhaps it is a Windows vs. Mac thing. How many times do you have to tell LR to print? How many processes does LR report running at once? Sounds like you can specify the odd or even pages all at once. I can't do that; I have to tell LR to print once for each page. If I understand what's happening correctly, LR is calling some sort of OS printing dialog. On WinXP, the print dialog allows me to print all pages or a range of pages. It does not allow me to specify pages like 1,3,5,7, etc. as some software does (ex. MS Word).

Or, possibly, you didn't do a big enough test. I was printing the first 9 even-numbered pages out of 64, but even the first page showed the errors. After I exited the print dialog the 9th time, LR showed 9 processes running, so the first page still had not been spooled. There are 2' images on each page to process and I am not printing in draft mode, so there is plenty of processing to do.

I also see that you have more memory and a faster machine. Don't know if that makes a difference.

 

[rcannonp]

Cannon,
Thanks for the quick response. I'm using an Epson R8''. But, I don't see how it could be a printer driver issue. Perhaps it is a Windows vs. Mac thing. How many times do you have to tell LR to print? How many processes does LR report running at once? Sounds like you can specify the odd or even pages all at once. I can't do that; I have to tell LR to print once for each page. If I understand what's happening correctly, LR is calling some sort of OS printing dialog. On WinXP, the print dialog allows me to print all pages or a range of pages. It does not allow me to specify pages like 1,3,5,7, etc. as some software does (ex. MS Word).

Or, possibly, you didn't do a big enough test. I was printing the first 9 even-numbered pages out of 64, but even the first page showed the errors. After I exited the print dialog the 9th time, LR showed 9 processes running, so the first page still had not been spooled. There are 2' images on each page to process and I am not printing in draft mode, so there is plenty of processing to do.

I also see that you have more memory and a faster machine. Don't know if that makes a difference.

Maybe it is a Mac vs. PC thing. I assumed that it's the Epson drivers handling this. Maybe it's the OS.

If I'm making index prints and I select 6' images with 12 to a page, it sends it to the printer as one print job with 5 pages. If I want all of the pages to print out, then I only have to send it once. If I want to print on the front and back then I would send it to print twice, once for the odds and again for the evens. LR doesn't seem to do any extra processing for this.

It may not help, but here's a screenshot of the dialog box for setting the paper handling.

 

[Bruce J]

Cannon,

Took me a while to get back to this as I was out for town for a few days. I thought maybe I had missed something in the printer driver that would let me select odd- or even-numbered pages to print, but no such luck. I even tried downloading and installing the most recent drivers for the R8'' from EpsonUSA and EpsonUK. Still no help. I still don't know if it is a difference in drivers for the 22'' vs. the R8'', or a difference between the Mac and Win drivers, but there is no way that I can find to print all of the odd pages in a print job other than by requesting them one at a time.

<rant>
I find this situation very frustrating, particularly as it appears to be impossible to find out if anyone who can make a difference is working on the problem or is even aware of it. Yes, I have filed a bug report w/ Adobe, but they don't even acknowledge receipt, much less comment on the problem. I'm definitely feeling like Win users are second class citizens in the LR world.
</rant>

At any rate, thanks for trying to help,

 

[rcannonp]

I'm definitely feeling like Win users are second class citizens in the LR world.

Adobe and Epson can only do so much with what they have to work with. If the printing is handled through the operating system, then I guess that it's more of an issue with Windows than with LR.

 

[Mick Seymour]

The Epson online manual for the Stylus Photo R8'' shows a Double Sided Printing checkbox under Printing Preferences, Page Layout.

 

[Bruce J]

The Epson online manual for the Stylus Photo R8'' shows a Double Sided Printing checkbox under Printing Preferences, Page Layout.

Mick,

I saw that also and thought it was the answer to the problem. Alas, it only allows you to adjust margins independently for odd & even pages; doesn't let you print them separately.

 

[Bruce J]

Adobe and Epson can only do so much with what they have to work with. If the printing is handled through the operating system, then I guess that it's more of an issue with Windows than with LR.

Cannon,

I might agree with your assertion, except that there are many Windows programs that do allow complete specification of pages to print. I'm not a windows programmer (Linux is more my style), but it appears as if there are a number of choices of available print dialogs. If this option is not available in the print dialog widget of the language of their choice, then I feel it's incumbent on them to provide the functionality by writing their own print dialog, if necessary. I try not to be unreasonable about these kinds of things, and I'm sure this is not a high priority, but it would sure be nice to have some recognition by Adobe that the problem exists and they will or won't eventually address it.

As far as Epson is concerned, they have clearly included a print even only or print odd only capability in some of their drivers (22''), so why not in the rest? Well, of course, the R8'' is not the latest model and is no longer available, so why bother with updating the driver?

I do appreciate everyone's continuing help. Perhaps an answer will pop up eventually. Happy holidays to all!