" Download All " emails link producing Zip File - but gallery photos missing from Zip

WinsomeWorks

Just wondering if this has always been the case; I thought in the past I simply went to the provided link & downloaded the files, but that they weren't zipped together. I could certainly be wrong; I haven't done this much, but have more often sent the link to others. Anyway, I'll probably be emailing Help, because there are problems that crop up, probably due to the gallery being zipped, that I think would not be problems otherwise. Wondering if others have run into this.

I've got a lot of galleries where I've done kind of edit to some of the photos in the gallery. Sometimes I've made a copy of a photo, then did an edit (such as Color Effect) on ONE of the 2 identical photo files. So there are now 2 photos in the same gallery with the same original camera ID. Here's an example: In a gallery of portrait photos, I uploaded the originals twice (to the same gallery). Then I changed the first batch of uploads to B&W, and the 2nd batch to Sepia. Now the 2 batches share the same camera ID numbers, & to a Zip program have lots of bits of identical data, but they look entirely different & I wanted to share both versions with a friend.

Many days later, I went back to said gallery to the icon "Download All". I receive the link via email. But when I go to it & ask to download, I get a zip file. When I extract the files to a folder on my computer (Using 7-zip), I only see the sepia versions. The other half of the gallery (the B&W versions) are not there. Now I'm wondering too if I or my friends have received un-color-corrected versions when they've done the Download All. Knowing just a slight bit about how zipping works, I'm thinking the zip method causes a "Download All" to miss any files w/ certain duplicate info... I hope there's a fix for this, because in many cases, the reason for "Downloading All" is specifically for an easy way to share changed versions with various people!

leftquark

Everything should work as you expect. I just double checked and anything edited using the Image Tools (for Sepia, B&W, etc) are included in the Zip download, in the edited form. I'd recommend forwarding the zip file email to the support heroes to have them dig deeper.

WinsomeWorks

In order to truly replicate this issue, you would need to do the kinds of actions I did. I.e., For instance, you'd need to upload a batch of original files. Then upload a 2nd (identical) batch of those same files to the same gallery. Then change the 1st upload batch in that gallery to B&W. Then change the 2nd uploaded batch to Sepia. Later, hit the " download all" button. When I do this, I get only one batch. Sometimes a few are B&W & a few are Sepia. Sometimes they're all Sepia. The most recent time I tried downloading the another (auto-color-corrected), gallery, I finally got color-corrected versions as well, with a little extension to differentiate the files in my computer folder. But that's not happening w/ the B&W & Sepia gallery. I'd go to Help, but I'm already working with them on my other problem, where I can't get a non-expired mobile upload link ( Helpdesk & I have been working on it for a couple days, to no avail so far...)

leftquark wrote: »

Everything should work as you expect. I just double checked and anything edited using the Image Tools (for Sepia, B&W, etc) are included in the Zip download, in the edited form. I'd recommend forwarding the zip file email to the support heroes to have them dig deeper.

leftquark

Yep - I did all those steps and everything worked as expected. How quickly are you hitting the "Download All" button? Right after turning them B&W and Sepia? Some amount of time needs to happen for the photos to process, and some photo processing is slightly delayed this week as we rescue the PictureLife customers from losing their photos.

WinsomeWorks

No, I knew it could take awhile. It's now been many days.... once a link gets generated though, idk if it exactly updates if you go back into the gallery in a couple days & try again. Maybe it still gives you the same link. Aaargh.

WinsomeWorks

To get new " Download All " Zip File link - log out & enter email address
Ok, I learned something & am sharing it in case it helps anyone else. I found a way to get a new Zip File Link if you're trying to "Download All" (download a whole gallery) and perhaps failed to get the whole gallery, including its color-corrections & other changes, on an earlier attempt. (You probably failed because you didn't wait long enough, as LeftQuark mentoned) But here's the thing: If you're logged into your SmugMug site & try waiting a day or whatever to get a new link, it won't help even if you wait longer, because you evidently still get the same link you got before (it shows up immediately; you don't even have to wait for an email.. unless it's been 2 weeks since the last time.)

So instead of staying logged in, do this: log out, refresh the site, etc. Now hit the "Download All" button (of course, this will only work if you've allowed that button to show for guests, in gallery settings). Now enter an email address. I used another email address I have, just in case, instead of using the same email my account has attached to it. Soon you should get a new link to the Zip File for downloading the gallery, & if you've waited long enough by this time for all the color corrections etc. to hit all the servers, that new link should deliver the entire gallery, including the changed files, to your computer even if all you can get while logged in is the old zip file.

The changed files have an appended " _1 " to differentiate them from the originals (if you've made copies on SmugMug & therefore have same filenames). The only clincher is, it's anyone's guess how long you need to wait. But if you're logged out, it appears you'll get a new link each time you enter an email & try again, so you could just try every couple hours or whatever. This worked for me today & I'm a happy camper... hope it helps anyone else with this problem.

leftquark

Download links are active for 2 weeks and then expire.

WinsomeWorks

leftquark wrote: »

Download links are active for 2 weeks and then expire.

Right, I knew that, but I wasn't sure what the practical result of that was. ( I didn't know earlier if that meant you'd definitely get the exact same results each time you downloaded, if it was within that 2 weeks) More importantly, I didn't any solution if I knew I definitely wanted a brand new link, I only kinda accidentally came across the idea of logging out in order to get one.