DxO Photolab 2 minor glitch ???

Lately, my DxO Photolab 2 has been ignoring my preference to add a specific "Preset" to all virgin RAW files, forcing me to have to select all images and add the preset manually --- then remember to deselect all before I do a bunch of specific edits intended for a single image and end up doing it to the whole batch.

This annoyance has persisted through several machine restarts.

I have tried to fool it into working again by deselecting the option and then reselecting the option with a different preset.

I have not yet found the trick to get my automatic preset feature back to working.

Has anyone else ran into this and how did you fix it ?

Thanks for reading and all help is appreciated.

Can you post a screenshot of the first page of your preferences?

Okay, Photolab uses a two-staged process to keep up with your edits, a database and the DOP sidecar files for each individual file. It's a fail-safe in case the DOP file gets lost or corrupted. The way your preferences are set up, it will look first for a DOP file in the same folder matching the file you are working on and if it finds none then it will search the database for a matching entry in this folder. It it finds none, then and only then will it apply your default preset. Please note that It is the folder name as well as the file name that Photolab recognizes for it's use in the database.

Unfortunately the database can become corrupted too. I suspect that this has happened to you and when you try to edit your "virgin" files the database is finding something that it thinks matches and is trying to apply some previous edits from it's memory. A way to test this is to put your "virgin" files into a completely new folder containing no DOP files with a new name that Photolab has never seen before i.e. "Buckskin's test files xyz" then restart Photolab and retest.

As for the corrupted DB, I'm afraid the only solution is to delete it and let the program create a new one. Be advised however that if you do not have DOP files for your previous edits that you will lose all your previous edits. If you do have the previous DOP files though a new database will be created from them as you enter each folder that contains them.

rrblint wrote in post #19237793
Okay, Photolab uses a two-staged process to keep up with your edits, a database and the DOP sidecar files for each individual file. It's a fail-safe in case the DOP file gets lost or corrupted. The way your preferences are set up, it will look first for a DOP file in the same folder matching the file you are working on and if it finds none then it will search the database for a matching entry in this folder. It it finds none, then and only then will it apply your default preset. Please note that It is the folder name as well as the file name that Photolab recognizes for it's use in the database.

Unfortunately the database can become corrupted too. I suspect that this has happened to you and when you try to edit your "virgin" files the database is finding something that it thinks matches and is trying to apply some previous edits from it's memory. A way to test this is to put your "virgin" files into a completely new folder containing no DOP files with a new name that Photolab has never seen before i.e. "Buckskin's test files xyz" then restart Photolab and retest.

As for the corrupted DB, I'm afraid the only solution is to delete it and let the program create a new one. Be advised however that if you do not have DOP files for your previous edits that you will lose all your previous edits. If you do have the previous DOP files though a new database will be created from them as you enter each folder that contains them.

Thanks so much !

I might never have considered the database as being the culprit, but after your explanation, it is my first suspect on the list.

I have meticulously kept the DOP sidecars (once I learned just how important they can be at times); if I can't get this sorted, I will "hide" the database and allow another to be built and see if that resolves the situation.

By the way, if you like Photolab 2 then you will love Photolab 4. Lots of new and very useful features. It's free to try for 30 day. Why not give it a trial?

rrblint wrote in post #19237816
By the way, if you like Photolab 2 then you will love Photolab 4. Lots of new and very useful features. It's free to try for 30 day. Why not give it a trial?

He could have an issue updating to PhotoLab v4 on his current computer depending on the operating system he is running.He could still be using Windows 7.

BuckSkin wrote in post #19237804
Thanks so much !

I might never have considered the database as being the culprit, but after your explanation, it is my first suspect on the list.

I have meticulously kept the DOP sidecars (once I learned just how important they can be at times); if I can't get this sorted, I will "hide" the database and allow another to be built and see if that resolves the situation.

You can also trying performing a reinstall. I don't recall whether it worked the same way for version 2, but a reinstall of the current version gives you a repair option. You may have a corruption somewhere that a repair reinstall might correct. Make sure you have your license activation code available. You shouldn't need it, but keep it handy, just in case.

rrblint wrote in post #19237816
By the way, if you like Photolab 2 then you will love Photolab 4. Lots of new and very useful features. It's free to try for 30 day. Why not give it a trial?

mwsilver wrote in post #19237819
He could have an issue updating to PhotoLab v4 on his current computer depending on the operating system he is running.He could still be using Windows 7.

I may give it a try once I have time to give it a thorough checking out --- providing they haven't made it incompatible for Windows 7.

Unless they make Windows 11 EXACTLY like Windows 7, I will always be running Windows 7.

BuckSkin wrote in post #19237916
I may give it a try once I have time to give it a thorough checking out --- providing they haven't made it incompatible for Windows 7.

Unless they make Windows 11 EXACTLY like Windows 7, I will always be running Windows 7.

Nope, PL4 is not compatible with WIN 7. I doubt that Windows will ever go backwards to mimic WIN 7. I hope you can continue to upgrade your other apps for a while.

BuckSkin wrote in post #19237916
I may give it a try once I have time to give it a thorough checking out --- providing they haven't made it incompatible for Windows 7.

Unless they make Windows 11 EXACTLY like Windows 7, I will always be running Windows 7.

PhotoLab 4 is not compatible with Windows 7.

I have used every Windows operating system since Windows 3.1. In my opinion Windows 10 is the fastest and most stable version of Windows that has ever been released. I don't know why you dislike it so much, but that's your choice.

With regard to your statement about always running Windows 7 unless Microsoft releases a Windows 11 that is exactly the same as Windows 7, unfortunately for you that will never happen. If you remain on the Windows platform, sooner or later you will have to upgrade from Windows 7.

And don't forget, you can't buy any new cameras or lenses or even a new computer for that matter. Sorry to be so glum, but it's the truth.

rrblint wrote in post #19237995
And don't forget, you can't buy any new cameras or lenses or even a new computer for that matter. Sorry to be so glum, but it's the truth.

I agree his insistence on remaining with Windows 7 will ultimately be very limiting. However, he can still buy new cameras and lenses. He just won't be able to edit their raw files in PhotoLab 2. There are other raw processing options that still work on Windows 7, including ON1 Photo Raw and Affinity Photo. If he's running a 32 bit version of Windows 7 rather than 64 bit, his software options may be much more limited. He can always try getting an older version of PhotoShop and use the DNG converter.

However, we may be getting ahead of ourselves. I don't think that he should rule out being able to fix the problem that caused him to post in the first place.

mwsilver wrote in post #19238003
I agree his insistence on remaining with Windows 7 will ultimately be very limiting. However, he can still buy new cameras and lenses. He just won't be able to edit their raw files in PhotoLab 2. There are other raw processing options that still work on Windows 7, including ON1 Photo Raw and Affinity Photo. If he's running a 32 bit version of Windows 7 rather than 64 bit, his software options may be much more limited. He can always try getting an older version of PhotoShop and use the DNG converter.

Yes, I was referring to his use of Photolab 2 but eventually even these options will run out. Good for now, but not so much in 2-3 years. I'm pretty sure the original problem is solved.

rrblint wrote in post #19237793
Unfortunately the database can become corrupted too. I suspect that this has happened to you and when you try to edit your "virgin" files the database is finding something that it thinks matches and is trying to apply some previous edits from it's memory. A way to test this is to put your "virgin" files into a completely new folder containing no DOP files with a new name that Photolab has never seen before i.e. "Buckskin's test files xyz" then restart Photolab and retest.

Thanks !

For what it is worth, in my case, trying fresh files in a brand-new folder still resulted in the chosen preset not being applied.

There are three files in the Database folder; a Data Base file (in my case = 11,205 KB), a DB-SHM file (32 KB), and a DB-WAL file (1 KB).
With Photolab 2 closed, I renamed the Data Base file to "Hidden_Photolab_21-May-2021" and left it in the Database folder.
I did not mess with the other two files, SHM and WAL.

Upon re-opening Photolab 2, it immediately created a new Data Base file (60 KB).

I pointed it toward a folder of RAW files that I had relocated away from their DOP sidecars and Photolab now behaves as it is supposed to, automatically applying my chosen preset.

I was expecting to have to re-enter my preferred preset and maybe even recreate the preset; but, thankfully, that information must be stored within another file.