HT204462: If you see a warning when ordering photo products in Photos or iPhoto

Learn about If you see a warning when ordering photo products in Photos or iPhoto
smcmacken

Q: iPhoto Book problem

I am receiving a warning "Unable to Assemble Book. There is a problem with the photo with the filename (null)." Funny thing is, I have no photo named "null." I'm stymied and frustrated. And I dislike the lack of flexibility with the iPhoto Book templates, but that's another issue. Anyway, can anyone help me?

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on May 7, 2013 2:30 PM

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Q: iPhoto Book problem

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  • by Old Toad,Helpful

    Old Toad Old Toad May 7, 2013 4:06 PM in response to smcmacken
    Level 10 (141,664 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 7, 2013 4:06 PM in response to smcmacken

    It's not a file name "null" but a bad file name.  Look for any file name with spaces or non conventional characters, i.e. @, !, etc.  Anything other that a-z and 0 - 9, - or _. 

     

    If you find a suspect photo remove it from the book and then try creating a pdf file of the book as described in this Apple document: iPhoto, Aperture: Previewing an order in iPhoto or Aperture

     

    As far a flexibility of layouts they can me modified slightly as follows:

    You can "adjust" a photo frame or text box size on a page with the following key combinations:

     

    Command + Option +⬆arrow:  increase frame height.

    Command + Option +⬇arrow:  decrease frame height.

    Command + Option + ➜ arrow:  increase frame width.

    Command + Option + ⬅ arrow:  decrease frame width.

     

    To adjust its position on the page use these key combinations:

     

    Command + Control + ➜ arrow:  move frame to right.

    Command + Control + ⬅  arrow:  move frame to left.

    Command + Control + ⬆ arrow:  rotate frame counter clockwise.

    Command + Control + ⬇ arrow:  rotate frame clockwise.

     

    You can conver the standard frame (on the left) to this one (on the right)

    iPhoto001.jpg

     

    One step further if you have a 3rd party image editor that supports layers or Pages from iWork you can try what's described in this tutorial: iP11 - Creating a Custom Page, with the Theme's Background for an iPhoto Book

     

     

    OT

  • by smcmacken,

    smcmacken smcmacken May 8, 2013 1:30 PM in response to smcmacken
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 8, 2013 1:30 PM in response to smcmacken

    This helped, but I am still getting the "null" window when I go to order the book. I looked over each of the TIFF photos and there doesn't appear to be any bad file names. I'm getting frustrated that I can't find the problem. Is it possible that one or more of the files is too big? I have one 50 MB image and few others in the 30s. Also, should they be CMYK or RGB, or does it not matter?

     

    Thanks for the shortcut tips. It would be nice if iPhoto actually had an instruction sheet or PDF I could download. Or is there one?

     

    Thanks again.

  • by Old Toad,

    Old Toad Old Toad May 8, 2013 1:49 PM in response to smcmacken
    Level 10 (141,664 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 8, 2013 1:49 PM in response to smcmacken

    The files should be RGB.