"Saved" Book in LR4B has disappeared

Question

Wondering how I can retrieve the book I was working on in Beta 4.  Working in Windows 7.  Had been able to move between modules okay, Library > Book > Develop, and back and forth and so on, and everything seemed to be working fine.  Had been able to click on the "saved" book I was working on and have it load properly while working on it, loading photos, configuring pages, etc., but now the book does not load.  It shows up in the menu, but all of the pages I had added and all of the photos and text that were "saved" are, alas, no longer there.  The film strip at the bottom still shows the photos that had been added as well as the photos yet to be added to the book,   Just no layouts of what I had done, just new , blank layouts.  Any help in retrieving what I have done up to this point?  Thanks

Answer 1

Just had my book project disappear from the LR4 book module. Wait, that's not entirely accurate. The book project is still in the collection and the filmstrip still shows the number of times each image is included in the book, but the book content is gone.
Here's my recreation of the last steps before the pages went missing.
I have two books in the collection- one intended for print, another for electronic publishing. The content is identical. Once I finish an area in version A, I mirror the steps in version B by jumping back 'n forth between collections to repeat the steps. I finished a final tweak on the manuscript- font size, color, leading, kerning, baseline, etc. in version A and was beginning to copy the manuscript over to version B by Copy/Paste when the book pages went away. The last step I performed: In version A on a full page of two column text- approximately 400 words, I highlighted the entire text (ctrl+a), copied the text to the clipboard (ctrl+c), then double clicked version B in the collections pane to changes sources. When version B opened there was a blank cover, and two blank pages in the workspace. When I double clicked back to version A, hoping to refresh the program, version B was identical to version A- blank cover and two blank pages. None of the steps I've tried to undo the glitch have worked.
Hopefully someone will come up with a fix for this. The information must still be embedded somewhere in the library. I just need LR to see it and call it back up.
In the mean time, I've got a couple of ideas people can use to help minimize the setback, should it happen to you.
1- Set your catalog backup to: Every time LIghtroom closes. Go to Edit>Catalog Settings... At the bottom of the pop-up under Backup choose: Every time LIghtroom exits from the dropdown menu. Click OK.
     If you loose your work you can open the backup catalog and hopefully you won't have lost too many steps.
2- Save a PDF version of your book as you progress. At the bottom of the Left Module pane click Export Book to PDF... I'd recommend also not overwriting the PDF backup when you do this in case the export fails. Save at least one redundant backup.
     If you loose your work and the back up isn't recent (or working), you at least have one copy to work from in PDF form.
3- Write your manuscript in another program, such as Microsoft Office or OneNote, then copy/paste the script into the pages in the Book module.
     If you loose your work, it's just a matter of copy/pasting the copy back into the book once you rebuild it to that step.
Best of luck, and if anyone hears of a fix for this, please let everyone know.
Best,
CS