diff --git a/.github/workflows/export-dynamic.yaml b/.github/workflows/export-dynamic.yaml
index 335bce6..52e3817 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/export-dynamic.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/export-dynamic.yaml
@@ -286,6 +286,9 @@ jobs:
           image-repository-prefix: ${{ steps.set-image-tag-name.outputs.IMAGE_REPOSITORY_PREFIX }}
           image-tag-prefix: ${{ inputs.image-tag-prefix }}
           last-publish-commit: ${{ inputs.last-publish-commit }}
+        run:
+          # for now always pass this step so we can get all the followup logging steps to still run even if the export fails
+          ${{ github.action_path }}/export-dynamic.sh || true
 
       - name: Set artifacts name suffix
         id: set-artifacts-name-suffix
diff --git a/export-dynamic/export-dynamic.sh b/export-dynamic/export-dynamic.sh
index 0540ee8..4885bfa 100755
--- a/export-dynamic/export-dynamic.sh
+++ b/export-dynamic/export-dynamic.sh
@@ -159,7 +159,9 @@ else
         set -e
         popd > /dev/null
     done < "${INPUTS_PLUGINS_FILE}"
-    echo "Plugins with failed exports: ${errors[*]}"
+    if [[ ${#errors[@]} -gt 0 ]]; then
+        echo "Plugins with failed exports: ${errors[*]}"
+    fi
 fi
 
 FAILED_EXPORTS_OUTPUT=${FAILED_EXPORTS_OUTPUT:-"failed-exports-output"}
@@ -176,21 +178,23 @@ do
     echo "$image" >> "$PUBLISHED_EXPORTS_OUTPUT"
 done
 
-# shellcheck disable=SC2129 disable=SC2086
-if [[ "$GITHUB_OUTPUT" != "" ]]
-then
-    echo "FAILED_EXPORTS<<EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-    cat $FAILED_EXPORTS_OUTPUT >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-    echo "EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+# write to a temp file if the GITHUB_OUTPUT pipe isn't set
+if [[ ! $GITHUB_OUTPUT ]]; then GITHUB_OUTPUT=/tmp/github_output.txt; fi
 
-    echo "PUBLISHED_EXPORTS<<EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-    cat $PUBLISHED_EXPORTS_OUTPUT >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-    echo "EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+echo "FAILED_EXPORTS<<EOF" | tee -a "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+cat "$FAILED_EXPORTS_OUTPUT" | tee -a "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+echo "EOF" | tee -a "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
-    if [[ "${skipWorkspace}" == "true" ]]
-    then
-        echo "WORKSPACE_SKIPPED_UNCHANGED_SINCE=${INPUTS_LAST_PUBLISH_COMMIT}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-    else
-        echo "WORKSPACE_SKIPPED_UNCHANGED_SINCE=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-    fi
+echo "PUBLISHED_EXPORTS<<EOF" | tee -a "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+cat "$PUBLISHED_EXPORTS_OUTPUT" | tee -a "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+echo "EOF" | tee -a "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+if [[ "${skipWorkspace}" == "true" ]]
+then
+    echo "WORKSPACE_SKIPPED_UNCHANGED_SINCE=${INPUTS_LAST_PUBLISH_COMMIT}" | tee -a "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+else
+    echo "WORKSPACE_SKIPPED_UNCHANGED_SINCE=false" | tee -a "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 fi
+
+# exit a return code equivalent to the number of errors
+exit $((${#errors[@]}))