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Screen freezes...argh!


OhDebs

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I looked around her to see if there was already a thread on it but couldn't find anything. Does anyone have a problem with the screen freezing for a moment (or more) or lagging. It is a little annoying and I am wondering why it does this. So far I am telling myself that it does this to make me stop and think about what I am writing. Hahaha. :(

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Hi Debs,

 

If it's just freezing for a moment, it could be that something else running on your machine is using a lot of computer time. This might happen, for example, when OS X rebuilds the search index after an update.

 

What version of OS X are you running? Also, how large is your project?

 

-Steve

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HI Steve,

I am running 10.10.5 Yosemite. I try not to have a lot of stuff going on in the background when I am using Storyist, but as you say it might be my computer. It's a 2009 MacBook Pro and it might be getting tired.

 

Not sure how to find out how large the file is but my story is 38,827 words so far.

 

I am really liking the application though. It has a steep learning curve and I wish there were more videos on how things work. I guess I need Storyist for Dummies ;)

 

Thanks for replying.

Deb

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry to resurrect a (kind of?) old topic, but I am having this issue as well and was hoping for some resolution. I'm also running 10.10.5 Yosemite, and initially thought Storyist was lagging because my project was getting to be a pretty decent size (21.9 MB). I've worked on a smaller project (366 KB) and am still experiencing lagging/freezing.

 

I've noticed it lags or freezes up almost every time I click in the drop-down bar to change the style (where it usually says Section Text), but I've also experienced it with absolutely no provocation. Quitting/restarting Storyist doesn't seem to do anything most times I've tried it, and/but I'm not sure what else to do. Thoughts, anyone?

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I am still having this problem. It is quite annoying when you are on a roll typing and then maybe go back to fix something, but can't because it is frozen and you have to sit there and wait.

 

Since I have your attention kaylinscout, how did you get your picture to show up for your avatar. I can't get that to work to save my life. :)

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kaylinscout: What version of Storyist are you running and on what make/model of Mac?

 

OhDebs: How much free space do you have on your hard drive? Another thing that happens in the background is that OS X prunes the automatically created versions of your project when your disk starts to get full.

 

-Steve

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Steve: I'm running Storyist 3.0.4 on an early 2015 Macbook Air. It's a brand new computer, too—it has 500GB of storage and I've got 499GB left to spare.

 

OhDebs: Ohhh my god I know. It makes me paranoid that something's about to crash and I'll lose a ton of work. (Fortunately, that has yet to happen, but the fear still lingers.) My picture is actually my Gravatar, so it automatically showed up when I registered for an account. I think you can change your profile picture if you go up to the top bar drop-down where it says your name and go into "My Profile." If you hover over where your avatar should be in the top left corner when viewing your profile, you should see a "Change" button that will let you upload pictures and such.

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Hi kaylinscout,

 

Storyist 3.0.4 is a little out of date. The current version of Storyist for Mac is 3.2.2, and includes some bug fixes you'll want to pick up. If you purchased Storyist from the Storyist website, just open the General pane in the Preferences window and click Update Now. If you purchased Storyist from the Mac App Store, just open the App Store app check the Updates tab. The latest version in the Mac App Store is 3.2.

 

As for losing work, that's actually pretty hard to do. Storyist autosaves your work every few minutes, and if Storyist crashes, you will see the latest autosaved version when reopening. Storyist also periodically makes backups of your project, and you can see these by choosing File > Revert To > Browse All Versions.

 

-Steve

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kaylinscout: Oh I know how to do it it just doesn't work. I have tried the other numerous times form the day I joined here and no matter what I do it just sits there. Marguerite said she thought it might be the system there but I keep trying. I guess I am going to have to go the Gravatar route.

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Still freezing/lagging here as well, though I think it is a bit less often than before I updated. I've experienced it on both local and on Dropbox files. The style change drop-down still reliably freezes it the longest, but I've also noticed it freezing sometimes when I click into Storyist from another window—for example, if I'm switching between iTunes and writing. Anything else to be done about this?

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At first I just tried to ignore it but as I get to know the program more it is getting to be quite annoying.

I have tried everything I can think of to get to the bottom of this.

I have plenty of space on my computer.

I have shut down all other applications, my files are all local.

It's like Storyist falls asleep and it happens randomly. The most frustrating part is when I am on a roll writing and I try to go back and fix something and it freezes for sometimes longer than a minute. This is not conducive to productive writing. At first I thought maybe my computer is too old. It's a 2009 MacBook Pro which, I believe is the same as what Marguerite said she has. The fact that Kaylinscout is having the same issues and has a brand new computer with tons of space makes me wonder what the heck could be going on. Is it because it is constantly saving our work?

Can it be set to only save at certain times? I love so much about this application but it is very frustrating too.

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Last night I had that same problem, Rusty. I had made some changes in the title of my book and it completely froze. I gave up and shut down my computer. Thankfully this morning it was all still there. I hope this can be figured out soon because I really like Storyist otherwise, even though I still find some of it complicated. I really wish there were more video tutorials on how to use it. Please, Steve? Sort of a Storyist for Dummies series? There are a lot of unanswered questions in the FAQs and Getting Started stuff.

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Hi Everyone,

 

It sounds like there are two separate issues here:

  1. The screen freezes for a moment (or more).
  2. The app becomes unresponsive until you quit.

The first case is likely the result of the computer doing other things on your behalf, and will affect older, slower Macs more than newer, faster Macs. If we can figure out what it's doing, I can (perhaps) have Storyist work around this situation.

 

One thing that might help is reducing the number of times you use the Save command (Command + S). Some people, especially long-time computer users, hit Command + S reflexively after typing a sentence or two. When you do this, OS X creates a version of your file for safe keeping. At some point, it prunes these versions to a manageable count, keeping hourly versions for a day, daily versions for a month, and weekly versions for all previous months. This pruning takes computer time and may result in a slight pause.

 

The second case is probably a different issue. If you're seeing the app become unresponsive until you quit (Rusty, this sounds like your case), please send some email to the support address and we'll investigate further. Please include the version of Storyist you're using along with the version of OS X.

 

Note: If you're using OS X El Capitan, you'll need to be running Storyist 3.2 or later. Storyist versions prior to 3.2 may freeze on opening on El Capitan due to some changes Apple made for the release.

 

-Steve

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My slowdowns probably are caused by reflexive tapping of the Command-S combination. I got my first PC in 1981, when failure to save every two seconds meant lost work, with all the resultant howling and head banging. Versioning is wonderful, but I can't quite bring myself to trust it. The memories of the bad old days before "Undo" are deeply etched into my mental DNA at this point.

 

But I will try to adjust to the new century. :)

Best,

M (aka Old Codger)

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  • 1 month later...

I have a similar issue where every couple of minutes the spinning beach ball comes up for maybe 10 seconds and then everything goes back to normal. I thought it was because my file is about 6mb, but I read above that one person's file is over 20mb. I've tried to reproduce it but I can find no consistently reproducible action that would cause this.

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Well, I am still having issues with this, but have noticed that they are fewer and shorter freezes since the last update. I don't get the spinning beach ball, though. I just get no response from the application. It's annoying, but not enough to cause me to abandon it. I have taken the approach that it means to slow down. LOL. :rolleyes:

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