M2 Mac Mini upgraded to Sonoma 14.0 last night, and now my Scrivener (3.3.3) is crashed repeatedly when editing a document in the same binder I’ve been using for years. I’ve tried restarting, duplicated the document and started over… same result. When I re-open Scrivener it re-builds the search indexes each time, and then lets me work for a few sentences and then crashes again. For the moment, I’m back to saving every sentence or so 
Here’s a crash report from Mac OS
Could you try turning off the line numbering feature in both editors (split the view if necessary, to make sure neither text editor is showing them), and see if that improves stability? The menu toggle for this is under the View ▸ Text Editing submenu.
Thanks, I will try that.
I haven’t seen any problems with that feature by itself, in my test project, but it might be one part of a more complex equation, and I am seeing mentions of it toward the top of the crash trace.
In the meanwhile, and in the interest of just getting back to work, it’s never a bad idea to do some routine troubleshooting, like resetting your preferences, and reinstalling the software, if crashing starts up after a system/software update. Definitely do as advised in that checklist, and save a copy of your settings. If after applying them the crashing comes straight back, that settings file may help us reproduce it too.
OK thx I saved the prefs, uninstalled, restarted, reinstalled and reloaded my prefs. Will advise.
I too am having a hopeless time since updating to Mac OS Sonoma and 3.3.3 on a MacBook M2. Projects either crashing within moments of editing, else opening up to show text as garbled. I’ve re-installed, restarted, trashed preferences—but all to no avail. My copy of Scrivener is LL bought and downloaded and not AppStore purchased—could there be anything in that?Crash Report
Been trying everything I can think of to resolve Scrivener App crashing on Mac OS Sonoma on a MacBook Air M2 16GB 8Core/10Core.
If creating a new project the App seems stable (so far as I can tell), but opening every pre-existing project I’ve tried results in an almost immediate crash, or within a few seconds of moving around in the project. I tried importing a project into a newly created project; once again the app crashed as soon as I started moving around in that newly created project with the imported data.
I’ve tried trashing preferences, caches, re-installed app (after removing all previous traces including files in App Support folder), run disk fist aid, booted in Safe Boot; I’ve tried installing older versions of the app on Mac OS Sonoma than 3.3.3—all to no avail; app crashes, I reopen the project and it rebuilds search index and then crashes again after brief use.
My Scrivener App is LL purchased and downloaded, not Mac App Store.
My projects reside in Dropbox, but I’ve copied projects off before opening and I still experience the same crashing behaviour.
I’m a screenwriter, creating documents in the binder in screenwriting format, with my research and misc notes, images, audio and video in the research folder. My projects typically range in size between double digit MBs to triple digit MBs (63MB to 386MB).
I can only think that the there is something common across all my project files that is bringing the app down; or more disturbingly that the app and OS combination has not been tested fully on the hardware configuration in question.
I’m very far from an expert in reading crash reports, but a memory or (VM) issue appears to be the culprit bringing the app down. (To be clear, I have nothing but Scrivener and the Finder running when I try to resolve the issue).
Sometimes I’ll have a project stay open a little longer before the crash, but the text begins to garble as I scroll. (see video linked below)
I have an older iMac running Mac OS Catalina and a stable version of Scrivener, but growing concerned I may need to take my MacBook Air M2 back to Ventura
As an update, when Scrivener now crashes it is no longer appears to be generating Crash Reports or giving me the option to send or view them!
I’m desperate and appreciate any and all help.
Since there appears to be a common theme with existing projects being unstable, vs newly created projects, I would try this checklist with one of them, and see if running it “stock” for a bit improves the situation.
There is another potential common factor in that your projects are all scriptwriting projects. I do currently have an active investigation into that, where it seems that Undo, in conjunction with one or more unknown factors (potentially having text selected while undoing) can cause crashing. I myself have not see this happen yet however, and if you think that might what you are seeing, anything you can provide in terms of the steps it would take to see it would be appreciated!
Thanks Amber.
I’m more than happy to share a project to let you see for yourself, but fear I am about to wipe the machine and head back to Mac OS Ventura and Scrivener 3.3.1. in search of stability.
Do let me know.
Best, Richard
That’s actually good news, as it probably means either one or a small combination of options are the culprit. Yes, either a copy of the project,or a simple sample project with your preferred settings applied to it, and some instructions on precisely what to do to make it crash, would probably help us find the problem pretty quick.
If you can’t figure out how to make a sample project crash, you can send the project, or a share link, to tech support, and flag this thread URL so they know to connect me to it. Thanks for helping us track it down!
Meanwhile, yes, in my opinion it’s always a good idea to wait at least a quarter or maybe even two, before upgrading the OS. These things come out every year, there is hardly ever anything in them so dramatically important that waiting four to six months is really an issue.
Thanks Amber. I’ll send over a suitable project copy tomorrow.
In the meantime, I’ve rolled the laptop back to Mac OS Ventura and Scrivener 3.3.1 and all seems well. Think I was lulled into a false sense of security by the length of Apple’s Beta programme and my years of stability relying on Scrivener day in and day out as my workhorse—a very unsettling feeling to suddenly experience the opposite.
There’s nothing too crazy in my options: labels in binder and as background colours may well be the culprit, that or rounded corners in Scrivenings. Aside from that, I use a lot of snapshots in each scene document, but that’s about all I can think.
Will look forward to you guys getting to the bottom of it.
Best, Richard
I need my writing machine to be 100% reliable, so I downgraded to Ventura for the time being… I had to create a bootable USB installer, erase the hard drive, and then restore again from an earlier backup. I guess I’ll wait a while longer before upgrading to Sonoma…
I downgraded to Ventura 13.6 / Scrivener 3.3.2, back to 100% stable. I’ll wait for Sonoma 14.1 before trying that OS upgrade again.
To update: we have received data that should help us trace down the crash. I was able to reproduce a few different crashes from it, but hopefully they stem from the same underlying cause.
This project also demonstrated the text overlapping bug some have been seeing. Whether that is related to the crashing remains to be seen.
Following. I’m having the same or very similar issue. Possible wrinkle is that even though Scrivener disappears and is reported as crashed (with offer to send results to Apple), it is still open when looking at Force Quit. And is still “Open” after forcing it to quit and trying to reload the program.
Please try this build and let me know if it helps:
[Link removed]
Many thanks,
Keith
Just chipping in since I’m not seeing any other replies. No change for me on MacOS, but I’m a novice with new builds and not sure that I am using the files correctly.
The 3.3.3 update crashed for me as well on Sonoma. The cursor appeared in strange positions (offset ro the right from the actual position) and words were autocompleted with nonsense when typing. This is in scriptwriting mode using an existing document with a modified template (based on a UK Stage Play).
The new test build resolves the crashes and autocompletion errors for me. The cursor still behaves weirdly when using the arrow keys to navigate. Sometimes I can’t use the left arrow key and have to use the mouse to reposition the cursor, which seems to reset it. This is in an existing scriptwriting project however, I have yet to reproduce it in a new document using a stock template. So it’s probably due to the modified template I’m using.
We’re narrowed down on it being bug that entirely requires Page View and some degree of text zoom being applied to the text. Anyone that can live without either of those together, should be able to avoid problems. That might explain why a new project doesn’t exhibit any issues, for unless you change your preferences to apply Page View and zoom to all new projects, all new projects will have neither of those conditions.
I think that checks out, my text zoom was set at 125%. Didn’t even notice that before. Though “Page View” isn’t enabled. Setting zoom to 100% seems to resolve the issue with the cursor.