Frequent crashes, jumbled text

Scrivener is becoming almost unusable. It keeps crashing while I am just typing in a document. It has crashed five times in the last half hour! I have tried quitting all other open programs and restarting the computer (MacBook Air, M2 chip). I am in the final stages of finishing a large book (currently 130,000 words). It is fairly complex, with four sections, 43 chapters, and each chapter split into numerous sub-documents. Recently it has started acting up, with the last line or two at the bottom of a page repeating, looking jumbled, or disappearing completely in page view. More recently it has started crashing regularly as I’m editing. I am terrified that it will crash completely and I will lose everything, five years worth of work!. The backup function won’t help, because all am doing at this point would be backing up a defective project/file, which would have the same problems. I am running the latest Mac OS, Sequoia 15.1.1, and the latest version of Scrivener, 3.3.6. Any help would be greatly, greatly appreciated. Below is the crash report; I had to delete it toward the end because it was too many characters for your system:


Translated Report (Full Report Below)

Process: Scrivener [1745]
Path: /Applications/Scrivener/Scrivener.app/Contents/MacOS/Scrivener
Identifier: com.literatureandlatte.scrivener3
Version: 3.3.6 (16305)
Code Type: ARM-64 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [1]
User ID: 501

Date/Time: 2024-12-11 12:43:57.3925 -0500
OS Version: macOS 15.1.1 (24B91)
Report Version: 12
Anonymous UUID: 1DA1F892-3338-01D5-9A1B-5B62AA8F2741

Time Awake Since Boot: 1400 seconds

System Integrity Protection: enabled

Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x0000c3dc681acf30 → 0x000043dc681acf30 (possible pointer authentication failure)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x0000c3dc681acf30

Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 11 Segmentation fault: 11
Terminating Process: exc handler [1745]

VM Region Info: 0x43dc681acf30 is not in any region. Bytes after previous region: 74132882116401 Bytes before following region: 30939197812944
REGION TYPE START - END [ VSIZE] PRT/MAX SHRMOD REGION DETAIL
commpage (reserved) 1000000000-7000000000 [384.0G] —/— SM=NUL reserved VM address space (unallocated)
—> GAP OF 0x5f9000000000 BYTES
MALLOC_NANO 600000000000-600020000000 [512.0M] rw-/rwx SM=PRV

Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0 libobjc.A.dylib 0x1830ad820 objc_msgSend + 32
1 UIFoundation 0x18846fa9c -[NSLayoutManager(NSPrivate) _rectArrayForRange:withinSelectionRange:rangeIsCharRange:singleRectOnly:fullLineRectsOnly:inTextContainer:rectCount:rangeWithinContainer:glyphsDrawOutsideLines:rectArray:rectArrayCapacity:] + 5476
2 UIFoundation 0x1884eb658 -[NSLayoutManager enumerateEnclosingRectsForGlyphRange:withinSelectedGlyphRange:inTextContainer:usingBlock:] + 96
3 ScrAppKit 0x1047f9d68 -[NSLayoutManager(KBAdditions) rectAdjustedForLineSpacingFromLineFragmentRect:attributes:range:origin:textContainer:] + 368
4 ScrAppKit 0x1047a0cc4 -[KBBaseTextView insertionPointRectAdjustedForTypingAttributesLineSpacingFromRect:] + 304
5 ScrAppKit 0x1047a0b08 -[KBBaseTextView fixInsertionIndicatorFrame] + 372
6 Foundation 0x1846fa11c NSKeyValueNotifyObserver + 252
7 Foundation 0x1847a6ef4 NSKeyValueDidChange + 388
8 Foundation 0x184f93e78 NSKeyValueDidChangeWithPerThreadPendingNotifications + 160
9 AppKit 0x1870a7d48 -[NSView didChangeValueForKey:] + 124
10 Foundation 0x184736dfc _NSSetRectValueAndNotify + 352
11 AppKit 0x187aacb50 -[NSTextView(NSSharing) _updateBlinkRectUsingLayoutManager] + 564
12 AppKit 0x18716befc -[NSTextView(NSSharing) updateInsertionPointStateAndRestartTimer:] + 1200
13 ScrAppKit 0x10479c8e8 -[KBBaseTextView updateInsertionPointStateAndRestartTimer:] + 180
14 UIFoundation 0x18848c1d0 -[NSLayoutManager textContainerForGlyphAtIndex:effectiveRange:] + 456
15 AppKit 0x18723ddd4 -[NSTextView(NSPrivate) _scrollRangeToVisible:forceCenter:] + 804
16 ScrAppKit 0x104793e90 -[KBLayoutManager checkAdvancedTypographyForInvalidatedRange:] + 332
17 Foundation 0x184740fe8 __NSFireDelayedPerform + 372
18 CoreFoundation 0x18357f824 CFRUNLOOP_IS_CALLING_OUT_TO_A_TIMER_CALLBACK_FUNCTION + 32
19 CoreFoundation 0x18357f4c8 __CFRunLoopDoTimer + 1012
20 CoreFoundation 0x18357efd8 __CFRunLoopDoTimers + 356
21 CoreFoundation 0x1835649c0 __CFRunLoopRun + 1856
22 CoreFoundation 0x183563bc4 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 588
23 HIToolbox 0x18e9d3f64 RunCurrentEventLoopInMode + 292
24 HIToolbox 0x18e9d9bb4 ReceiveNextEventCommon + 220
25 HIToolbox 0x18e9d9eb8 _BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInModeWithFilter + 76
26 AppKit 0x18708fa08 _DPSNextEvent + 660
27 AppKit 0x1879cfe0c -[NSApplication(NSEventRouting) _nextEventMatchingEventMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 688
28 AppKit 0x187082ae0 -[NSApplication run] + 480
29 AppKit 0x187059364 NSApplicationMain + 888
30 dyld 0x1830fc274 start + 2840

Thread 1:: com.apple.NSEventThread
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x18343de34 mach_msg2_trap + 8
1 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x1834505d0 mach_msg2_internal + 80
2 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x1834469d8 mach_msg_overwrite + 480
3 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x18343e17c mach_msg + 24
4 CoreFoundation 0x183565edc __CFRunLoopServiceMachPort + 160
5 CoreFoundation 0x18356473c __CFRunLoopRun + 1212
6 CoreFoundation 0x183563bc4 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 588
7 AppKit 0x1871b4b8c _NSEventThread + 148
8 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x18347f2e4 _pthread_start + 136
9 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x18347a0fc thread_start + 8

Thread 2:: com.apple.NSURLConnectionLoader
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x18343de34 mach_msg2_trap + 8
1 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x1834505d0 mach_msg2_internal + 80
2 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x1834469d8 mach_msg_overwrite + 480
3 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x18343e17c mach_msg + 24
4 CoreFoundation 0x183565edc __CFRunLoopServiceMachPort + 160
5 CoreFoundation 0x18356473c __CFRunLoopRun + 1212
6 CoreFoundation 0x183563bc4 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 588
7 CFNetwork 0x188dcdc14 +[__CFN_CoreSchedulingSetRunnable _run:] + 416
8 Foundation 0x18471c734 NSThread__start + 724
9 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x18347f2e4 _pthread_start + 136
10 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x18347a0fc thread_start + 8

Thread 3:
0 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x18347a0e8 start_wqthread + 0

Thread 4:
0 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x18347a0e8 start_wqthread + 0

Thread 5:
0 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x18347a0e8 start_wqthread + 0

Thread 6:
0 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x18347a0e8 start_wqthread + 0

Thread 7:
0 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x18347a0e8 start_wqthread + 0

Thread 8:
0 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x18347a0e8 start_wqthread + 0

Thread 9:
0 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x18347a0e8 start_wqthread + 0

Thread 0 crashed with ARM Thread State (64-bit):
x0: 0x0000600001a0cf20 x1: 0x00000001f2aa1e1d x2: 0x000000016fa94f96 x3: 0x0000000190e9170c
x4: 0x000000018472c780 x5: 0x000000016fa94dc0 x6: 0x000000034e1f1400 x7: 0x0000000000000009
x8: 0x00006000035ecf80 x9: 0x00000000000000d0 x10: 0x6ae1600001a0cf20 x11: 0x00000000000000ff
x12: 0x000000000000002f x13: 0x00000001120af2e0 x14: 0x0000c3dc681acf20 x15: 0x0000c3dc681acf20
x16: 0x0000c3dc681acf20 x17: 0x00000001f088ae28 x18: 0x0000000000000000 x19: 0x00000001e65ad924
x20: 0x0000000000000b99 x21: 0x0000000000000b96 x22: 0x0000600003f37ae0 x23: 0x00000000000000b0
x24: 0x000000016fa95258 x25: 0x0000000000000001 x26: 0x0000000000000b04 x27: 0x000000016fa95250
x28: 0x0000000328f63a30 fp: 0x000000016fa95200 lr: 0x000000018846fa9c
sp: 0x000000016fa94fc0 pc: 0x00000001830ad820 cpsr: 0x20001000
far: 0x0000c3dc681acf30 esr: 0x92000004 (Data Abort) byte read Translation fault

Binary Images:
0x100368000 - 0x1018b7fff com.literatureandlatte.scrivener3 (3.3.6) /Applications/Scrivener/Scrivener.app/Contents/MacOS/Scrivener
0x103c40000 - 0x103c83fff org.sparkle-project.Sparkle (2.4.0) <4cff0b3a-f6dc-3652-8dff-e89a4699ce78> /Applications/Scrivener/Scrivener.app/Contents/Frameworks/Sparkle.framework/Versions/B/Sparkle
0x103e60000 - 0x103eaffff com.paddle.Paddle (4.4.0) <60af69cf-19ae-37af-ac97-9e559be3a633> /Applications/Scrivener/Scrivener.app/Contents/Frameworks/Paddle.framework/Versions/A/Paddle
0x103ca8000 - 0x103ccffff com.literatureandlatte.AppReg (1.0) <636f8ea4-fceb-3351-9624-aea50728e7c0> /Applications/Scrivener/Scrivener.app/Contents/Frameworks/AppReg.framework/Versions/A/AppReg
0x1046e0000 - 0x1048f7fff com.literatureandlatte.ScrAppKit () <4cfb159f-3d29-39a2-a76f-103cb5dd4f01> /Applications/Scrivener/Scrivener.app/Contents/Frameworks/ScrAppKit.framework/Versions/A/ScrAppKit
0x107e90000 - 0x107e9bfff libobjc-trampolines.dylib (
) /usr/lib/libobjc-trampolines.dylib
0x1155f0000 - 0x115d13fff com.apple.AGXMetalG14G (322.10) /System/Library/Extensions/AGXMetalG14G.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AGXMetalG14G
0x32a804000 - 0x32a823fff com.apple.security.csparser (3.0) /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/PlugIns/csparser.bundle/Contents/MacOS/csparser
0x32aa6c000 - 0x32aa73fff com.apple.FileProviderOverride (2732.41.1) <66b4ab07-daa9-3e63-ab01-17f3d10436b9> /System/Library/Frameworks/FileProvider.framework/OverrideBundles/FileProviderOverride.bundle/Contents/MacOS/FileProviderOverride
0x32c744000 - 0x32c763fff com.apple.findersync.fileprovideroverride.FinderSyncCollaborationFileProviderOverride (15.1) /System/Library/Frameworks/FileProvider.framework/OverrideBundles/FinderSyncCollaborationFileProviderOverride.bundle/Contents/MacOS/FinderSyncCollaborationFileProviderOverride
0x32c264000 - 0x32c267fff com.apple.icloud.drive.fileprovider.override (1.0) <2448d749-8671-3af5-8085-452269a1a54e> /System/Library/Frameworks/FileProvider.framework/OverrideBundles/iCloudDriveFileProviderOverride.bundle/Contents/MacOS/iCloudDriveFileProviderOverride
0x1830a4000 - 0x1830f5ca3 libobjc.A.dylib () <219c0324-7a4f-338e-a395-3d023b289a7f> /usr/lib/libobjc.A.dylib
0x188451000 - 0x1885fcfff com.apple.UIFoundation (1.0) <49a4e526-d4b9-35a1-af27-a8cdd8ea45c6> /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/UIFoundation.framework/Versions/A/UIFoundation
0x1846c8000 - 0x185507fff com.apple.Foundation (6.9) <9b5ba00d-2241-342d-9949-f2f517d6989e> /System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Versions/C/Foundation
0x187055000 - 0x188450fff com.apple.AppKit (6.9) <49d8b1b6-0ea8-36ad-89fd-a41acf00a742> /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit
0x1834e8000 - 0x1839dcfff com.apple.CoreFoundation (6.9) /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation
0x18e8c8000 - 0x18ebcffff com.apple.HIToolbox (2.1.1) <738685cb-aca1-3dfe-91c5-192bab97a042> /System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIToolbox.framework/Versions/A/HIToolbox
0x1830f6000 - 0x1831787b3 dyld (
) <6beafde4-b011-3e47-8aae-4d7b6e4bb7e8> /usr/lib/dyld
0x0 - 0xffffffffffffffff ??? () <00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000> ???
0x190e8f000 - 0x190eccfff libsystem_m.dylib (
) /usr/lib/system/libsystem_m.dylib
0x18343d000 - 0x183477ff7 libsystem_kernel.dylib () <9fea25a4-e8ca-3f3d-901c-a53ff2bc7217> /usr/lib/system/libsystem_kernel.dylib
0x183478000 - 0x183484fff libsystem_pthread.dylib (
) <3b8268be-4e02-3b4a-8b41-baed2bbaacff> /usr/lib/system/libsystem_pthread.dylib
0x188b7a000 - 0x188f40fff com.apple.CFNetwork (1.0) /System/Library/Frameworks/CFNetwork.framework/Versions/A/CFNetwork

External Modification Summary:
Calls made by other processes targeting this process:
task_for_pid: 0
thread_create: 0
thread_set_state: 0
Calls made by this process:
task_for_pid: 0
thread_create: 0
thread_set_state: 0
Calls made by all processes on this machine:
task_for_pid: 0
thread_create: 0
thread_set_state: 0

VM Region Summary:
ReadOnly portion of Libraries: Total=1.5G resident=0K(0%) swapped_out_or_unallocated=1.5G(100%)
Writable regions: Total=5.9G written=1526K(0%) resident=1526K(0%) swapped_out=0K(0%) unallocated=5.9G(100%)

                            VIRTUAL   REGION 

REGION TYPE SIZE COUNT (non-coalesced)
=========== ======= =======
Accelerate framework 128K 1
Activity Tracing 256K 1
CG image 9152K 137
ColorSync 640K 34
CoreAnimation 34.0M 413
CoreGraphics 32K 2
CoreImage 176K 10
CoreUI image data 5616K 47
Foundation 48K 2
Kernel Alloc Once 32K 1
MALLOC 1.6G 86
MALLOC guard page 384K 24
SQLite page cache 384K 3
STACK GUARD 56.2M 10
Stack 12.8M 10
VM_ALLOCATE 128.1M 8
VM_ALLOCATE (reserved) 3.9G 1 reserved VM address space (unallocated)
WebKit Malloc 192.1M 5
__AUTH 4881K 575
__AUTH_CONST 62.7M 795
__CTF 824 1
__DATA 56.0M 781
__DATA_CONST 23.0M 810
__DATA_DIRTY 2202K 277
__FONT_DATA 2352 1
__INFO_FILTER 8 1
__LINKEDIT 589.5M 12
__OBJC_RW 2354K 1
__TEXT 984.4M 830
__TPRO_CONST 272K 2
libnetwork 1152K 16
mapped file 2.1G 540
owned unmapped memory 28.5M 1
page table in kernel 1526K 1
shared memory 1088K 27
=========== ======= =======
TOTAL 9.7G 5466
TOTAL, minus reserved VM space 5.9G 5466


Full Report

{“app_name”:“Scrivener”,“timestamp”:“2024-12-11 12:44:00.00 -0500”,“app_version”:“3.3.6”,“slice_uuid”:“c0732d53-f789-37b5-8043-3df08a94492f”,“build_version”:“16305”,“platform”:1,“bundleID”:“com.literatureandlatte.scrivener3”,“share_with_app_devs”:1,“is_first_party”:0,“bug_type”:“309”,“os_version”:“macOS 15.1.1 (24B91)”,“roots_installed”:0,“name”:“Scrivener”,“incident_id”:“4D573266-521E-4501-B325-EB78C7F1F607”}
{
“uptime” : 1400,
“procRole” : “Foreground”,
“version” : 2,
“userID” : 501,
“deployVersion” : 210,
“modelCode” : “Mac14,15”,
“coalitionID” : 1236,
“osVersion” : {
“train” : “macOS 15.1.1”,
“build” : “24B91”,
“releaseType” : “User”
},
“captureTime” : “2024-12-11 12:43:57.3925 -0500”,
“codeSigningMonitor” : 1,
“incident” : “4D573266-521E-4501-B325-EB78C7F1F607”,
“pid” : 1745,
“translated” : false,
“cpuType” : “ARM-64”,
“roots_installed” : 0,
“bug_type” : “309”,
“procLaunch” : “2024-12-11 12:23:03.0252 -0500”,
“procStartAbsTime” : 3845741299,
“procExitAbsTime” : 33950224353,
“procName” : “Scrivener”,
“procPath” : “/Applications/Scrivener/Scrivener.app/Contents/MacOS/Scrivener”,
“bundleInfo” : {“CFBundleShortVersionString”:“3.3.6”,“CFBundleVersion”:“16305”,“CFBundleIdentifier”:“com.literatureandlatte.scrivener3”},
“storeInfo” : {“deviceIdentifierForVendor”:“D60B8223-C78B-5A81-AC3D-CD0C486EFDD3”,“thirdParty”:true},
“parentProc” : “launchd”,
“parentPid” : 1,
“coalitionName” : “com.literatureandlatte.scrivener3”,
“crashReporterKey” : “1DA1F892-3338-01D5-9A1B-5B62AA8F2741”,
“lowPowerMode” : 1,
“codeSigningID” : “com.literatureandlatte.scrivener3”,
“codeSigningTeamID” : “W4QTL7X778”,
“codeSigningFlags” : 570495745,
“codeSigningValidationCategory” : 6,
“codeSigningTrustLevel” : 4294967295,
“instructionByteStream” : {“beforePC”:“HyAD1R8gA9UfAADxzQMAVA4AQPnQzX2S6gMAqipc7fJQGcHa7wMQqg==”,“atPC”:“CgpA+Uv9cNNKvUCSLAALCk0RDIuxJf+oPwEB64EAAFRKAQHKSgEQyg==”},
“bootSessionUUID” : “2B8B8ADF-3EFD-4EF9-9AA5-FB1B65F7E4F9”,
“sip” : “enabled”,
“vmRegionInfo” : "0x43dc681acf30 is not in any region. Bytes after previous region: 74132882116401 Bytes before following region: 30939197812944\n REGION TYPE START - END [ VSIZE] PRT/MAX SHRMOD REGION DETAIL\n commpage (reserved) 1000000000-7000000000 [384.0G] —/— SM=NUL reserved VM address space (unallocated)\n—> GAP OF 0x5f9000000000 BYTES\n MALLOC_NANO 600000000000-600020000000 [512.0M] rw-/rwx SM=PRV ",
“exception” : {“codes”:“0x0000000000000001, 0x0000c3dc681acf30”,“rawCodes”:[1,215351406808880],“type”:“EXC_BAD_ACCESS”,“signal”:“SIGSEGV”,“subtype”:"KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x00

As of a couple of hours ago, Scrivener 3.4 and macOS 15.2 were released. Perhaps give those a go?

Most crashes are not related to the “crashers for copies” thread and should be investigated through our normal support channels. That’s why I moved your post.

The first two things to try are resetting the project display settings, as explained here:
https://scrivener.tenderapp.com/help/kb/macos-troubleshooting/resetting-a-projects-display-settings

And resetting Scrivener’s Preferences file, as explained here:
https://scrivener.tenderapp.com/help/kb/macos-troubleshooting/resetting-preferences

If neither of those helps, you can open a support ticket, here:
https://www.literatureandlatte.com/contact-us

For now, please try the following:

  1. If you are using page view, turn it off (View > Text Editing > Show Page View). Does it still crash while typing?

  2. Also, while using page view, try turning off “Avoid widows and orphans in page view” in Settings > Editing.

The crash log indicates that Scrivener is crashing while checking for widows and orphans or Keep with Next (which are only checked when there is more than one page), and that the crash is coming inside the code that ensures the text cursor is the right size. Unfortunately the crash log doesn’t tell me why it’s crashing - the code it points to looks good as far as I can see, so there must be another factor.

Also please try to take note of exactly what is happening when the crash occurs - is auto-correction or predictive text kicking in, for instance? There must be some special factor involved.

Thanks and all the best,
Keith

Scrivener crashes when I go into Composition Mode. I had that problem with the last release of Scrivener. I recently updated to 3.4 and it still crashes when I open Composition Mode. I haven’t had any problems. I have a 2022 M2 MacBook Air. running macOS 15.1. (the latest one).