I’ve had Scrivener installed for a few years now. I think it’s the best creative writing software out there, and I badly want to be able to use it, especially for larger projects. Problem is, every other time I use it (or if a session is long enough) it starts lagging, and sometimes freezing up so I have to force quit. The main problem with the lagging is that it starts acting irrationally. One thing that’s happened to me on several occasions is that it starts lagging (that is, it carries out my commands with a delay, anything from a couple of seconds to half a minute). Now if I move the cursor while it’s doing this, upon coming back to life, the software selects the text I’ve moved over and deletes it. Other times it will just move text around, I’ve even had it move bits of text within folders.
I can’t allow the software to autosave, because (and this has happened) it might eat a chunk of my project and then be kind enough to save the disaster for me. Right now, I only use manual save (and Backup with manual save), but this means I have to save every other minute because I’m terrified it will start lagging or freeze up. It’s not great for creativity, and it leaves me with backup files that are all from the same period, when I would really want to be able to go back further in time and have backups.
I’m on a Pro, currently running OS X 10.6.8. Although I’ve had the same problem since I got Scrivener. I now have Scrivener version 2.6, or so it says. At the moment, I have my backup folder in Dropbox, and my saves on the harddrive, but I’ve had it the other way around and it made no difference, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t even use dropbox when I first got Scrivener.
Any clue why it’s not working properly for me? I really want to be able to use it, but right now I just can’t trust it. Please help.
Is Scrivener the only application that lags ? (I used Scrivener on Snow Leopard not so long ago) and has it always lagged all of these years ?
What size is the project file ?
How much RAM have you ?
I can’t swear to it, but at least I don’t remember it ever running without problems. It works sometimes (otherwise I wouldn’t have bought after the trial was up) but whatever the issue is, it’s been pretty consistent. But since it doesn’t seem like a whole lot of other users have this problems, I don’t know why I should. Even if the first version I dl:ed had a bug, that should have been fixed by the updates by now, right? My understanding of software is limited.
I have 4GB. The project I’m currently working on is 7MB.
Yes, it’s the only software that’s lagging and freezing up. I use Photoshop quite a lot and that doesn’t seem to be a problem, and it handles games fine (for a Mac).
Ok. In the absence of someone popping up who knows the exact solution …
Firstly it goes without saying that this is not normal. My iMac is from 2007, running Yosemite and even this ancient thing has never had a lag with Scrivener that I recall. Neither did it under Snow Leopard or Mavericks.
I have experienced lag issues with other apps over the years, including with Firefox recently. I had to reinstall the Firefox app twice to get rid of it.
So the cause is one of three i) the Scrivener installation, ii) Another app that is interfering with it, iii) the OS.
As a long time Mac user I would do the following if it were me.
a) Reinstall Scrivener (after backing up). Use one of those free apps like AppCleaner that remove all of the ancillary files, if you can. Do this once or even twice. Always rebooting in between.
b) Experiment. Work with Scrivener before launching ANY other apps. Try to think if you have installed any other tools and menubar items that might have started all of this off. If Scrivener starts to work ok, then introduce one major app at a time an see which one is the culprit. (It could be a browser extension).
Ok, so I’ve trashed and reinstalled Scrivener (but manually, so I’ll consider getting one of those apps if the problems remains), and upgraded to Yosemite, which was probably overdue anyway. The computer is from 2010 and it should be fine, but the mail app just froze on the first launch so I’m a little nervous. We’ll see how it works with scrivener tonight.
It’s not actually possible to turn off autosave completely. Have you set the interval to be very long?
Booting your Mac in Safe Mode is one way to check and see if something else is interfering. You can do that by holding the Shift key when you hear the startup tone.
Are you writing in English, or another language? And are you using any third-party keystroke expanders or similar software?
Do you see this in all projects? It sounds like you do, but I just want to rule out the possibility that something like a big media file or a lot of images are dragging you down.