Recently, I am unable to use Scrivener because it becomes constantly unresponsive. No matter which project I open, it gets stuck in apparently random fashion. I really need help or I will have to stop using this application. And I like it!
Thanks!
Andy
It’s the electron speed that has slowed down…
If you want a serious answer you need to describe exactly the circumstances, version of Scrivener, where you are saving your live projects, all sorts of things. We’re not psychics you know. 
And I am not a computer specialist. So, instead of reacting as a smart a** (or sarcastic cat) tell me what you need to know, exactly, and I will put together the info, as thoroughly as I can! Thank you for your help, anyway!
I thought I just did.
Describe your current setup, with as much detail as possible. Size of project, where you save it, so forth…
MacBook Pro Retina 13-inch mid 2014
3GHz Intel core i7
16Gb 1600MHz DDR3
Intel Iris 1536MB
macOS Sierra version 10.12.6
Scrivener version 2.8.1
Files saved in folder on desktop. Backup on Dropbox. No changes in saving procedures before the problems appeared.
Files of all sizes, including small ones (3.1Mb)
No apparent pattern with respect to the problem. Possibly related to management of PDF files, but I am not sure about this point.
Thanks again and let me know if you need anything else!
I’ve read in here about others where some third party backup software was the problem.
Have you changed something else lately?
Nothing at all. This morning I have removed and re-installed Scrivener and, at least for the time being, things seem to be working. I’ll keep my fingers crossed!
Thanks!
Check which startup items you have in your user profile. There maybe some hints there.
The behavior you describe is not normal. While you may not have changed anything, something else may have changed. An update to a piece of software (anti virus for example) may be the contributor but without knowing what is starting up … it’s impossible to even start a reasonable suggestion.
Thank you Jaysen,
I checked and there are no startup items at all. I do have both Dropbox and Evernote running in the background.
This morning I launched Scrivener and it became unresponsive even before opening the project I was working on yesterday… It’s becoming really an issue!
Two things:
When did you last restart your Mac?
Have you tested to uninstall and then reinstall Scrivener?
I did uninstall and reinstall Scrivener, yesterday, and it worked, for a while. I restarted my Mac this morning.
And plenty of free space on your HD and no external drives that are disturbing things?
You mentioned pdf files. What did you mean?
Plenty of space (310Gb) and no external drives!
I mentioned PDF files because sometimes Scrivener stopped responding while I was either opening/moving PDF files in the Research folder. However, this is not a universal situation. This morning, for example, it became unresponsive simply launching it.
That sounds like a typical OS X thing and not really related to Scrivener.
If it was my computer I would try to do a clean start without driver and autostart of software (have you checked in sSystem settings what you have in automstart?). Also really close down. Leave off for a while, then restart. Possibly do another restart. Try to get rid of everything that might interfere. Start the Mac and only have Scrivener running, etc.
Since you really did a reinstall and it worked until reboot it sounds like a scan or sync issue.
What are you using for for backup?
Do you have an antivirus software installed?
How/where are you installing scrivener?
Other things to consider:
You mentioned that you save your files in a desktop folder.
Unrelated to the above but useful for troubleshooting purposes, boot into Safe Mode, test, then reboot normally and test. Explanation of Safe Mode’s use and usefulness here: support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262
It’s not iCloud Drive that is the problem, it’s what Apple calls iCloud Documents, i.e. syncing of everything in the Documents and Desktop part of Finder. That doesn’t work at all with Scrivener.
Thank you all! For the time being eliminating all non-essential applications that launched automatically when starting my Mac, and adoberesourcesyncronizer in particular, seems to have made a difference. Over the past couple of days Scrivener has worked without problems! If the problem shows up again, I will follow the additional suggestions posted above and if nothing works I’ll be back here, crying! 