I’ve been using Scrivener 1 then 3 for Windows for ages, and back in November of last year I even upgraded from my old HP of six years to a new laptop due to Scrivener repeatedly getting stuck and having to close and reopen it. Once I got everything moved over to the new one, everything seemed to be working fine for at least a few months.
At least since early March (but might have started in February), I’ve begun finding that if I close the lid or walk away long enough that the computer goes to sleep, then come back, Scrivener is still open but the window is messed up (minimized and chopped up sort of?) and minimizing or adjusting the window does not fix it, so I have to close and reopen. Since it was working just fine for a while, and I’m not experiencing any issues with other things like Word, I’m not inclined to think it’s a problem with the computer, but curious if anyone else has had this issue.
In case it matters: my main project is stored on Dropbox so I can sync it periodically with the Scrivener iOS app on my iPhone.
First thing I do is turn off all these power saving features on a computer. They’re a bane of computer errors.
Set all modes to never.
Machines are made to be switched on and off, not float in suspended animation.
Do you use an external monitor, or multiple monitors even? I’ve found this kind of stuff can sometimes happen if the system takes longer to initialise the external monitor. Basically the laptop screen comes up first, and its smaller than the main monitor so some windows get cut down to size, then the main monitor comes up but there is no reason to change the window size just because of that, so they stay smaller.
Naturally that shouldn’t mess up the layout of the window, but it might be that the Qt programming toolkit that Scrivener uses (and Word does not, nor would most Windows software) isn’t as adept at handling the scenario as it should be.
Nope, just the laptop’s monitor.
I’ll try adjusting the sleep settings since I don’t think it happens if I catch it while the screen-saver is still going at least…just trying to avoid the image getting burned into the screen if I have to pause to take notes for a while.
I have exactly these symptoms after upgrading to windows 11. The text shrinks and the window divides into two and the interface becomes unusable. Scrivener s the only app that has an interface problem since the upgrade.
I don’t agree with the comments above that suggest you should be using your computer only with an on/off switch. That is not the modern or correct way with electronics in the 21st century.
If you have resolved it, I would love to hear how. If not, I have a pretty in depth knowledge of windows and I will try to solve it and let you know.
Thanks!
I’ve just made-do with avoiding letting my computer sleep with Scrivener still open, since so far that seems to be what causes the problem.
I would appreciate updates on this issue if a fix is found, since I’m not sure what else to try.
Just taking a guess here, but do you happen to have multiple monitors using different resolutions? If so, the shrinking text might be a symptom of the QT framework getting confused (as @amberv mentions above).
I use Scriv on a Windows 10 laptop with multiple monitors, but the monitors and the laptop all share the same resolution. I also use a Windows 11 laptop, but don’t use external monitors with it. I don’t see this issue when either device awakens from sleep.
I have no solutions to offer-- 
– just adding some data into the fire.
Best,
Jim
I have found it is possible to remove the window size glitch by minimizing the window and then clicking on it form the taskbar. This does not fix the scaling issue.
Adding a bit more detail in the hope that a developer or Windows expert can diagnose:
On windows 11, if Scrivener is open and the machine goes into sleep mode, when the screen comes back up the Scrivener window contains a shrunk higher DPI version of the screen embedded in the display. Also the fonts for menus and binder are displayed differently from the previous setting. If you run the ScrivenerLog.Bat, you can see the error is “Warning: monitorData: Unable to obtain handle for monitor ‘\.\DISPLAY1’, defaulting to 96 DPI.” each time the panes are opened.
So the scaling has been ignored.
@jnfrench, you didn’t answer my question - are you using multiple monitors and are they at different resolutions?
I think this would be useful for the developers to know.
Best,
Jim
I am using only the single built in monitor.
Just a quick thought here, that Sleep is known to be very troublesome in many computers since Microsoft made a serious change in it a time ago.
In some plan they had to make laptops more like phones, they’ve arranged that the machine isn’t ever really or fully asleep – so they can do upgrades, news updates etc. when they feel like it, unannounced.
Unfortunately, the result, for example with my otherwise fine Lenovo model, is that things can start running in this non-sleep, get into trouble, and then the machine will heat up, run its fans, or overheat if it’s in a backpack – also run the battery down.
And, this kind of glitch in the many very complicated systems between an open app and a half-functional operating system in this state can result in many other symptoms – lockups among them as I’ve experienced. So I wouldn’t put it past your machine to have lost its sense of screen sizing while in the twilight state, so that Scrivener is no longer displaying correctly.
What I do, as many others, and would certainly suggest, is that you change all the settings which are presently Sleep to Hibernate. With today’s SSDs, coming out of hibernation takes not much longer than from sleep.
If you set the action on lid closing to Hibernate, that may go a good distance to preventing the problem you’re seeing. You can also set the power button action to Hibernate or Power Down, which ever pleases you, to avoid Sleep assuredly.
You can get to the Control Panel area for this by opening Windows Settings, then type ‘change what closing’ into the Find a Setting search – it’ll put up a little button completing this with '‘the lid does’, and you can click on that to get to the screen where you can choose Hibernate for the options.
I’ve been using Scrivener for Windows for 13 years now and never really had an issue until now, which is rather wonderful, to be honest.
However…
Was there ever a solution to this bug? I have the same problem: if the computer goes to sleep then it reawakens in a strange spilt screen format, with the resolution seemingly vastly increased, tiny text which I struggle to read.
I can ‘repair’ the split screen by minimising and then maximising the window, but the only way to get back to the correct resolution is to close Scrivener and reopen it. Scrivener is the only programme which this happens with.
I don’t use external monitors.
I can avoid the issue by altering the sleep settings during the working day (I do all my work on Scrivener), and the issue isn’t a terrible one, quite easy to get around, but wanted to log that I too have the same problem.
Probably best anyway to close Scrivener when done. Then an automatic backup will be taking—assuming you have that configured and you should. Restart later is quick and avoids the issues with Windows you see.
The latest update to Windows Scrivener is 3.1.6.
If the issue was fixed, it would be in this update. (I don’t know, as I don’t experience the issue.)
Best,
Jim
Thanks, I do close Scrivener when I’m done, and I also have backups enabled for each manual save, which I am in the habit of doing throughout the day. As I mentioned, I’ve been using it for rather a long time now and certainly ensure each project is backed up (in five different places). However, it is irritating that I cannot let my laptop sleep during the working day, without having to close Scrivener and reopen, especially as I usually have several projects open at once, the software being where all my work is initially completed. Hopefully it will be fixed at some point.
Thank you! I’m all up to date, so I guess it hasn’t been addressed yet!
yes, it’s not somethihg Scrivener can fix, if I’ve identified the culprit. Only Microsoft could, and they’ve absolutely refused to do so, no matter how many persons it affects. All they would have to do is bring back the original Sleep mode as a choice (and a default??). but…
When I get a new machine, the first thing I do is turn off all the power management junk.
My computer has two states, stay on when I want it on, off when I turn it off.
One tip to make life less complicated.