Tables slow Scrivener to a crawl

[scrive]

@JSwift

I use tables in Scrivener frequently to outline longform fiction. That is, I don’t need or expect my tables in this software to handle quantitative data or calculations, although the ability to select rows and columns would certainly make formatting easier, but I do need and expect the software to handle a basic table that just contains text notes. Unfortunately, sooner or later, when I outline in a table, the program becomes slow to the point of unusable, with a lag of several seconds every time I type. The issue isn’t completely consistent: in some documents, the crippling lag will come and go no matter how big/elaborate the table doc(s); in others, it seems to be triggered when a table gets to a certain size and then never be functional again.

Color fill makes this problem much worse: using color fill in any cell of any table will slow the program immediately. Removing color fill improves it, but practically speaking this is missing functionality in Scriv’s tables. A pity, since it makes it much easier to see at a glance, “Oh, okay, this section of outline all takes place on day 43.”

I see from searches here and on Reddit that tables grinding Scrivener down to an unusable pace is a longstanding issue. My questions are:

• Has anyone found any sort of workaround that removes, improves, or lessens the frequency of the lag? (My emphasis added!)
• Is this an issue Scrivener has any plans/ability to address in the future, or are the speed problems–like the formatting problems–an artifact of the Apple text engine, and thus permanently down as something the company doesn’t consider worth fixing?

Hi JSwift,

This may or may not address your issue of lessening the frequency of the lag when loading tables, and you may already be aware of how to manage the list of sections you are compiling, thus reducing compile time. A few months ago, I was made aware of a way to facilitate what sections of my project are compiled, particularly useful if/when I need to do so repetitively to test adjustments in my project.

The method was outlined by brookter back on March 5, 2021 at Managing my list of sections to compile - #3 by brookter which I expanded on on March 6.

I have used brookter’s method to great affect on countless occasions to reduce my compile time from an 8+ minute compile cycle to just over 1-2 minutes, saving me much appreciated time to correct my mistakes and continue working on writing rather than coding.

Apologies if this is not what you were looking for; happy-to-help if it helps!

Thanks for reading,
scrive