I am importing large numbers of jpg images into my research section to sort them and add meta-data, which I find really useful. However, every so often I am unable to view the images. I click on a given image file in the binder, and the title comes up at the top, along with the meta-data I have added in the Inspector, but all I see is the grey background of the editor, not the image. This is frustrating, because then I have to open up the image with a different program and switch between it and Scrivener. When this happens I also don’t get the small version of the image in the synopsis, or on the index cards in corkboard mode. What is going on here?
Thanks!
Just to clarify, is this happening consistently with certain images, or does the same image sometimes load and sometimes not? When the image doesn’t load, are you still able to use the Documents > Open > Open in External Editor command (or the footer button for this)? Since you’ve added meta-data, it sounds as though the image does show sometimes, or did at least when you initially imported it, but verification would be great.
Do you notice any slowness with the program or your system in general when the images aren’t loading? I’m wondering if this is a file size and performance related issue, and loading the image is just taking too many resources and times out or some such thing. What’s the approximate size of the images that aren’t loading and of the project as a whole? Is your project saved on your local drive or are you working from an external or networked drive? That would make a difference in access speed as well.
Could you use Help > About Scrivener to check which version number you’re running, and also let us know what version of Windows you’re working on? Thanks.
Sorry for the late reply.
Sometimes the same image loads, sometimes not, as you thought. I had not thought to use Documents > Open > Open [still new to Scrivener!] but I will try this next time I experience the issue.
Sometimes the program seems slow when this is happening, but it doesn’t seem to be related to general system slowness.
The image files are mostly between 700 and 800 KB. At the moment the project is 1.45 GB. The project is saved on my local drive.
I am using Scrivener version 1.2.3.0, and Windows XP.
Thanks!
On second thought, I guess my system DOES slow down in general when this happens. Now the program is freezing up frequently. Closing out of my other programs hasn’t helped much. Is it my computer that can’t deal with all of the data, or is it Scrivener that can’t handle so many image files?
Apologies for being so late coming back to this one. 700-800 KB shouldn’t be an issue, no, and the size of the project shouldn’t much affect loading single documents, since in general items aren’t accessed until needed. A lot of large images could affect load times if you’re trying to view them all together on the corkboard, especially if your computer is lower on memory, but it doesn’t sound like that’s completely the problem here, if you’re unable to just select a single image from the binder and get it to load properly in the editor.
I imagine you’re not getting any error messages or such while working in Scrivener, but if you are and could post a screenshot, that might be useful. Also if you notice any pattern as to when images load or not and how the interface is set up, e.g. whether it happens more often if you’ve split the editor and have the corkboard visible in one split, etc. Do you leave Project Targets open while working? There’s a bug there that can cause lag sometimes, so if you usually keep it open I’d suggest closing it and seeing if that helps speed up working with the images.
Sorry this is slow going. 
I’ve seen only one other report at this point of images failing to load, but that one seemed to be the case of having extraordinarily large images, so while that might be something we can address in the future, it’s not clear that it’s precisely the problem you’re seeing.
is it possible that you are in the wrong mode?
Try clicking through the 3 buttons on the main toolbar (shown in my screen grab attachment) and see if the image appears/disappears depending on which button is selected
(my images show up when the FIRST button is selected. If I click on the other two buttons the image vanishes)
I have one project that is nearly as big as yours, with many images, and I’m also on XP (though I DO have a lot of RAM as I work on large images in Photoshop) but have not had your problem.
