Publisher documents won't open any more

[big smile]

Since updating to Publisher 1.8 a number of my documents won't open. Publisher will just crash, without displaying any error message. 

Steps I have tried:

Deleting Publisher completely, using App Cleaner.
Restarting Mac
Re-downloading Publisher from the Serif website.
Restarting Mac again and reinstalling Publisher.

Environment: Mac 10.14.6 
Publisher from Serif (not App store)

How can I troubleshoot this? 

Is it possible to download Publisher 1.7 and install to see if I can open the documents in that. 

I searched on the forum and found this thread, which says to rename any linked resources folder. I tried that and the issue remains (However, I would need to open the document to see all the linked sources, as I might be forgetting some).

[AlA_]

I've got the same problem at Windows. I can create new document, but I can't open recent ones. 

 

Edited February 27, 2020 by AlA_

[Callum]

Hi Big Smile,

I'm sorry to hear you can't open your old documents. Please could you provide one of the documents so I can try it at my end? Please could you both also try creating a new document in Publisher then place a basic Quickshape within it and try to save and then reopen the new document to see if the app crashes.

Thanks

C

[big smile]

2 hours ago, Callum said:

Hi Big Smile,

I'm sorry to hear you can't open your old documents. Please could you provide one of the documents so I can try it at my end? Please could you both also try creating a new document in Publisher then place a basic Quickshape within it and try to save and then reopen the new document to see if the app crashes.

Thanks

C

Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to provide the document. However, after playing around, I have found a fix:

• From within Mac Finder, copy the document and paste it in a place where you would never save files. I never save files on the desktop, so I saved it there.

• It will now open

As far as I can tell, doing this breaks all the linked resources in the document and so allows Publisher to open. This seems like a bug to me. Should I file it as a bug report? 

[Callum]

It might be worth posting regarding this in the bugs section of the forums

[big smile]

So, using the above method to fix a document is not without problems. As it seems sometimes (not always), a fixed document will cause Publisher to freeze on exit. 

Any ideas?

[SueWAuthor]

I am also having this problem with one of my files.

I deleted a program that I'd recently  downloaded from the App Store to my Mac, thinking it might be causing an issue with Publisher. I was then able to open the file. I thought that was the end of it.

But now the file is no longer opening again.

UPDATE: I dragged the  broken file to the  desktop and  was able to open it from there. When I dragged it back into the original folder, the file became broken again?!

UPDATE #2: I now dragged the file back onto the desktop to open it and work on it. This time, it's broken there as well.