Publisher repeatedly crashing, almost immediately

[immeemz]

Hello,

I have a 22-page document. Everything has been going fine for a while and just now I've hit a wall where Publisher crashes more and more frequently and at the moment I can't write more than a line or two of text before it crashes.  

1. Are you using the latest release version?
   (here's how to check)

YES

1. Can you reproduce it?
   (if you cannot then we may struggle to also, making it even harder to fix)

YES

1. Does it happen for a new document? If not can you upload a document that shows the problem?

NO and yes I have uploaded the document in question. 

1. If you cannot provide a sample document then please give an accurate description of the problem for example it should include most of the following:

•    What is your operating system and version (Windows 10, OSX Mojave, iOS 12 etc)?

Windows 10

•    Is hardware acceleration (in Preferences > Performance) ON or OFF ? (and have you tried the other setting?)

OFF but I am unable to switch it to ON as my computer apparently doesn't support this. 

•    What happened for you (and what you expected to happen)

I typed a couple lines and the program just immediately and without warning closes.  Once it actually froze with "not responding" but usually it just suddenly disappears. 

•    Provide a recipe for creating the problem (step-by-step what you did).

Open Publisher.  Load file from "Open Recent".  At the moment it is inviting me to open a recovered version of the file so I say yes.  I locate the place where I need to enter text, and I type about two bullet points of text (maybe total 30 words).  Publisher immediately and without warning crashes.  Rinse and repeat.  

•    Screenshots (very handy) or a screen capture/video.

Happy to provide this but there is not much to show visually.  

•    Any unusual hardware (like tablets or external monitors or drives that may affect things) or relevant other applications like font managers or display managers.

Nothing that I know of. 

•    Did this same thing used to work and if so have you changed anything recently? (software or hardware)

Yes I have worked on this document on and off for weeks and it was fine. Suddenly it is not. The only change I am aware of is that Windows was updated a couple of days ago but to be honest I am not sure if I was experiencing this issue before then or not.  The PC was updated to the latest Windows 10 and I've provided a screen shot of the actual updates in question.  

After sending this support request I will uninstall the recent Windows updates and report back. 

Thank you!  

letter-size.afpub

[Old Bruce]

29 minutes ago, immeemz said:

Open Publisher.  Load file from "Open Recent".  At the moment it is inviting me to open a recovered version of the file so I say yes.  I locate the place where I need to enter text, and I type about two bullet points of text (maybe total 30 words).  Publisher immediately and without warning crashes.  Rinse and repeat.  

Try to open the recovered version then File > Save As... a new name and location. Then close the new document, all documents, and quit Publisher.

If you are asked again to open the recovered file say no.

[immeemz]

Hi Bruce and thank you for the suggestion!  I did as you suggested...saved under new name and location, then the document and quit Publisher. Then I loaded up Publisher again and opened the newly-saved document and the exact same thing happened.  

This is after uninstalling the Windows updates but I just now my "Installed Updates" window but it looks like they didn't actually get uninstalled, so I'm going to try that again. Those updates are the only thing I can think that has changed since Publisher was working perfectly.  I'll report back.  

[Callum]

Hi immeemz,

I can't recreate this using your file at the moment. If possible could you provide a screen recording of you recreating the crash so I can ensure I'm doing the right things to recreate this issue.

Thanks
C

[Wosven]

The file doesn't crash when I open it, did you tried uninstalling the fonts?

The list of the missing ones:

[immeemz]

3 hours ago, Callum said:

Hi immeemz,

I can't recreate this using your file at the moment. If possible could you provide a screen recording of you recreating the crash so I can ensure I'm doing the right things to recreate this issue.

Thanks
C

Hi, thank you!  I did a screen recording although at 4mb it is larger than this forum allows for uploads.  I put it as Unlisted on Youtube:  

 

There is not much to see. I type a line or two and the program just immediately closes. Strangely, it is ALWAYS at that exact same point, after I type the word "Évènement".  

 

[immeemz]

2 hours ago, Wosven said:

The file doesn't crash when I open it, did you tried uninstalling the fonts?

The list of the missing ones:

Hi, they are not missing for me, of course.  I did not uninstall them because I need them for the project. Can you explain why I should do this or why it would matter?  Am I supposed to uninstall them and then immediately reinstall them, or am I supposed to change all the fonts to something else permanently? I'm happy to try anything but I'm not sure what exactly I'm supposed to do. Thank you!!!!!  

[Wosven]

1 minute ago, immeemz said:

I did not uninstall them because I need them for the project. Can you explain why I should do this or why it would matter?  Am I supposed to uninstall them and then immediately reinstall them

Perhaps the installed ones are corrupted.

Uninstalling, clearing the font cache, rebooting, etc.  and reinstalling the fonts can solve the problem… or not!

[Wosven]

I missed your earlier video, and if it was a corrupt font, I suppose the crash would occur earlier when loading the document and the fonts.

Can you try typing directly the word "évèmenent" or "événement" to check if it's the problem? Is there an autocorrection for this word?

Is it about this word, or typing this lengh of text? (What happens when you add 5 lines, for example? Perhaps something happening when reflowing the text on other pages).

[immeemz]

16 minutes ago, Wosven said:

I missed your earlier video, andif it was a corrupt font, I suppose the crash would occur earlier when loading the document and the fonts.

Can you try typing directly the word "évèmenent" or "événement" to check if it's the problem? Is there an autocorrection for this word?

Is it about this word, or typing this lengh of text? (What happens when you add 5 lines, for example? Perhaps something happening when reflowing the text on other pages).

WOW, I am mind blown.  

You are absolutely right.  If I type "Événement" this does not happen, but it crashes immediately upon typing "Évènement".  Thank God a Francophone (I am guessing) noticed this. I had to go to the "Banque linquistique" of the "Office de la langue française du Québec" to find out how we are writing this word these days and I guess at some point the spelling of "évènement" was "rectifié" to "événement" and I missed that memo.  

What is absolutely baffling is why a misspelling would make the entire thing crash. And why just this word?  The spell checker is flagging words that are not in its dictionary such as the names of our villages...Palmarolle, Dupuy and names of organisations such as Viactive...there are tons of "misspellings" in the document according to Publisher's spell checker, as well as several other occurrences of "évènement" in the document.  I have now tested this several times and I can type and add new text and update this document fine UNTIL I type "Évènement" specifically, but it always immediately crashes after I type that one word.  

Weird!!  

Thank you very much for helping.  This is still obviously a bug but you've allowed me to be able to continue working on the document at least!  Merci beaucoup pour ton aide, j'apprécie beaucoup!!  Bonne journée.    

[immeemz]

4 hours ago, Callum said:

Hi immeemz,

I can't recreate this using your file at the moment. If possible could you provide a screen recording of you recreating the crash so I can ensure I'm doing the right things to recreate this issue.

Thanks
C

Hi Callum, I'm just repeating this here because you are a moderator...the above/previous posts explain the issue.  It IS a bug but only reproducible if I type in the word: Évènement (notice the exact accented characters).  If I type Événement (notice the second accented "e" is a é instead of a è) then this does not happen.  If I type Évènement at any point in the document, it crashes now.  This is ok for now because événement is the preferred spelling of the word, HOWEVER, I hope that the program will not now start crashing every time there is a misspelling or typo. I much prefer the little squiggly red line!  

Edited to add:  this only happens with the capitalized form of the word, as Wosven was able to reproduce (below). 

Edited March 1, 2022 by immeemz

[Wosven]

De rien.

Ça fait des siècles que l'on écrit avec une faute "évènement", car le premier dictionnaire ayant été imprimé avec les premiers caractères accentués n'avait pas assez de "é" et a utilisé un "è" (pas le temps d'en faire refondre), pensant que personne ne s'en rendrait compte 🤣

Peux-tu... pas la peine, ça plante aussi chez moi, spécifiquement avec "Évènement", pas "évèmenent".

Si je supprime la ligne dans les préférences d'autocorrection, ça ne plante plus (et ne corrige plus non plus !). Donc il y a bien un bug dans la correction auto, en Fr-fr et Fr-ca (?) .

 

======

No problem.

It's been written with an error "évènement" error for centuries, because the first dictionary to be printed with the first accented characters didn't have enough "é" and used an "è" (no time to recast it), thinking no one would notice 🤣

Can you... don't bother, it crashes with me too, specifically with "Évènement", not "évèmenent".

If I delete the line in the autocorrect preferences, it doesn't crash anymore (and doesn't correct anymore either!). So there is a bug in the autocorrect, in Fr-fr and Fr-ca (?) .