Publisher crash on pressing Mac "Command" key after linking text frames

[Ken Hjulstrom]

Hi,

I'm experiencing a repeatable Publisher crash when pressing the Mac "Command" key after setting up links between text frames. I've attached a Publisher file that can reproduce (for me, anyway) the crash.  The following are steps to reproduce the crash:

1. Click in the rightmost text frame on Page 1 to select it.
2. Click on the "node" on the right edge of the selected text frame to highlight the frame and enter the mode for text frame linking
3. Move the mouse pointer to the leftmost text frame of Page 2, which will highlight it.
4. Click in the leftmost text frame of Page 2, which will create a link between the rightmost frame on Page 1 and the leftmost frame of Page 2.
5. Press the "Command" key on the Mac keyboard, which will crash Publisher with no warning.

I'm running Publisher 2.04 on macOS Ventura 13.3.  A copy of the crash log is also attached.  Since I encountered this issue while doing production work, I'm now going to look for a workaround.  I'll post any successful workarounds here as I find them.

Thanks,

Ken

 

AddingColumnLinksCrash_14May23.afpub AddingColumnLinksCrashLog_14May23

[DWright]

Is it possible for you to upload a screen recording of this issue as I have not been able to replicate this with your document and workflow.

[Old Bruce]

@Ken Hjulstrom,

I have never seen Frame Text/1 or Frame Text/2 etc. before. How were these made? 

[MikeTO]

12 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

@Ken Hjulstrom,

I have never seen Frame Text/1 or Frame Text/2 etc. before. How were these made? 

Those are the automatic names for linked frames that you haven't renamed manually. This was a new UI feature in v2 but not advertised as far as I know. Just draw two frames and link them to see the automatic names change.

[Old Bruce]

22 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

Those are the automatic names for linked frames that you haven't renamed manually. This was a new UI feature in v2 but not advertised as far as I know. Just draw two frames and link them to see the automatic names change.

Ah, cool. I tend to have linked text frames on Master Pages only, and I name everything on Master Pages.

[Ken Hjulstrom]

Here's a screenshot of what the document looks like just before pressing the "Command" key crashed Publisher.  To create this from scratch, I did the following:

1. File | New
2. For page size, select "Letter"
3. On the "Pages" tab, check "Facing Pages", for "Arrange", select "Horizontally", for "Start on", select "Left", and for "Number of pages", select "2".
4. Click "Create".  You should now have two empty pages displayed side-by-side.
5. On the left page, use the Frame Text Tool to create two text frames on the page, not overlapping, and one to the right of the other.  I don't believe their position on the page matters.
6. On the right page, use the Frame Text Tool to create one text frame somewhere on the page.  I don't believe that the position matters.
7. With the Move tool active, click in the leftmost text frame on the left page to select it.
8. Click on the "link node" on the lower part of the right edge of the frame.  The frame will now be shaded blue.
9. Move the mouse pointer over the rightmost text frame on the left page (it will become shaded blue), and then click in that frame to create a link between the left frame on that page and the right frame on that page.
10. Now, still with the Move tool, click on the "link node" on the lower part of the right edge of the rightmost frame on the left page, which will shade this frame blue.
11. Move the mouse pointer over the text frame on the right page (it will become shaded blue), and then click in that frame to create a link between the right frame on the left page and the only frame on the right page.
12. Press the "Command" key on the keyboard, and Publisher will immediately close down, with no notification.

I hope this helps.  If not, please let me know, and I'll make a screen recording.

Thanks,

Ken

 

[Ken Hjulstrom]

One workaround that I discovered is that if I use File | Save to save the document, then it saves fine, and the "Command" key crash does not appear to recur for that document.  I typically use Command-S to save, though (or Command-Tab to cycle through open apps), and it took a while for me to figure out that it was the "Command" key press that was causing Publisher to crash.

Ken

 

[MikeTO]

Hi Ken, the screenshot you showed is of a different document than the test document you shared.

Could you record the screen showing the steps leading up to the crash? I've tried to duplicate it without success, too. Instructions for recording your screen with macOS are available here and the resulting video can be added to your post in this forum.

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/mac-help/mh26782/mac

Cheers

[Ken Hjulstrom]

Hi MikeTO,

Attached here is a screen recording of my creating a new Publisher document that shows the crash.  After setting up the text frame links, I hit the "Command" key, which caused Publisher to crash.

Ken

 

 

[MikeTO]

Thanks for the screen recording. I still can't duplicate it but there is one thing in the screen recording that I wouldn't have understood without seeing it - you switched from the Text tool back to the Move tool before linking the frames so perhaps that's an important step. Could you try the same steps but without switching to the Move tool before linking the frames? After drawing the last frame, just click in the first frame and then click the icon to start linking the frames. It would be interesting to know if the selected tool makes a difference.

Also your document is a facing pages document that starts on the left side which is uncommon so I tried it that way, too.

[Ken Hjulstrom]

18 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

Thanks for the screen recording. I still can't duplicate it but there is one thing in the screen recording that I wouldn't have understood without seeing it - you switched from the Text tool back to the Move tool before linking the frames so perhaps that's an important step. Could you try the same steps but without switching to the Move tool before linking the frames? After drawing the last frame, just click in the first frame and then click the icon to start linking the frames. It would be interesting to know if the selected tool makes a difference.

Also your document is a facing pages document that starts on the left side which is uncommon so I tried it that way, too.

I tried using the Text Frame Tool to create the frame links, and I got the same results.  Regarding the start side of the facing pages, I get the same results whether the start page is on the left or right.  Actually, I first encountered this problem with the start page being on the right, but I switched it to the left, as it allowed both pages to appear side-by-side in the screen recording without the need to scroll up and down.

Also, by accident, I just realized that the crash can be caused by pressing ANY key after setting the text frame links.  I've caused the crash by pressing a letter key, the Shift key, and an arrow key.

[Old Bruce]

26 minutes ago, Ken Hjulstrom said:

Also, by accident, I just realized that the crash can be caused by pressing ANY key after setting the text frame links.  I've caused the crash by pressing a letter key, the Shift key, and an arrow key.

Do you have any third party utilities running? The sort of things that sit between the OS and the applications we actually use. They could be keystroke macro recorders or even file management utilities or Hard Drive optimizers.

Finally, have you tried using the advice from Roy of the IT Crowd? "Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

[Pauls]

Having the keyboard input set to romanji would appear to be the key to this crash

[Pauls]

and that is now logged

[Ken Hjulstrom]

16 minutes ago, Pauls said:

Having the keyboard input set to romanji would appear to be the key to this crash

Yes, I just confirmed that that's exactly what the problem was.  I set the keyboard setting to "ABC" and ran my test again, and there was no crash when pressing a key.  While in the same file, I then switched the keyboard setting back to "Romaji", hit a key, and got the immediate crash.  Thanks for noticing this.

Ken