Publisher 2.4.2 hangs on Windows with 0% CPU

[Dave42]

Running Publisher 2.4.2 on Windows 11.  I have a reasonably large document ~600 A4 pages with ~200 linked jpeg images. The application regularly freezes/hangs (Windows reports app not responding) when document is open. The hang does not appear to occur in response to any user action. e.g. I can leave the app unattended for a few minutes - sometimes when I return it has hung, sometime not.  Once the app has hung it does not recover (I've left it for extended periods) and has to be terminated. Looking at task manager when app hangs I see the Publisher application is at 0% CPU and total system CPU at ~7% or so. System memory is at 66%. This seems to be happening after last upgrade.

Not sure how to diagnose further. Couldn't see a recent report of this problem

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, Dave42 said:

Not sure how to diagnose further.

You can create a .dmp file from the Task Manager while the application is hung. Expand the entry for the application, right-click on the middle entry, and there should be an option to create a dump.

It will probably be quite large, and will be saved in your Windows/user Temp directory. I usually move it out to a safer location so it doesn't get automatically deleted by Windows before Serif is ready for it.

Then, if Serif wants it, they can provide a private Dropbox link for you to upload it.

[NathanC]

Hi @Dave42,

As well as the DMP file if you could send us a copy of your document we can confirm if the freeze can be replicated as well as any potential causes. I've provided a private upload link below.

https://www.dropbox.com/request/cgZqysHPqDP4lqJjg6ib

Thanks

[Dave42]

Publisher seems to have been better behaved last couple of days but finally hung.The dump file is 22.8 Gb. Is that really expected ? Looking at the Dropbox predicted transfer time (I don't have a very fast uplink) the upload is going to take about a week, give or take a day or so.   That doesn't seem very practical.  (it would be quicker to burn a blu-ray disk and put it in the post - which I can do). I'm slightly reluctant to upload the .afpub and the accompanying 300 Mb of linked jpegs as I don't have permission to redistribute the latter.

[NathanC]

15 hours ago, Dave42 said:

The dump file is 22.8 Gb. Is that really expected ? Looking at the Dropbox predicted transfer time (I don't have a very fast uplink) the upload is going to take about a week, give or take a day or so.

Yeah, they can be quite large files so if the upload's going to take as long as a week on your connection I'd probably just leave it.

15 hours ago, Dave42 said:

I'm slightly reluctant to upload the .afpub and the accompanying 300 Mb of linked jpegs as I don't have permission to redistribute the latter.

Without the document it will be guesswork as we have nothing to inspect, but since you mentioned that you have ~200 linked images in the doc it's possible that the locations of these linked resources could be causing the app problems. Particularly if it hangs when the app is entirely idle. If your images are stored in an external location (Cloud storage, Network Drive, External drive) you could try re-locating them to your local storage, re-linking them in the app to the new local location and then seeing if the freezes persist.

[NPT]

I've just come across this today. My Publisher file is around 8.5MB. I saw in the Event Viewer, messages at the right time about a file not being available due to network issues. I store and work with all my files on OneDrive.

I've now copied my .afpub file to a non-OneDrive folder and everything now works again! Right now, I'm copying my .afpub file back to the OneDrive folder so it gets backed up, but, for me at least, it seems that working on my Publisher file away from OneDrive is successful.

I have also tried editing my newly-changed .afpub file while it's on OneDrive - again I get Publisher to freeze... OneDrive is not actively copying my file to the cloud while I'm attempting to edit it - in fact, OneDrive showing "Up to date" at that time, and there are no little updating symbols shown in the File Explorer.

[NPT]

... Maybe not - Now, editing on the non-OneDrive folder doesn't work, it just hangs again. At least, Publisher isn't really hanging; I can view Master Pages and close the Pages list. I just cannot click to view another page, and I cannot select any elements on the page. I can even select tools, but they have no impact on the content (e.g. draw a box doesn't actually put a box in the page). Cannot add pages, and the Resource Manager does not open - to name just a couple of other things which don't work. This is Publisher version 2.4.2 on Windows 10.

Only when I try to close the document does Publisher actually hang.

I can successfully edit another document, which is on OneDrive.

Moving the problem .afpub file to another folder does seem to work - sometimes at least.

Edited May 2 by NPT

[Dave42]

Interesting. I have all my files on a locally-attached disk (C:) so network shouldn't be an issue. In my case Publisher is completely hung - task manager says process is deadlocked.  As an aside - I have observed that Windows Explorer on my system (latest Windows 11) occasionally and unexpectedly switches from a view of a selected folder (on C:) to a desktop view. Research suggests that can happen when Windows loses contact with  a network drive - which mine isn't. So I don't know if there is an underlying  issue with Windows - although all other applications work as expected.  I'll try the Event Viewer.

[NPT]

Maybe this is slightly different. I've found that I can select elements for a couple of seconds immediately after opening the document. Then everything stops working, and now I seem to have run out of places to copy my file, so that I cannot edit it anywhere now. This makes delivering the document to my customer for proof-reading impossible...