Latest Catalina beta doing something visually weird to Scrivener

[marcoiac]

Hard to describe, but if you have the problem you'll know what I am talking about. Both the upper and rightmost part of the Scrivener window have some blank sectors that should not be there. Is it only me or it's a known issue?

I should also say that I was traveling and haven't used Scrivener much in the last four weeks or so and perhaps the issue is not with the latest beta? (Which, btw, seems to have solved all those pesky iCloud issues...)

[nontroppo]

Scrivener looks fine to me on build 19A558d — and yes they completely reverted iCloud system code back to the Mojave version to fix major sync issues, and catastrophic data loss (even installing a beta on the iPhone wiped files in an unrecoverable way from desktop machines):

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2019/09/03/iclo ... postponed/

Cloud storage makes running beta software on any linked device a potential for disaster... Apple should have had a mitigation and backup strategy for this, as developers are still probably likely to use their Apple ID when running beta software, and certainly public beta testers will...

[marcoiac]

I haven't lost any data (that I am aware of) but wasted so much time on the iCloud issues of Catalina betas that is not even funny.

I have two types of issues on two different machines (MB12 and MBP13), as you can see from the screenshots. I got this empty sector on the right side and either I can't see the top of the binder or I see that but I also have another empty sector on the top of the window. Can't figure out where this stuff is coming from. I see it in full screen or not, and switching from 'dark' appearance to 'system' appearance makes no difference. I believe it started with the latest build. Very puzzling. Curious to see how it looks on the iMac 27 5K retina sitting in the office, but that'll have to wait a few days.

Any idea about this is very welcome. Thanks!

Screenshot 2019-09-12 11.00.39.png (175.31 KiB) Viewed 2328 times

Screenshot 2019-09-12 10.59.43.png (166.5 KiB) Viewed 2328 times

[kewms]

FWIW, this kind of anomaly is pretty common with Mac OS beta releases. The Scrivener UI is pretty complex, and it seems to take Apple some time for all the components to get hooked up correctly.

Katherine

[AmberV]

Considering the severity of the problem, and that you seem to be the only one reporting it thus far, I’d eliminate whether or not it is just a mundane broken UI plist file, the likes of which can happen on any system.

Run through this checklist and see if that fixes it. You might also want to reset the main prefs plist as well.

[marcoiac]

Considering the severity of the problem, and that you seem to be the only one reporting it thus far, I’d eliminate whether or not it is just a mundane broken UI plist file, the likes of which can happen on any system.

Run through this checklist and see if that fixes it. You might also want to reset the main prefs plist as well.

Thanks. Doesn't seem to solve the issue, which now that I have spent a little more time observing it, happens only when I go to full screen. Funny thing is, if after I go to full screen I exit full screen, display is still pretty screwy. If I close the project and re-open it, it's all fine and dandy, as long as I don't go full screen (which is my preferred way to work, btw).

I assume full screen is something controlled by the OS, isn't it?

[oopsowl]

I have the same issue on both of my macs running Catalina.

[matsgz]

First a mea culpa. I'm on Catalina /10.15-beta (19A558d). So, I have no one else to blame.

But, suddenly (after an automatic update) Scrivener doesn't anymore fill the screen when I go to full screen (see screenshots.

Is it a MacOS beta problem, or something else? Is there anything I can do?

[kewms]

Sorry, your screenshots weren't attached.

But unless you can duplicate this on Mojave, I'm going to say this is a Mac beta problem.

Katherine

[AmberV]

When you say it doesn’t “fill the screen”, does that mean there is space around the edges of the window, or that the interface doesn’t fill the window? If it’s the latter, as you can see, we know about it. And yes, it is a beta OS problem.

We don’t actually know of a way to reproduce it though. Simple tests work fine, so if you can dig up a trigger from a blank starter project (and if that reproduces it, from your settings most likely), let us know!

[matsgz]

Had problem with uploading screenshots. Apparently to large. New try.

@Amber: yes, the interface doesn't fill the window.

It happens also in a new blank project.

[AmberV]

Since we cannot reproduce this, it would be helpful to know the following things:

• Does it happen with default settings in a new test Mac account?
• In your main account, do similarly complex windows in other software exhibit oddities when show in full screen?
• If it requires something more than default settings, could you post or PM your exported .prefs file?

———————
Moderator Note: I’ve moved these two topics to the beta testing forum and merged them together.

[matsgz]

Does it happen with default settings in a new test Mac account?
How do I set up a test account? It happens with default settings in my usual account.

In your main account, do similarly complex windows in other software exhibit oddities when show in full screen?
Not that I've seen. Scapple for example works as it should.

[AmberV]

Scapple would have a fairly simple window by comparison. I’m thinking of all the split views that Scrivener has—it’s complicated enough that it is frequently broken by macOS betas in the earlier phases (kind of concerning to see a break this late though). So something more along the lines of the main DEVONthink window, Xcode even—windows with a lot of subsections within them.

As for creating an account, it’s in System Preferences: Users & Groups. Just make a quick non-admin account and give it a quick check. That will eliminate most third party influences and system preference settings that might be involved. I do this kind of check all of the time, especially since my main account is very heavily modified.

[matsgz]

Created a test account and downloaded Scrivener. Still the same behaviour.