Scrivener 3 Auto-Centers with Typewriting Mode OFF and Lags Typing

[KKATHMAN]

I never really had a problem with Scrivener 2 following me as a type. But with this version 3 release, I find that the actual visibility on the screen as I type is significantly delayed. I can type for several words before they appear on the screen. In addition, the entire body auto-centers every line or so and that drives me completely crazy! I have turned typewriter mode OFF but it still auto-centers.

Has anyone seen this on their computer? I'm running Scrivener 3 on a MacBook Pro (2017) with 16GB memory and the highest i7 core processor so I'm sure it isn't the computer. I've restarted the program multiple times, too.

Would anyone hazard a guess at what's causing the issues?

[scshrugged]

As far as the "body centering" try adjusting the settings at:
Scrivener Preferences > Appearance > Main Editor > Use fixed width editor, and also, Center the editor when using fixed width

[KKATHMAN]

Thank you for your reply. I did uncheck that option and it seems to have done away with the auto-centering. I'm still at a loss as to why its so delayed in typing though.

[scshrugged]

You’re welcome. I’d try some basic troubleshooting steps to start with regarding the lag. Lagging is not normal behavior for Scrivener or for the capabilities of your machine. I’d try booting Scrivener into Safe Mode first. It prevents unnecessary items from starting up, and has reparative features as well.

If Scrivener runs well in Safe Mode but doesn’t after a regular boot, it’s likely that you have an App that’s conflicting with Scrivener somehow, such as for resources. It could be an AV, a backup service, etc. You’ll have to use a process of elimination to pinpoint which it is.

You might find that Scriv works well in Safe Mode then after rebooting to normal mode Scriv works well there too because of the previously mentioned reparative features.

Another step is to create a new user account strictly for testing purposes. If Scriv works well there, the problem is in your usual user account.

Safe Mode: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262
New test user account: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204443

ETA: if you’re using a cloud service to sync Scriv, disable it for testing purposes.

[KKATHMAN]

Well, I spoke too soon, I'm afraid. The auto-centering is still going on and it's driving me crazy. I honestly don't know how people are productive with this. I sometimes can type perhaps a paragraph before it suddenly jumps to the center and re-orients I don't think this is what it should be doing under ANY set of circumstances.

I have written support and it seems I never get an answer back from them. Sometimes never, other times weeks! They are either inundated with incidents or are completely understaffed and overwhelmed.

Scrivener 2 never did any of this. It worked for me right out of the box except for default fonts. The typing-lag that I described doesn't happen in any other application nor web app on my computer, so I'm sure it's the program itself. Perhaps the document I'm working on is too big? I was told there was NO limit in size of the document, though.

While I believe that the "safe mode" options are a good thing to try, I don't thing they are realistic. There should be no interaction between any of my apps, especially seeing that I rebooted the system and closed ALL apps except Scrivener and still have had the problems. If I must use Scrivener in "safe mode" when I need to write that kind of defeats the purpose of having all those nice tools for research and other cool things that pushed me to buy it in the first place.

What I am going to do is try starting with a "new" document and see if experience any of these issues.

Again, many thanks for your suggestions. If you or anyone else has any ideas, I'm all ears!

[scshrugged]

I wasn't suggesting to use Safe Mode as a permanent operating condition; it's for troubleshooting purposes and for its potential reparative features. You're not experiencing normal behaviors so it's one thing to try. There's others, of course, such as monitoring using the OS Activity Monitor.

I hope you get things sorted; good luck.

ETA: as a heads up––there are longer than normal support wait times currently because of the rollout. I'm just a user, like yourself.

[wordchiseler]

I’m experiencing lag, too, everything seems to be running a bit slower in general . At first I thought that it must be project size but the project is less than 2 GB. Further, I noticed the longer the project is open the slower it runs, and the more memory it uses. Currently Activity Monitor has Scrivener, with just that one project open, down for 7 GB of memory.
P.S. reopening Scrivener & that project, Activity Monitor reports 273 MB memory use.

[cgbeige]

man. I am getting this too. So annoying.

[Fitch]

While I don't have the auto-centering (which would drive me up a wall), I do occasionally experience the typing delay. It isn't constant but it happens often enough that it's annoying.

It only happens on my iMac, not on my 15" MBP. I think that means it's caused by something outside of Scrivener but I've no idea what.

Fitch