Multiple Problems With Large Files [BUG LOGGED]

Scrivener Scrivener for Windows
1

The word processor grinds to a halt when working with very large files. To duplicate the problem, create a few items with small amounts of text, then copy and paste a large work (100,000 words) into a single Scrivener item. Jump to the bottom or middle of the text and start working.

Moving the cursor in this position takes some time to act. As does other actions such as starting to type, Selecting and pasting, etc.

Switch the live spell checker on or off while the large file is open. It can take 2-3 minutes to ‘unfreeze’ and allow you to carry on working.

Select another item and then reselect the 100k word item. Takes 2-3 minutes to load and unfreeze.

Same applies when selecting the Draft folder that contains the large work.

The slowness within the document doesn’t occur when working at the start of the large document. My guess is that Scrivener is parsing/indexing the entire document that comes before the cursor, and in some cases the entire document (before loading). This makes large, unbroken down files, effectively unusable within a project.

This is probably linked to the “lagging when I type” issue that many others have reported, which I’m guessing only happens with large amounts of text.

(Windows Vista - fast machine)

2

I believe that this seems to be the problem. Scrivener isn’t handling large documents as well as it should be.

I don’t think this is the only cause though, just one of the ones responsible for the slowdowns and general unresponsiveness.

3

Thank you for the feedback. I will investigate how we can improve the performance of the editor. I have logged this as a bug. Once again, thanks for taking the time to provide this invaluable feedback.

4

Another report of large file problem.

  1. Paste 53,000 word file in DRAFT as Untitled.
  2. Click on Untitled.
  3. Scrivener freezes.
    (Might be a long lag and not a freeze, I may not have waited long enough.)
  4. Try to delete file.
  5. Windows freezes. Have to turn off machine and restart.

Scrivener Beta 1.0 is unusable with large file.

Windows 7, 64 bit, 4 gig ram, intel i5 core.

5

In case it helps… I pasted in a 50k-ish word manuscript to split it into sections for revising in December, and doing the splitting into separate text files was… slow, to be kind, for the first 20k words, but once I got the main text file down under 30,000 words, it went MUCH faster for me. Still all in the same project file.

So for me, as long as I don’t let a scene get over 30k words, I might be okay. :wink: And since I’ve plotted this year’s into scenes, I might just be able to do that. (Last year, I forgot all about breaking for chapters, LOL.)

I’m a developer, so I get what you’re facing. And I’m in awe of how much you’ve accomplished with this, it’s totally amazing.