PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

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Zarquan314
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PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Zarquan314 »

I use PDF XChange Editor to grade papers. One of the things I like to do is take my "stack" of papers and separate them by common errors so I can compare them to each other to ensure consistency across the papers. Doing this, I can end up with many windows.

I'm not a professor, so sometimes I want to leave these in these many windows and consult my professor on how wrong these are or whether he considers them wrong at all in the larger context. When I do this, I often move on to another question and grade that. However, sometimes when I finish this second question and close that window, all of the other PDF XChange Editor windows crash, which essentially dissolves the stacks I made.

I don't know how to reproduce this crash consistently.

EDIT: A thought: Fixing the crash would be nice, but sometimes the program will crash for reasons outside PDF XChange Editor's control (e.g. computer crash). I think it would be nice if when PDF XChange Editor crashes, it attempts to restore all open PDFs in the form they were in before the crash (organized the way they were). I'm thinking a mechanism similar to Firefox, where when it crashes, it presents you with a "Restore Session" window which can reopen the tabs and windows as they were before the crash. I wouldn't care about the crash if I could recover in this form.
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, Zarquan314

Ill split this into two sections.

First, We do offer a "restore last session" function, but currently it only works by saving the session details when the software is closed normally, not during a crash. I am unsure if we even keep enough information about the active session in the tmp files to restore them as such when a crash occurs. I will ask the Dev team if maybe we can add that functionality in the future. If you wish to use this option normally right now though, you can enable it from the prefences (top highlighted section in the image below):
image.png
I should also note that we do docuemnt recovery functions, you can set the editor to save a copy of any changes you are making to files at set increments, by default 5 minutes. If there are any unsaved changes when a crash occurs, the Editor should present a notice that these files were found, and allow you to restore them. (this is the lower highlighted section in the image above).

Second, With regards to the crash, If you are unable to reproduce it at the moment, finding a way to do so will help us immensely to find a solution. Before we get too far into troubleshooting, I would recommend that you ensure you have the latest release (currently 9.3.361.0) installed. Once you have that, you can setup crash dump generation by following the steps here: https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowle ... estigation
Please configure crash dumps to be recorded, and then send one to us the next time it happens (do ensure you are running the latest build, crash dumps from a previous version will not be helpful to us)

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Zarquan314
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Zarquan314 »

I do definitely appreciate the restore options that exist, and when it crashes I make use of them. It would be nice if the Restore Session were somehow saved as part of auto recovery auto saves.

All I know about the crash is that it has happened to me several times. I press Alt-F4 on one PDF XChange Editor window and all the other windows close too.
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, Zarquan314

Okay, and just to be certain, you absolutely are running Version 9.3 build 361.0?
You can double check this by clicking help > about.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Zarquan314
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Zarquan314 »

Yes, I am running that version of PDF XChange editor.

Could there be an error log that records this incident that I can send you?
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Dimitar - Tracker Supp
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Dimitar - Tracker Supp »

Hello Zarquan314,

Please follow these instructions for generating a crash log:

https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowle ... estigation

Once the log is ready, please send it to us for an investigation to our support email: support@pdf-xchange.com

Regards.
Zarquan314
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Zarquan314 »

Ok, I will send it if it happens again. This crash is intermittent and I don't know how to trigger it (not to mention I don't separate out in to multiple windows that often), so it might be a while. And I just noticed you had already told me how to do that and I just missed it in your previous post.
igorlima
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by igorlima »

Hi all!

I just want to add my voice in this issue because I think I'm having the exact same thing Zarquan314 is having with the Version: 9.3, build 361.0 too. I'm using the portable version.

Sometimes when I'm closing one of the documents I have opened in XCHANGE the program will just freeze and crashes.

One thing I'd like to add is that, after the crash, the program will restart all by itself but it I wont open any documents. It will just have that window with the saying "Documents can be opened by double clicking here...". I don't know if the crash that Zarquan314 is having envolves this behavior too. But for me the crash always happens when I'm closing a one of the documents I have open, similar to what Zarquan314 is reporting.

For me this is happening really randomly and I can't reproduce this issue, neither I know what is causing it. But this started happening since 9.3.360.0 and in 9.3.361. it didn't happen in version 9.2.359.0.

I might add that this crash already made me lose unsaved comments I had made in pdfs at the time the crash happened. This started making me worry to do alterations on pdfs without saving right away, and, because of this, I constantly kept saving my pdfs as soon as I made some alterations. Although this wasn't happening a lot of times a day, it was enough for me to get back to version 9.2.359.0 because of the fear of losing more data.

Unfortunately the AutoRecover function didn't store any unsaved progress I had made before the crash happened ( as Daniel already pointed out).

Since I got back to version 9.2.359.0 I didn't have any more crashes.

As for the crash dump generation presented here (https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgebase/459-How-do-I-create-a-dump-file-and-send-it-to-Tracker-Software-for-investigation) I would really like to send one of those for the support. But we need to be able to reproduce the issue at our will? Or we can just wait for the crash to happen again and then follow the steps to create the dump immediately? Unfortunately, as I said it, this is still very random and I don't know how to reproduce at my will.

Thank you for the support!
Igor
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Zarquan314
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Zarquan314 »

I might be wrong, but I think my crash was happening in previous versions too. I don't use multiple windows that often, so I could be mistaken.

I don't think my issue happens when I close an individual document, but instead when I close a PDF XChange Editor window.

I think we have to either trigger a crash or wait for a crash to happen to upload a log. I'm just operating as normal with the logging on.
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Hi guys,

as I understand it the crash was determined to be related to JavaScript, unless I'm mixing up cases. That would explain it's intermittent nature I think.

The KB about setting up crash dumps here https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowle ... estigation set things up such that the dump it triggered by the crash. So you set it up as per the article and then just keep working until it crashes. Then grab the dump files and upload them as detailed here: https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowle ... FTP-server

I am keen also to know if this is the same thing.
Best regards

Paul O'Rorke
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igorlima
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by igorlima »

Hi all!

I see, maybe my case is a little different than Zarquan314 's one.

Anyway, I followed the steps on the linked article and set up the dump settings. After that I started using 9.3.361.0 again today. Everything was fine in the morning and in the afternoon. But in the evening it crashed again, the same way I reported.

I sent the dump file through the UserUploads Server in a folder with my name.
Paul - Tracker Supp wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 10:04 pm as I understand it the crash was determined to be related to JavaScript, unless I'm mixing up cases. That would explain it's intermittent nature I think.
Paul - Tracker Supp wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 10:04 pm I am keen also to know if this is the same thing.
That means there is already a case being investigated in the support?

Thank you for the support!

Update: after I sent the dump file, I kept using v 9.3.361.0 with the dump options active. In the next morning a crash happened again and another dump file was generated. So I sent this new dump file to the same folder with my name created in the UserUploads Server. If it happens again I will repeat the process. Fortunately while using 9.3.361.0 I'm now always saving every little alteration I make so I think in those last crash I didn't lose any data. I'm starting to think that these crashs, on my end, doesn't relate with closing individual tabs of documents, but can happen when I'm doing other things too like when switching tabs or saving a file. Still, is very random.
Igor
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Zarquan314
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Zarquan314 »

I got @igorlima's crash.

I uploaded/am uploading the file as PDFXEdit.exe.24012.dmp

This crash is more dramatic than my crash. In my crash, the windows all instantly close. The crash in this log had the window turn grey and have a Windows Program Not Responding prompt before closing before I interacted with it.

I haven't gotten my crash since I reported it, which is odd because I got it 3 times the day I reported it.
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Thanks Zarquan314,

we have the dump files and are looking into it.
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Zarquan314 »

For the time being, I give up on finding my crash. The term at my university has ended and I am currently not grading anymore. I'll look out for it though.
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Understood Zarquan314

sometimes it is better to leave a sleeping dog lie, though I hope that won't come back to bite me!
;-)
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igorlima
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by igorlima »

Hi all!

Although Zarquan314 said he gave up on finding his crash, can I still talk about mine here or should I open another topic for this?

I'd just like to know if the support found any clue on the crashs I reported (and Zarquan314 said it happened to him too).

I just had another one now after I started using 9.3.361.0 again because I updated my windows to a version that came out the day before yesterday. I thought updating my windows could help but I guess not :(

Thank you!
Igor
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Can I get another dump then from you please Igorlima?

The one I have here is old and I want to make sure we have the most relevant.

please and thanks
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by igorlima »

Paul - Tracker Supp wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 4:24 pm Can I get another dump then from you please Igorlima?

The one I have here is old and I want to make sure we have the most relevant.

please and thanks
Hi, Paul.

Sure, I just had another crash right now and I just uploaded the created "crash dump file" to the user uploads server. It's in my folder named "dump file igorlima". The name of the dump file is "PDFXEdit.exe.3424.dmp".

Before this crash, I had deselect every javascript option in the "Preference" settings to see if this fixed the crashes. But it didn't work.

I'm wondering if I change the "Performance Options" it will help fix these crashes...

Another thing is that I'm realizing that this is always happening when I close a tab. I think this is the only pattern I'm getting. The rest, like the time, the documents, the number of tabs opened, for example, is still random for me.

Thank you!
Igor
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Hi igorlima,

I'm wondering if I change the "Performance Options" it will help fix these crashes...

We continue to investigate the cause of this. Roman tells me making changes to the "Performance Options" a s you ask above likely will not help.

At this juncture it is something we need to understand and fix.

Working on it.
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by igorlima »

Paul - Tracker Supp wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 5:51 pm Hi igorlima,

I'm wondering if I change the "Performance Options" it will help fix these crashes...

We continue to investigate the cause of this. Roman tells me making changes to the "Performance Options" a s you ask above likely will not help.

At this juncture it is something we need to understand and fix.

Working on it.
Hi, Paul!

Thank you for the response!

I'm glad the support is still working on this. Hope you find something. If I find something I will post here too.

Regards, :D
Igor
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PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

:)
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by nizdi »

I don't know how can I help but mine is crashing too. Basically when I open a file, use for a few minutes (2~5), and when I close it to work on the file that was opened before (like opened for 40+ min already), everything freezes for a moment, and the software restart itself.

Edit: my perfomance options are all automatic, so if it need it could ask for more ram, i dont think that's the problem. It wasnt happening in 9.2, i'm 100% sure because I always used that way (copy files from a new PDF into a old and bigger one, than I close the new pdf window and keeping working in the older one. never had crashes before).
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Sinaptik »

Hi guys,

Also wanted to report that damn crash issue.
I'm facing it several times a day and never had a single crash for years !!!
This is extremely annoying because I'm working on several documents by adding a lot of comments (engineering drawings) and of course, when it crashed, I loose everthing from the last save, so need to improve my CTRL+S ability !

This also looks random, on my end.

I confirm I'm using latest portable version 9.3 build 361.0.
Not sur if it was there on build 360 because I used it just a little bit but, to me, it wasn't there on build 359.

Looking forward the team find a fix.
Thanks a lot !
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, Sinaptik

Thank you for the report, The Dev team is aware of the issue and we have a handful of users who have submit crash reports, they are working on a resolution right now, and this issue should be fixed with the next release as it is our current primary focus. In the meantime, If you are experiencing this issue, I would recommend rolling back to build 359.0, or using the 359 portable, which is available here: https://builds-archive.tracker-software ... rtable.zip

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by igorlima »

TrackerSupp-Daniel wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 6:15 pm Hello, Sinaptik

Thank you for the report, The Dev team is aware of the issue and we have a handful of users who have submit crash reports, they are working on a resolution right now, and this issue should be fixed with the next release as it is our current primary focus. In the meantime, If you are experiencing this issue, I would recommend rolling back to build 359.0, or using the 359 portable, which is available here: https://builds-archive.pdf-xchange.com/9.2.359.0/PDFXEdit9_Portable.zip

Kind regards,
Thank you for this, Daniel!

Have you already found a solution? if yes I'd like to know, please, if its possible to release a "hot fix". Having in mind that its already more than 1 month later and if the next programed build is not coming in the next days, which I believe is not, right?. It would be awesome if the fix could be released soon!

I'm using Version: 9.2, build 359.0 just fine, but it would be nice the be able to use the latest version with the latest improvements :D

Thank you for the support!
Igor
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, igorlima

Unfortunately no hotfix is available, a full update will be necessary, but we are aiming to offer the next release (build 362) within the next 2 months.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by HVAC Elements Jeff »

Hi all,

Just wanted to throw it out there that I have a user experiencing the same random crashes with multiple windows open. I do see its being worked on but wanted to add the crash dumps that I have collected over the past couple weeks to hopefully give more data about what is occurring.

user uploads can be found in the below location. (messed up the upload initially so the correct dumps are found 2 folders deep under the HVAC Elements Jeff _pdf dumps folder)

https://useruploads.tracker-software.support/#/HOME/HVAC%20Elements%20Jeff%20_pdf%20dumps/HVAC%20Elements%20Jeff%20_pdf%20dumps
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, HVAC Elements Jeff

Thank you very much for that, I have passed this along to the Dev team for their review. I think that the issue is already resolved, but they will double check to verify if the items present in your dumps reveal any new information.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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Zarquan314
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Zarquan314 »

My crash happened again. I was grading and made a "stack" of papers with similar problems by making a new window and dragging the papers with the error in to it. When I finished it, I closed the stack and all of PDF XChange Editor closed. I uploaded a crash log to the upload server as ZarquanPDFXEdit.exe.23876.dmp

EDIT: I should note that I was on an older version of PDF XChange Editor (9.3 build 361) when the crash happened and have since upgraded to the latest version.
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Hi Zarquan,

I do believe we already fixed this. Please keep an eye on 9.4.363.0 and report if the issue persists.

I hope that helps, you should see it stable now.
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Re: PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Zarquan314 »

OK, I'll keep an eye out.
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PDF XChange Editor sometimes crashes when a window is closed

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

:)
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