OS 10.8.2 and TextEdit Application

[DanSandbergUCONN]

Hi All - I've been noticing some very bizarre behavior with 10.8.2 running on my MacBook retina.

The primary problem right now is that the TextEdit application creates a new document whenever I save changes to an old document. The new document it creates has the same name as the old document but with a whole bunch of characters after it. For example, ToDo.rtf becomes ToDo.rtf.sb-bbbd4e11-kVIQCP. The new file can not be opened but I can delete it and the old file has saved the changes. One of my files now refuses to open because it says the permissions pervent me from opening it. I open the info for the file and I have read & write permissions. I unlocked the file by clicking the lock in the lower right hand corner but I still can't open the document.

I posted this in system rather than applications because I've been having trouble with other applications as well. Adobe flash player crashes at least once per day. Every time I quit Microsoft Word I get a message box telling me that the application quit unexpectedly. But it didn't quit unexpectedly, it quit because I executed the quit command.

This is a brand new machine - could there be some sort of problem with it (software or hardware)???

[Sumleilmus]

Is this new machine using the exact same OS you were accustomed to using before, as in 10.8.2, as opposed to 10.7.3?

Did you import _any_ settings into it, or did you configure it anew?

Apple's new ideas about what "save" ought to mean and what "save as" ought to mean could be at play here, but that would not explain the craven lies about applications that you instructed to quit having "quit unexpectedly."

[DanSandbergUCONN]

Thanks for the reply Sumleilmus. I am new to OS 10.8.2, was previously on 10.6!! (Yeah I was a broke a graduate student for awhile and couldn't afford to upgrade anything in my life but now I'm rocking the newest and greatest souped out MacBook..... at least till they develop something better next week)

Regarding the persistent error from Word, claiming to have quit unexpectedly when I instruct it to quit, this is Word 2008 transferred from my old machine and I initially assumed this was why. I did repair the File Locations in word under preferences so I'm not sure why I'm still getting errors. If this were the only problem I would assume it was the application and either buy a new version of office or live with the bug. But let's put a pin in that for a second and focus on the other problems.

The issue with TextEdit I can not begin to explain. This version of TextEdit came with the OS. TextEdit is a relatively basic program and as far as file permissions, the permissions that show up in the info screen AND when I do ls -ld at the terminal prompt indicate I have read & write access to files but then TextEdit won't let me open them due to permission issues. Save versus Save As is a feasible reason for the problem of creating new files, but again this application came on the MacBook with the OS. I wouldn't expect an error.

Adobe Flash was installed via Firefox, latest versions of each. So I'm not sure why I constantly need to reboot flash. ALSO, Firefox sometimes stops responding to keystrokes. So I can move the mouse, I can click an editfield in the web browser such as the search term editfield on google, but then when I try to type in my search query nothing happens. A quit and restart of the Firefox application resolves the issue but not sure why this is happening.

[trevor]

Quote: Originally Posted by DanSandbergUCONN Regarding the persistent error from Word, claiming to have quit unexpectedly when I instruct it to quit, this is Word 2008 transferred from my old machine and I initially assumed this was why.

Did you use Migration Assistant or similar to move apps, files, and settings to your new machine? Or did you do a new installation of Word and other apps from the original discs?

Quote: Originally Posted by DanSandbergUCONN TextEdit is a relatively basic program and as far as file permissions, the permissions that show up in the info screen AND when I do ls -ld at the terminal prompt indicate I have read & write access to files but then TextEdit won't let me open them due to permission issues.

There's a whole other layer of control on top of the standard POSIX permissions, called ACLs (Access Control Lists). If you, for example, have an ACL set incorrectly, nothing will be visible from ls -ld or the horrible Finder Get Info. Another possibility, though less likely given your description of what is happening, is that you have file flags set. Let's look at this for real in the Terminal, and see what's going on.

You haven't mentioned what directory you're having problems with, but for the sake of example, I'll guess it's in your home directory, in Documents. To see the ACLs on files in that directory, you would issue the command

ls -alOe ~/Documents

The -e lists ACLs. The -O (that is an uppercase letter o) lists file flags. The -l shows the directory in the long format. And the -a lists all files including those whose name begins with a dot.

If you let us see the information from one of the files that you are having permission problems with, that will help us see what is really going on.

Trevor

[DanSandbergUCONN]

Quote: Originally Posted by trevor Did you use Migration Assistant or similar to move apps, files, and settings to your new machine? Or did you do a new installation of Word and other apps from the original discs?

I've lost the original disks so I used a script to move Word. I can troubleshoot this problem (or live with it), if it is an isolated issue but I'm concerned something systemic is wrong because I'm having issues with a number of programs.

Quote: Originally Posted by trevor There's a whole other layer of control on top of the standard POSIX permissions, called ACLs (Access Control Lists). If you, for example, have an ACL set incorrectly, nothing will be visible from ls -ld or the horrible Finder Get Info. Another possibility, though less likely given your description of what is happening, is that you have file flags set. Let's look at this for real in the Terminal, and see what's going on. You haven't mentioned what directory you're having problems with, but for the sake of example, I'll guess it's in your home directory, in Documents. To see the ACLs on files in that directory, you would issue the command ls -alOe ~/Documents The -e lists ACLs. The -O (that is an uppercase letter o) lists file flags. The -l shows the directory in the long format. And the -a lists all files including those whose name begins with a dot. If you let us see the information from one of the files that you are having permission problems with, that will help us see what is really going on. Trevor

Thanks for the help on this. So the problem with TextEdit seems to come and go. I click on a file and get the error, close the folder and reopen it and then the file opens. It seems to give me the error message once every few days. Right now I'm having no trouble accessing the files but here is the result of the command prompt you requested for a file that was causing me a problem:

Quote: -rw-r--r-- 1 sandberg staff - 860 Feb 23 13:15 ToDo.rtf

In addition to this, Adobe flash player crashes at least once per day. Sometimes in Firefox the keyboard stops responding. So I can move the mouse and click an editfield but then when I type the computer doesn't respond. Again, this is an error I notice once a week or less (I've only had the computer a few months) and a simple quit/application restart seems to fix the problem. I'm jsut concerned there are so many little issues....

[dianeross]

Quote: Originally Posted by DanSandbergUCONN I'm jsut concerned there are so many little issues....

I would test in a new User to see if the problems go away. It could just be your User's folder.

Use new User to test for problems

You can also boot into the Recovery drive and reset permissions on your files.

1. Restart Lion and hold down the Command and R keys.
2. You will boot into the Repair Utilities screen. On top, in the Menu Bar click the Utilities item then select Terminal.
3. In the Terminal window, type resetpassword and hit Return.
4. The Password reset utility launches, but you’re not going to reset the password. Instead, click on the icon for your Mac’s hard drive at the top. From the drop-down below it, select the user account where you are having issues.
5. At the bottom of the window, you’ll see an area labeled 'Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs'. Click the Reset button there.

[DanSandbergUCONN]

Quote: Originally Posted by dianeross I would test in a new User to see if the problems go away. It could just be your User's folder. Use new User to test for problems You can also boot into the Recovery drive and reset permissions on your files. Restart Lion and hold down the Command and R keys. You will boot into the Repair Utilities screen. On top, in the Menu Bar click the Utilities item then select Terminal. In the Terminal window, type resetpassword and hit Return. The Password reset utility launches, but you’re not going to reset the password. Instead, click on the icon for your Mac’s hard drive at the top. From the drop-down below it, select the user account where you are having issues. At the bottom of the window, you’ll see an area labeled 'Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs'. Click the Reset button there.

Great advice! The problems seem to be so sporadic. Some have only happened a half dozen times at most and some as few as just once or twice. I'll try your suggestion and see if I notice anything else awry.