Serious problem with NISUS Writer 2.5

[hharris]

I just lost two weeks work. I opened up my saved file to find that, instead of the chapter of my novel I was working on, the last paragraph I had selected before saving was repeated over and over again for 20 pages.

This is the second serious problem I've had with NISUS Writer 2.5 and I haven't been using it that long. It has a lot a features and a good price, but if it can't do something basic like save a file correctly, I don't trust it and it's therefore worthless to me.

NOT RECOMMENDED!!

P.S. If somebody wants to try to fix this, you should know I was using the speech option on that selected paragraph just before saving. My guess is the pointer allocations for the speech routine messed up the document pointers somehow (or that may have nothing to do with it). Also, the document looks very strange now. Between the repeated paragraphs are double lines like no-line headers in the middle of the page with the normal headers still at the top of the page. When I hover the cursor over these double lines, an up-arrow down-arrow cursor appears and the number "4.95 in" appears when I key the mouse. Nothing happens when I drag the mouse.
I'm using Mac OS 10.4.3 with all current updates loaded including java.

[Ryan]

Have you sent the file to Nisus, using Help > Send Feedback…? They might be able to solve your problem, or at least see what's going on.

Also, just out of curiosity, if you open the file in another word processor (Word, TextEdit, or whatever), does the rest of the text show up at all? Before you give up on your work, you might also consider opening it with a plaintext editor like SubEthaEdit, to see if you can at least recover the text (in this case, it will be lacking styles).

[hharris]

I tried opening the file in Appleworks and Appleworks crashed. I then tried opening the file in TextEdit and I got a very strange file but it looks like all the text is there—the text, in TextEdit, is in small boxes scattered over many pages. I'd be glad to send this file to NISUS if it would help them debug the program. Like I say, the program has a lot of potential if they'd just get the bugs out. That's always the problem with doing a feature-rich program with a small staff.

Thanks Ryan.

Henry

[pds]

Have you sent the file to Nisus, using Help > Send Feedback…? They might be able to solve your problem, or at least see what's going on.

Also, just out of curiosity, if you open the file in another word processor (Word, TextEdit, or whatever), does the rest of the text show up at all? Before you give up on your work, you might also consider opening it with a plaintext editor like SubEthaEdit, to see if you can at least recover the text (in this case, it will be lacking styles).

I've had problems with repeatable crashes that can be replicated but am reluctant to send the document on to Nisus as the document is related to my PhD research. I guess other people have the same reluctance for similar reasons.

This type of problem is very alarming so I guess I'll use Mellel, or back to Latex, until the bugs are worked out. Pity because I like the interface but absolute stability is of paramount importance to me.

[dshan]

I've had problems with repeatable crashes that can be replicated but am reluctant so send the document on to Nisus as the document is related to my PhD research. I guess other people have the same reluctance for similar reasons.

This type of problem is very alarming so I guess I'll use Mellel until the bugs are worked out.

The bugs will never get "worked out" if users having reproducable problems don't contact Nisus support and supply sample files and other info related to the problems they encounter. I understand your reluctance to send private documents like this, but if the problem is reproducable as you say then why not create a small dummy document that shows the problem and send them that? If everyone waits for someone else to take the time nothing will happen as Nisus will never hear about the problems.

[pds]

I've had problems with repeatable crashes that can be replicated but am reluctant so send the document on to Nisus as the document is related to my PhD research. I guess other people have the same reluctance for similar reasons.

This type of problem is very alarming so I guess I'll use Mellel until the bugs are worked out.

The bugs will never get "worked out" if users having reproducable problems don't contact Nisus support and supply sample files and other info related to the problems they encounter. I understand your reluctance to send private documents like this, but if the problem is reproducable as you say then why not create a small dummy document that shows the problem and send them that? If everyone waits for someone else to take the time nothing will happen as Nisus will never hear about the problems.

Well because I would have to create a dummy image, a few pages of text organised into sections and then explain that deleting the section marker under the image causes the program to crash. I have better things to do than debug a commercial application.

[hharris]

To those that don't do innovative research, your post probably sounds like paranoia—but it isn't, especially these days. Several months ago I sent a letter (through a journal) to a well-know physicist at the top of his field arguing that a recent article he had written in the journal was wrong-headed and giving him my arguments including a new idea I had that would defeat his suppositions. I thought I was safe since he was so well-known. Wrong. He immediately took my ideas and almost word for word submitted them to that same journal that published them without giving me any credit. I sent a letter of complaint to the journal but they ignored me.

Don't send your file, but, as suggested, if you can send a dummy that would help.

If you like Nisus Writer well enough to keep on using it, you can always set up a system of backups so, in the worst case, you can always at least partially recover from a corrupted file. (Too bad I don't always take my own advice.)

Good luck with your research.

Henry

[pds]

To those that don't do innovative research, your post probably sounds like paranoia—but it isn't, especially these days. Several months ago I sent a letter (through a journal) to a well-know physicist at the top of his field arguing that a recent article he had written in the journal was wrong-headed and giving him my arguments including a new idea I had that would defeat his suppositions. I thought I was safe since he was so well-known. Wrong. He immediately took my ideas and almost word for word submitted them to that same journal that published them without giving me any credit. I sent a letter of complaint to the journal but they ignored me.

Don't send your file, but, as suggested, if you can send a dummy that would help.

If you like Nisus Writer well enough to keep on using it, you can always set up a system of backups so, in the worst case, you can always at least partially recover from a corrupted file. (Too bad I don't always take my own advice.)

Good luck with your research.

Henry

Thanks Henry,

Yes, you are spot on with this. I'm not sure people are aware of what is required for a PhD but paranoia is part of the process. There is no way I will send anything to anyone I don't know.

Thanks for the good wishes!

[martin]

If you have a document with sensitive content that you'd like to submit you can just destroy the actual words before you send it. Eg: use PowerFind Pro to find any word character ("\w") and replace it with an "x".

[martin]

hharris: I've taken a look at the document you sent to us. It appears that the footer of your document contains a rather large excerpt from the main body of your document. The text is all there in Express, it just seems to be repeating the same paragraph over and over because the footer appears on every page. Can you think of anything you did before your last save to change the content of your footer?

[martin]

I'd like to add that we treat all documents we receive with respect. If your document contains sensitive information just ask us to destroy your document after we've reproduced the problem. We'll always follow through with any special handling instructions.

That said, when you submit documents to us they are transmitted over unencrypted email channels, so there's not much security to be had there. I can certainly understand the decision not to share research material with us.

[midwinter]

Yes, you are spot on with this. I'm not sure people are aware of what is required for a PhD but paranoia is part of the process.

I think I kept 7 backups of my dissertation in various places....

[Anne Cuneo]

Having read this thread, I feel bound to add that I have written 3 novels (one of them 600 pages) and two plays, not to mention innumerable columns and articles with Nisus Express - and I never lost a word, which is something I cannot say with Microsoft Word and others.
I have had my problems with Nisus Espress 1.1, and have had to send parts of a novel to Nisus - I asked them to keep it confidential. They said they would, and they did. You might be surprised to see how paranoia works with fiction writers - and would probably not believe me if I told you how many times, and by whom, I have been plagiarized (hope the word exists...). You'd say I allucinate, or think I'm paranoid.
Anyway, Nisus is the one word processor with which I have had the least problems - even though it has a bug now and then, that is nothing compared to others (I think I have tried most of them).
On the other hand, I always copy what I have written before shutting up the computer, and print it too. With original research and writing, the advice given by midwinter to keep 7 backups seems quite sound...