Problem with Preferences Menu Keys panel

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vanessago
Posts: 1
Joined: 2016-07-03 11:47:27

Problem with Preferences Menu Keys panel

Post by vanessago »

I'm a new Nisus Pro user and am trying to get shortcut keys set up for various menu items.

I'm following page 400 of the Nisus Writer Pro User Guide, which shows an example of setting shortcut keys for various menu items. The problem is that when I go to my Nisus Pro "Preferences - Menu Keys" dialog box, the only menu that is available to me is the "File" menu. I can see and change every item in the "File" Menu, but I can't find any way to change to the other menus (i.e., edit, insert, view, format, etc).

I can't help thinking there's a simple way around this problem, and from other postings here I can see that others are able to access Preferences - Menu Keys lists for other menus, for example "view" and "format" menus. However, my Preferences - Menu Keys window seems locked on the File menu.

Any assistance or ideas would be appreciated.

I'm running Nisus User Pro v 2.1.4 on a Macbook Pro with OS X 10.11.5

VanessaGO
adryan
Posts: 561
Joined: 2014-02-08 12:57:03
Location: Australia

Re: Problem with Preferences Menu Keys panel

Post by adryan »

G’day, Vanessa et al

Welcome to Nisus Writer! Once you get past this (very unusual) hurdle, I think you will enjoy using it.

I have no experience with El Capitan, but I suspect that such a deep-seated problem (which I have not seen with any previous iterations of the operating system) means that a reinstallation of Nisus Writer Pro might be required. If the problem persists, contact Nisus who are always happy to help.

Cheers,
Adrian
MacBook Pro (M1 Pro, 2021)
macOS Ventura
Nisus Writer user since 1996
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xiamenese
Posts: 543
Joined: 2006-12-08 00:46:44
Location: London or Exeter, UK

Re: Problem with Preferences Menu Keys panel

Post by xiamenese »

Yes, welcome to this excellent word-processor and to the forum. :)

I would think the problem might lie in a corrupted Preference file, and re-installing the program wouldn't cure that unless you used something like "App Delete" to remove it at the same time as the main program.

Close NWP, go to ~/Library/Preferences/ and scroll down until you find com.nisus.NisusWriter.plist; drag that file onto your desktop (don't put it in the trash) and re-start NWP. It will create a new default Preference file, which will not have any of the settings you had already made. Try setting the shortcut keys you want in this new Preference file. If you can do it, then go ahead and re-set all your other preferences too. You open your User Library by holding down the alt/option key and clicking on the "Go" menu—just in case you didn't know that already.

if you can't, that means you're not doing it right, so either go ahead and re-set all your other preferences, or close NWP and drag the old one back into ~/Library/Preferences/ — it will throw up an alert saying a newer version exists in that location, but go ahead and click replace and it may well ask for your user password.

Then tell us what exactly you are doing to try to set the shortcuts, 'cos you must be doing something slightly wrong.

Mark
adryan
Posts: 561
Joined: 2014-02-08 12:57:03
Location: Australia

Re: Problem with Preferences Menu Keys panel

Post by adryan »

G’day, Mark et al

Deleting the com.nisus.NisusWriter.plist file was the first thing I thought of, but, when I looked inside it, there was hardly anything there — not surprising when it’s only 119 bytes. The corresponding files for other applications are much larger. It may be that it contains a pointer to a larger code file that keeps track of user preferences: someone might be able to enlighten me on this. In the absence of clarity, I thought the best option was simply to reinstall Nisus Writer. Mark is quite right, though: both the Nisus Writer .plist files in the Preferences folder should be deleted before reinstalling.

Cheers,
Adrian
MacBook Pro (M1 Pro, 2021)
macOS Ventura
Nisus Writer user since 1996
Vanceone
Posts: 211
Joined: 2013-05-03 07:06:31

Re: Problem with Preferences Menu Keys panel

Post by Vanceone »

The reason why the preference file is so small is because of Sandboxing; the real preference file is in Nisus' sandboxing container.

So the actual path is in ~/Library/Containers/com.Nisus.NisusWriter/Data/Library/Preferences/com.nisus.NisusWriter.plist Where the ~ at the beginning is your home folder.

Note: On most recent versions of OS X, the Library folder is hidden by default. So, if you don't see it, use the "Go to folder" in the Finder "GO" menu to go to ~/Library. That will reveal the folder, then you can drill down from there.

I hope that helps!

I think that Nisus should implement a "reset to factory defaults" setting somewhere, though, so we don't have to drill into the Library and the Nisus Container... we shouldn't have to mess with that if we don't have to.
adryan
Posts: 561
Joined: 2014-02-08 12:57:03
Location: Australia

Re: Problem with Preferences Menu Keys panel

Post by adryan »

G’day, Vanceone et al

Thanks for that elucidation. The Menu Keys settings are indeed clearly visible (in BBEdit) in the .plist file lurking in the deep dark recesses of that Containers folder.

For convenience, I have long had aliases to all three Libraries in a folder that sits in the Finder window Sidebar. I’ll now pay more attention to that Containers folder. The interesting thing is, though, how few applications are represented there. In fact, the Nisus folder is one of only 5 non-Apple folders amongst the 43 folders in my Containers folder.

In the course of experiments with removing .plist files, I made the surprising discovery that the Nisus New File.dot file in the Containers folder is not the one used by the New command. Instead, it uses the Nisus New File.dot file in the Nisus Documents folder in my main Documents folder.

There is a “Restore Factory Settings” button in the New File panel of the Preferences menu, but it has limited scope.

My impression now is that the very short .plist file in the higher-level Preferences folder holds a pointer to the Nisus Documents folder, as relaunching the application after removing that file results in a request for the location of the Nisus Documents folder.

In case anyone is tempted to remove the Nisus Documents folder on the grounds that it contains some preferences (eg, those related to Nisus New File), be aware that it is the only repository for your macros, styles, templates and such. Removing the .plist file leaves the folder intact.

Just to summarize for Vanessa’s benefit: Try removing the .plist file in the location given in Vanceone’s posting, then relaunch Nisus Writer. If Menu Keys doesn’t work properly then, reinstall the application.

Cheers,
Adrian
MacBook Pro (M1 Pro, 2021)
macOS Ventura
Nisus Writer user since 1996
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