Your settings could not be loaded / saved

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cchapin
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Your settings could not be loaded / saved

Post by cchapin »

I got a new Mac and used Migration Assistant to set it up. However, whenever I launch Nisus Writer Pro (3.2.2 on macOS 12.5.1), I get the following error message or something very similar.
Your settings could not be loaded. Your settings could not be saved.

The following settings are affected:
  • preferences
  • keyboard shortcuts
  • touch bar – custom items
Errors:
  • There was an error accessing your synchronized settings. Folder location: ~/iCloud/Nisus Writer Settings
Underlying error:
Bookmark data previously captured for a file is invalid.
File path: ~/iCloud/Nisus Writer Settings
The specific items affected vary. Sometimes the dialog mentions only loading, sometimes only saving, sometimes both. I forced the download of all of the settings files from iCloud, but I continue to get the error.

I've customized Nisus Writer Pro a fair bit over the years to work just the way I want, but those customizations seem to be unavailable to me for now. None of my preferences stick. Any idea what might fix this?
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martin
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Re: Your settings could not be loaded / saved

Post by martin »

Congrats on the new Mac! Hopefully it's a nice upgrade for you :)

The error says the problem is with Nisus Writer's access to your settings folder. This was almost certainly caused by your data migration between Macs. The bookmark (née alias) that Nisus Writer captured earlier, to maintain access to your settings folder, is now invalid. I'm not sure if Apple designed bookmarks to be durable across transfers to new Macs.

The solution is simple: restore Nisus Writer's access to your settings folder. Here's what you should do:

1. Open your Nisus Writer preferences.
2. In the General pane, look for the setting "synchronized settings location".
3. Click the button alongside the setting to show the pop-up menu and select "Choose Folder".
4. Choose the desired Nisus Writer Settings folder, which may already be pre-selected.

Once you confirm the folder that should fix the issue. You may want to quit and relaunch Nisus Writer, just to be sure the new settings take effect.
cchapin
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Re: Your settings could not be loaded / saved

Post by cchapin »

Thanks, Martin. Weirdly, only days after purchase, the new computer is exhibiting the same Finder problems that afflicted my last several Macs.

You solution makes sense, and I followed the steps you outlined. It did not fix the issue. I repeated the procedure with no success. I then tried clicking iCloud Drive without any better luck. Whatever I click the pop-up menu reverts to "None."
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martin
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Re: Your settings could not be loaded / saved

Post by martin »

cchapin wrote: 2022-08-22 21:01:15 Thanks, Martin. Weirdly, only days after purchase, the new computer is exhibiting the same Finder problems that afflicted my last several Macs.
Ugh! How frustrating. I remember from a long time ago that we privately discussed several file system issues that you were having with your Mac. I think you saw random hangs and even data integrity problems like your Time Machine backups becoming unusable, but I forget the details. What problems are you seeing now in the Finder?

I doubt it will be helpful, but I recently had another customer diagnose file system issues related to Time Machine. The backups were supposed to be automatically culled to use some reasonable percentage of free space, but instead were completely filling nearly all space on some hard drive, which lead to all kinds of random file issues. Are you perhaps very short on free space?
You solution makes sense, and I followed the steps you outlined. It did not fix the issue. I repeated the procedure with no success. I then tried clicking iCloud Drive without any better luck. Whatever I click the pop-up menu reverts to "None."
I'm sorry that did not fix the problem. I can only guess that macOS is having trouble capturing or resolving the necessary folder bookmark.

The fallback solution is to reset Nisus Writer's sandbox. That usually clears away inexplicable file access issues that are governed by macOS. However, because your Mac is still having other problems, you might want to try to fix those wider system issues first.
cchapin
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Location: Nagoya, Japan

Re: Your settings could not be loaded / saved

Post by cchapin »

Thank you for your quick responses and concern for even non-Nisus issues. I'll struggle on and see where I get.

Finder Issues. Finder issues improved a day or so later. I'm still baffled about what causes them. They have persisted across new Macs, new hard disks, new OSes, and several wipes and manual reinstalls of everything. The two constants have been files in iCloud and the apps I install. Perhaps an app is causing an OS problem?

Time Machine. I have not been maintaining a Time Machine backup in the past year or two. I wiped my old MacBook Pro yesterday, and my iMac simply won't start, so it dawned on me that I currently have no backup, so yesterday I used the iMac's Time Machine disk to create a MacBook Pro backup. (Other external disks are in transit and won't reach Japan until November.) However the problems predated that.

Over-full Storage. I keep Desktop and Documents in iCloud, so the system keeps my internal storage from getting too full. However, last night I downloaded Monterrey (the old MacBook Pro was too old for it), and this morning I'm getting warnings from TechTool Pro that I have only 14% of my storage left. Again, however, the problems predated that issue.

Much as I'd love to solve the Finder issues, they've persisted now for several years, and I don't think I can wait until they're resolved before I use Nisus Writer Pro. I need to work on some documents this week. So I'm trying to move ahead with the sandbox fix you suggested. First, however, I installed macOS Monterey. I'm now trying to duplicate my Nisus settings (per the instructions you linked to). (Does 184 items totaling 14.3 MB sound typical?) Finder has spent the past 15 minutes or so copying zero bytes. (A subsequent move operation (two small files) completed in 5–10 minutes.) I'll let it run and see what happens.
cchapin
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Re: Your settings could not be loaded / saved

Post by cchapin »

I think it's fixed, but it wasn't so straightforward.

I was not able to duplicate my Nisus Writer Settings folder to create a backup. I was not able to option-drag it elsewhere to create a copy that way. I was able to rename it (Nisus Writer Settings backup). I then launched Nisus Writer Pro. It did not give me any errors but neither did it (apparently) create a new Nisus Writer Settings folder. I tried making a few small changes in Preferences, but no folder appeared.

I went to Preferences > General and made sure that iCloud was selected for the location of the settings file. I then went to Preferences > New File > Advanced and clicked to open the Nisus New File for editing. I examined the location of the document in the hierarchy and found that it was in a folder inside the old, renamed Nisus Writer Settings folder (now called Nisus Writer Settings backup).

I quit Nisus Writer Pro and dragged the new settings folder out of the old settings folder. I then set about copying my settings files manually into the new settings folder. I discovered that Finder did not seem capable of copying one folder on top of another, so I copied files individually. That seemed to work.

Nisus Writer Pro now opens normally, and my New File and other templates are as I want them. (There were some font issues, but those are not related to Nisus Writer Pro.)

So problem solved! Now, after I get some work done in Nisus, I'll see about some other issues, including those pernicious Finder problems.
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martin
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Re: Your settings could not be loaded / saved

Post by martin »

cchapin wrote: 2022-08-23 14:06:58 Finder Issues. Finder issues improved a day or so later. I'm still baffled about what causes them. They have persisted across new Macs, new hard disks, new OSes, and several wipes and manual reinstalls of everything. The two constants have been files in iCloud and the apps I install. Perhaps an app is causing an OS problem?
Installed apps could be a culprit, though maybe it's just poor Finder behavior? I seem to recall that your feedback reports showed a lot of system file activity, so maybe it's something specific about your set of iCloud files.
I'm now trying to duplicate my Nisus settings (per the instructions you linked to). (Does 184 items totaling 14.3 MB sound typical?)
That sounds completely reasonable.
I was not able to duplicate my Nisus Writer Settings folder to create a backup. I was not able to option-drag it elsewhere to create a copy that way
That's very weird. I don't know why you wouldn't be able to duplicate a folder, unless there was some kind of confusion and you were somehow trying to copy a folder to a read-only location or into itself. Maybe something was wrong with that folder or iCloud, and that's why you ran into the earlier bookmark issues.
Nisus Writer Pro now opens normally, and my New File and other templates are as I want them
Well that's good to hear! I'm glad this ended in success, even if it was a bit of a pain.
adryan
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Re: Your settings could not be loaded / saved

Post by adryan »

G’day, cchapin et al

Experiences such as these must be incredibly disheartening, especially with a new computer. Sometimes a carefully-worded Internet search can return results that indicate that others have had the same problem and perhaps even offer a solution. It may be that taking the computer to an Apple Genius at one of the super Apple Stores might help. In the meantime, I offer the following thoughts for consideration.

Spontaneous correction of misbehavior suggests that some process has kicked in that effects the correction — in this case, some process that is activated daily. I don't know what that process might be, but something related to iCloud synchronization has to be on the list of suspects.

A key issue would be whether the misbehavior emerges randomly or only after some recognizable action. By the latter I mean an update/upgrade of some application or of the whole operating system. If you have things set to upgrade automatically in the background, you may not be aware that some special event has happened, so I'd suggest disabling any such facility. You might check for updates automatically, but you should only install them manually while you are observing what's happening.

Could folder duplication failure be due to permissions settings?

I have had problems in the past with all three of Migration Assistant, Time Machine and iCloud.

I think I may have ended up correcting the errors relating to Migration Assistant by transferring stuff manually. In cchapin's case, though, Migration Assistant may well have performed perfectly — and dutifully migrated the problem from one machine to the next.

Time Machine may be OK now, but I don't trust it. I do quick-and-dirty transfers to USB sticks (using a Finder structure emulation mediated by an AppleScript script I wrote) or use SuperDuper! for whole-of-computer backups to an external hard drive. If both my computer and the external hard drive failed, I would still have my most important data stored on multiple USB sticks.

I once lost Calendar data through failure of iCloud synchronization between a Mac and an iPhone (all Apple stuff — no exotic hardware or software). Apple Support were unable to get it to work. Good-bye, iCloud.

Although it may have fixed your Nisus Writer problem, I do not like the idea that you had to set iCloud as the location for the settings file. I would have thought that your computer should be the primary location and that iCloud should be subservient to the computer. The fact that it appears to be the other way around suggests that the computer is forever trying to synchronize itself with iCloud. One wonders whether some aberrant file synchronization loop is responsible for diminishing storage.

I might conclude with some (probably heretical) comments about iCloud. Put simply, I don't trust it. I have already indicated that I have experienced data loss during iCloud-mediated synchronization of devices. But nor do I like the idea of having my data stored or backed up to who knows where. It is only a matter of time before iCloud gets hacked. Also, if the Internet goes down for any reason, I don't want my data to be inaccessible for who knows how long. In this era of cyberwarfare, this is no mere theoretical concern. All things considered, I much prefer to keep my data stored on local devices. It might cost a bit more, but I sleep better. This is not to say that one shouldn't use iCloud: just don't rely on it. And I would only set any automatic synchronization to be asymmetric — from computer to iCloud.

I hope the issues get resolved soon.

Cheers,
Adrian
MacBook Pro (M1 Pro, 2021)
macOS Ventura
Nisus Writer user since 1996
cchapin
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Location: Nagoya, Japan

Re: Your settings could not be loaded / saved

Post by cchapin »

Thanks for the sympathy and input.

Regarding keeping settings in iCloud, I believe it stores a copy on the Mac's local storage and syncs that to iCloud. So it isn't trying to get the settings from the cloud each time. They are stored locally but synced to iCloud when they change. This way I can share my Nisus Writer Pro settings between my home desktop and my work/mobile notebook.
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martin
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Re: Your settings could not be loaded / saved

Post by martin »

cchapin wrote: 2022-08-23 23:16:51 Regarding keeping settings in iCloud, I believe it stores a copy on the Mac's local storage and syncs that to iCloud. So it isn't trying to get the settings from the cloud each time. They are stored locally but synced to iCloud when they change. This way I can share my Nisus Writer Pro settings between my home desktop and my work/mobile notebook.
This is exactly right. If you set Nisus Writer to store its settings on iCloud, then any changes are saved locally first (i.e. to your hard drive). Only later when iCloud sync is automatically triggered does the data get uploaded to Apple's servers.
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