WARNING new update 368→370 [glitch] UI is reset

[MedBooster]

You read it right,

I have not even updated it yet:

image.png

Still, all my "Common" (I thing this is the user interface shortcut button layout) got reset. by itself, super weird.

So be careful, remember to take backups of all your settings and presets, luckily that is something I do semi-frequently.

The presets part of my settings seems to not have changed though , they all remained, rectangles, highlights, arrows and so on....

How could it be that all my UI suddenly is reset? Yesterday my ribbon layout was my usual custom one, as usual, so I think it most certainly is related to the new update.

Reset to default, screenshot (this happened automatically, and I think it is a glitch or bug):

image(1).png

Ca. How it was before (restored backup):

image(2).png

I'm excited to try out the new update though

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, MedBooster

My apologies, you said that this happened Before you even installed the update? There are no changes at all which the updater makes before you choose to begin installing an update, so that should be quite literally impossible... unless there is a third party app which has/could somehow reset/modify our registry entries? For that matter, I just double checked with the Dev team, and the installers themselves still do not even have ability to wipe/reset current user registry entries, (despite my insistently asking if we can offer such an option for "clean install" purposes), so even if you had installed before you spotted this issue, it shouldn't have been possible for the update process to cause it.

I am very glad to hear you had a backup of your settings here, but considering this is the first I have heard of a reset occurring, and your statement that it occurred before even completing the update process, I am inclined to expect something else, (unrelated to updating) is afoot. Perhaps it was a remnant of a bug in 368 which lead to your settings not saving properly last time you closed it?

Kind regards,

[MedBooster]

Hello, MedBooster

My apologies, you said that this happened Before you even installed the update? There are no changes at all which the updater makes before you choose to begin installing an update, so that should be quite literally impossible... unless there is a third party app which has/could somehow reset/modify our registry entries? For that matter, I just double checked with the Dev team, and the installers themselves still do not even have ability to wipe/reset current user registry entries, (despite my insistently asking if we can offer such an option for "clean install" purposes), so even if you had installed before you spotted this issue, it shouldn't have been possible for the update process to cause it.

I am very glad to hear you had a backup of your settings here, but considering this is the first I have heard of a reset occurring, and your statement that it occurred before even completing the update process, I am inclined to expect something else, (unrelated to updating) is afoot. Perhaps it was a remnant of a bug in 368 which lead to your settings not saving properly last time you closed it?

Kind regards,

Hmm... I guess we won't know for sure, unless someone else reports the same happening to them.
It's quite mystical... Especially since just the UI got reset... I don't think I could have accidentally reset this?

image.png

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, MedBooster

If it wasn't an accident or mis-click, than the only two possibilities I can suggest are that there is a third party software which prevented or reverted only some of our registry changes, or that there was a bug in 368 which you encountered shortly before updating.
All I can offer with 100% certainty is that the updater and installer themselves are not capable of causing this (especially because you state it happened before even installing the update), so it had to be something either in 368, or an external app, such as security software, that triggered this.

Kind regards,

[MedBooster]

The same thing happened just now

My UI got reset, before updating 370 (I think) to 380
*BEFORE* running the update.


So make sure to regularly backup your user interface and settings guys! You might never know when it might glitch and get lost.

(all my sessions are still there, and all my comment styles, so it is just the shortcut buttons and tab/ribbon layout (and keyboard shortcuts that got reset

See what I mean?
If I had reset my settings manually my sessions and comment styles would not have stayed....

Luckily I have backed up my settings recently, just wanted to report this to give a heads up to the rest of us that it most likely was not a fluke *this time or the previous time*.

[MedBooster]

maybe it is connected with the fact that I am not even able to restore my backup (which was created a week ago)

image.png

[Vasyl - PDF-XChange]

We can't reproduce such issue on our side...

Can you provide that settings file for investigation? To support@pdf-xchange.com for example...

And please be sure you haven't installed a utility like 'registry-cleaner'. Such app may periodically remove some data from your registry which is related to other apps.

[Roman - Tracker Supp]

Hello MedBooster,

We are terribly sorry for this.
Were you able to load your settings from that backup file before? Can you please send us that backup file? You can use our file service to upload the file.
Also, next time you run into the UI settings having been reset, please launch Windows Command Prompt as Administrator and run the following command:

Code: Select all

reg save "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Tracker Software" <output .hiv file path>

( <output .hiv file path> is just a placeholder here, can be, for example, "d:\TrackerSoftwareSettings.hiv" )
Then send us the output file (zipped). Please do not attach that file to your forum post as it may contain sensitive information.

Thanks.

[MedBooster]

Hello MedBooster,

We are terribly sorry for this.
Were you able to load your settings from that backup file before? Can you please send us that backup file? You can use our file service to upload the file.
Also, next time you run into the UI settings having been reset, please launch Windows Command Prompt as Administrator and run the following command:

Code: Select all

reg save "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Tracker Software" <output .hiv file path>

( <output .hiv file path> is just a placeholder here, can be, for example, "d:\TrackerSoftwareSettings.hiv" )
Then send us the output file (zipped). Please do not attach that file to your forum post as it may contain sensitive information.

Thanks.

I was able to restore my settings backup file ( I just had to download it locally, restoring it directly from Google Drive would not work as it usually does)


It might be because the toolbar has changed?

Could that be possible?
That the user interface is reset if you add a new shortcut button for example that is in the default UI?

[Vasyl - PDF-XChange]

It might be because the toolbar has changed?

Could that be possible?
That the user interface is reset if you add a new shortcut button for example that is in the default UI?

No, that cannot be a reason of your trouble. Our standard toolbars can be customized by the user and at the same time we can modify them by adding some new items - all such changes should correctly merge together as well. It is a basic requirement - to do not lose user's customizations in any case. So seems there is another reason and we must find it 'at any price'...

[MedBooster]

It might be because the toolbar has changed?

Could that be possible?
That the user interface is reset if you add a new shortcut button for example that is in the default UI?

No, that cannot be a reason of your trouble. Our standard toolbars can be customized by the user and at the same time we can modify them by adding some new items - all such changes should correctly merge together as well. It is a basic requirement - to do not lose user's customizations in any case. So seems there is another reason and we must find it 'at any price'...

Since I am the only one that seems to be reporting this, and it only happens a few times a year and I am able to load it back through my backups it is fine

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

[MedBooster]

It just happened today again on version 385. a few day s after updating. The trigger was simply restarting my PC (even though I think I had closed PDF-XCE properly and saved all documents.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello MedBooster,

We have really not seen anyone else report this, so we do suspect it is something specific to your machine - a clean up tool or something similar that does decide to wipe some registry settings and includes our Editor in that "wipe".

Kind regards,
Stefan

[MedBooster]

It just happened again , seemingly because PDF-XCE crashed (I tried waiting till the program would "respond", but it didn't), and when I reopened it the UI was reset to default (interestingly.... all my presets in the comment style palette are still there)

The reason it crashed was that I moved around some stamp files (making my own dynamic stamps)

Luckily I had backed up my settings (export settings) recently...


edit:

keyboard shortcuts are also reset, and the session isn't completely cleared but rather only shows sessions from October 2023)
I might have 1000s of sessions, maybe that's something that could be causing the reset.... I should probably back it up and clear it.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, MedBooster

I am sorry I need to clarify, Is this settings reset in relation to the process of updating, as this topic states, or was it a random event tied only to a crash?

In either case, the first thing we will want to see is, a "crash dump". If you can please configure crash logging, and the next time this happens, fetch the crash dump file, and send it over to us, that would be quite helpful.
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgeba ... estigation
Any information pertaining to what you were doing that may have lead to or caused the crash will also be helpful. If This crash also happens to result in a change to preferences, a quick "export" of the new preferences after that crash (before you import your backup of course) would also be useful for the tests.

Kind regards,

[MedBooster]

FYI it just happened again, my UI was reset.
Comment presets are still there, for shapes, text tools and so on. However, it seems that keyboard shortcuts also get reset when this happens.

I have not updated PDF-XCE from version 386, and in this case the UI reset in 386.

My theory is that a new version being available (in this case 387) somehow triggers a UI layout reset – and that it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with updating the software itself.

Actually I am testing it now
→ importing a backup of my UI from version 386 from a month ago (successful) → check for updates now → update to 387 from 386 → program resets and UI remains the same

image.png

So I am now convinced that it is not a matter of a glitch during updating, but rather something that goes wrong when PDF-XCE recognizes that a new update is available (automatic updating disabled)

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, MedBooster

If you have found a way to reproduce the issue reliably, that is fantastic progress. That means there may finally be something we can look into, and determine what is at fault, if it is on our end, and if there is anything we can do to prevent it.

Can you confirm that the issue reliably happens, when you are opening the updater for the first time manually after this restore action? If it does, first, please send us a registry export of this key, once before, and once after the issue happens:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software\PDFXEditor
(do the export as *.reg files, naming them "before" and "after" to make things simple, then place them into a zip archive together. If you do not wish to place them on the public forum, you can upload them here and let me know when they are present (share link will expire in 7 days, let me know if you need more time):
https://files.tracker-software.support/ ... GWAKJFWfTW

If rolling back is not an issue for you and you can reliably reproduce this, it could be beneficial to have a remote session so we can enable some logging before the issue occurs. If the issue cannot be reproduced reliably, a remote session will likely not help, and the export files from above will be the best resource.
If you would be amenable to a remote and can reproduce it reliably, please email us via <Support@PDF-XChange.com> with a link to this topic (subject line, "Attn:Dan&Vasyl" ) and let us know what dates and times work best for you.

Kind regards,