Sessions disappearing after restart & system specified error

[MedBooster]

I always exit pdf xce before restarting.
I restarted my PC (windows 11 HP spectre)
and all my sessions from today disappeared... weird....
I still have my sessions from 2 days ago, but now today's and yesterday's
So maybe I lost all sessions from this session (since the last time I restarted my PC -- I usually hibernate my PC, not sleep nor shut down), I'm not quite sure

Anyone else with any similar issues?
Running version 366

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi Medbooster,

you say you always close the Editor before restarting (good), but that when you lost your session data it was not closed? The PC went into hibernate but the Editor was left open?

[MedBooster]

It happened again....
I saved a new session.
Saved all files and closed pdf xce
restarted my PC
The session was gone

I just mentioned hibernation, in case that has something to do with it, but it is probably not relevant

[Willy Van Nuffel]

What happens when you save a session and then close and restart PDF-XChange Editor ?
- If the session disappears, then it could be caused by PDF-XChange Editor.
- If the session is still there, then it must be something else (but what ?).

To work-around the problem you can consider to save your sessions to files.

Kind regards.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Thanks Medbooster,

Saved all files and closed pdf xce

So the files were saved but left open when you closed the Editor?

Sorry to keep on you like this but these details are important.

Can you reliably reproduce this at will?

[MedBooster]

Thanks Medbooster,

Saved all files and closed pdf xce

So the files were saved but left open when you closed the Editor?

Sorry to keep on you like this but these details are important.

Can you reliably reproduce this at will?

It seemed to happen the 1st and 2nd time, but not the 3rd and 4th time. So if I find something consistent about this error I will let you know... Though as of now I'm not sure what is going on .

What do you mean by the files being left open? If you close the editor, the files can't be "left open", right?

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Thanks for this Medbooster,

What do you mean by the files being left open? If you close the editor, the files can't be "left open", right?

Just that when you close the Editor, having saved all the currently open files, I expect them to still be open and viewable in tabs. I probably am being pedantic, because on reading this again I realize you explicitly save the session and that should be restored regardless of what you do to the files after saving the session.

Intermittent issues are the hardest to resolve, if something can be reliably reproduced it gives us a place to start looking, but when the same action results in differing behaviour it is a lot harder to identify the cause.

Does Willy's suggestion to save these to file help?

[Vasyl - PDF-XChange]

Hi Medbooster.

Let me clarify one moment for the following steps:

1. Open the Editor, create and save new session(not to file, but to Editor's settings)
2. Close the Editor
3. Open the Editor again and check if the session is still there
4. Close the Editor
5. Restart PC
6. Open the Editor again and check if the session is still there

So the question is, when did the session disappear, on #3 or #6 step?

Cheers.

[MedBooster]

Hi Medbooster.

Let me clarify one moment for the following steps:

1. Open the Editor, create and save new session(not to file, but to Editor's settings)
2. Close the Editor
3. Open the Editor again and check if the session is still there
4. Close the Editor
5. Restart PC
6. Open the Editor again and check if the session is still there

So the question is, when did the session disappear, on #3 or #6 step?

Cheers.

at the 6th step after having restarted (before restarting the sessions are all there). and after the restart they only disappear about 50% of the time. I'm not sure what makes it happen, or makes it not happen though...

[MedBooster]

An important detail to mention is that when the sessions from the last windows-session disappeared, the document that opened was one I had not used for 2 days, instead of the 4 documents I were in before I closed, saved and restarted my PC.
So maybe it has something to do with the cache of the program or something. That it somehow forgets what it had been doing the last windows-session before the restart

[Vasyl - PDF-XChange]

Just one idea: have you used something like 'Registry Cleaner' utility? In the past we had reports from users that such utilities may cause losing pieces of data from the system's Registry. For example, it may periodically remove keys/values that are too deep (in the cleaner's opinion) in the registry's tree-structure...

[MedBooster]

Just one idea: have you used something like 'Registry Cleaner' utility? In the past we had reports from users that such utilities may cause losing pieces of data from the system's Registry. For example, it may periodically remove keys/values that are too deep (in the cleaner's opinion) in the registry's tree-structure...

the pc is brand new (less than 2 weeks old), so it is pretty "clean"

anyway, I have not been able to reproduce the error yet, at least not systematically,
so maybe we can shelve this thus far
maybe just leave the thread up in case anyone else experiences any similar issue....

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, MedBooster

No worries, do keep it in mind and if you happen to reproduce it, let us know.

Kind regards,

[MedBooster]

oh no , it happened again... No sessions since January 4th are there anymore...
So weird... I just downloaded a new keyboard layout and restarted my PC, and boom they were gone.

[MedBooster]

same thing happened. all these sessions from after january 4th disappeared again...
this was now, when I restarted my PC 10 minutes ago (windows 11 HP spectre) at about 10:20 AM
good thing I had a feeling it would happen and I took a backup of the sessions. BUt it sucks having to do that before every time you want to restart....
Before and after screenshots ↓

image(1).png

image.png

[MedBooster]

I took a backup of my settings and sessions, and got this error, now when I reopened PDF xce (without even having restarted the PC) all the sessions after january 4th disappeared again!

This is the error I got after I closed pdf xce.... before I reopened it again

image.png

[MedBooster]

well this just went from , a nuance stopping me from restarting so often, to sessions disappearing every time I close and reopen pdf xce.

For reference, if this is important, I did have "close to system tray" enabled, and this seems to be happening more often after having disabled it (it was enabled previously)

image.png

[MedBooster]

actually , not only did the sessions disappear, but also these shortcut buttons I added. (to the very right; import/export settings)

image.png

[MedBooster]

I tried

• uninstalling and reinstalling
  repair through the uninstall menu in windows 11
  reparir through the pdf xce setup menu

nothing worked, the same error persists.. so I am able to import my settings /shortcut buttons / sessions, and use them, but as soon as I close and reopen pdf xce I get the system unspecified error .

image.png

image(1).png

[MedBooster]

I took a backup of my settings and sessions, and got this error, now when I reopened PDF xce (without even having restarted the PC) all the sessions after january 4th disappeared again!

This is the error I got after I closed pdf xce.... before I reopened it again
image.png

I actually just got this error again, without even opening pdf xce after closing it... it appeared like 10 seconds after closing the program.
So I guess the program isn't able to save the session changes I loaded in ... (although I am able to use everything as usual when having loaded it before I close the program....

Will I be able to import settings exported in version 366 to version 364 for example? I'm getting tired of these bugs and issues.

[MedBooster]

even continuing from the point where it loads (january 4th, with all the settings from then)
I am unable to add more sessions or change anything, it still only loads that state

So I am kind of stuck in a vicious cycle

[MedBooster]

it also seems I am not able to NOT import sessions from an export that has sessions included

image.png

[MedBooster]

I deleted all my sessions, and restarted my PC, and I am no longer getting the system specified error that reverts everything to the last stable version it seems (my guess on what was happening)

so maybe some sessions were triggering this behaviour

edit:
and I tried adding a new session, which did not disappear after restarting the PC

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello MedBooster,

So lets consider this now solved unless it happens again!

Kind regards,
Stefan

[Vasyl - PDF-XChange]

Hi MedBooster.

This is the error I got after I closed pdf xce.... before I reopened it again:
"Failed to save the application settings: Error[System] Unspecified error."

I am pretty sure that this strange symptom is the main reason for your trouble (disappearing saved sessions after restarting the app).
Something breaks the savе-settings procedure on your computer. We must investigate this more deeply to get the proper and reliable solution.

Soon my colleague will prepare for you a fixed module to try on your side to see if that fix works...

Cheers.

[Roman - Tracker Supp]

Hi MedBooster,
I have replied by e-mail with further instructions to debug this issue.

[MedBooster]

Hi MedBooster,
I have replied by e-mail with further instructions to debug this issue.

I appreciate it, but since deleting all my sessions I have not encountered any similar issue

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello MedBooster,

If the issue is gone - then let's consider this resolved!

Kind regards,
Stefan

[MedBooster]

Just happened again on my YB9. It seems quite random. And it seems to only happen if I close PDF-XCE right before/during restarting my PC (Windows 10 Lenovo YB9)

UI resetting has not happened to me for more than a month, but sessions disappearing/getting deleted? suddenly has happened more often.

viewtopic.php?t=40416&hilit=update

[Roman - Tracker Supp]

Hello MedBooster,
What version of the Editor are currently using?
Was the latest case a full reset of the settings or only the sessions were affected?
Did you sessions disappear altogether or only the recently added ones?

[MedBooster]

Version 389
Updating to 371 now.

It is just for recent sessions. So let's say I have a 100+ sessions,
only the ones I've created recently (e.g. the last week or so) seems to disappear in these cases.

Also, has it changed how many sessions are stored?
What is the maximum? How do I see the total count of sessions I have saved?

[Roman - Tracker Supp]

In case of abnormal termination of the Editor (including the termination during a forced system shutdown or power off) the changes made to the Editor settings since the last start of the Editor, can be lost.
If you keep the Editor running for a long time and then abruptly terminate it, you can lose a significant amount of changes to the settings.
The improvements we have made recently only guarantee that you do not lose all your custom settings in such a case - only the new ones, since the last start of the Editor.

For now we can only recommend to close the Editor normally and not leave it to be terminated during the system shutdown.

[Roman - Tracker Supp]

Can you please clarify whether the lost sessions were all created since the last start of the
Editor?
What is a typical uptime of your machine? Do you keep the Editor running in the background for a long time (say, for days) when you do not use it?

[MedBooster]

Lately sessions have also been disappearing for me. it seems to especially be the case if the time between closing PDF-XCE and running a restart of my Windows 11 PC is short. <20 seconds.

Maybe its the fact that I probably have more than 1000 sessions saved. How could I keep lets say only the last 50 sessions?

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, MedBooster

Yes, A large number of referenced files across all sessions (this could be 1000 sessions with 10 files each, or a single session with 10,000 files) is known to caused an extended delay in the process of saving and closing out the software.
We are working on improvements in this area, but at the moment, the best advice I can offer would be one of either:

1. If you have that many files at all times, ensure you close the software and wait a few minutes before shutting down the system
2. If possible, save excess sessions in an external session file, instead of adding thousands to the main sessions list.

This issue came about becuase we apparently misunderstood how sessions would be used, and did not foresee people having thousands, honestly, we expected it would be a rarity to see someone with more than 100 sessions that are actively needed.. (similarly, the concept of having over 30 items in a single session was outside of expectations, but we have seen reports of people with upwards of 600 files in a single session... Which, seems "unmanageable" at best, if you ask me...

As above, we are working on a solution to help here, but I cannot yet say how or when exactly that will come about.

Kind regards,

[MedBooster]

Generally I at least tend to not delete sessions when I am done with them. Which is why it would be nice to have a system where the oldest will be overwritten once you reach 200 or whatever is too much for the program.

+ perhaps with the option to pin certain sessions to stop them from being deleted.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

[MedBooster]

soooo there is no way to delete all sessions older than 100 days for example?? :///

[Sean - PDF-XChange]

Hi MedBooster,

I'm afraid there's no way to do that, no. If it makes managing them easier, you can of course sort them by last used time:

image.png

I hope that helps.

[Vasyl - PDF-XChange]

Hi MedBooster.

Currently we are working on two things related to sessions:

1. Improvement that will allow you to store less info inside the session when you have the 'Prefs > General > Tabs&Windows > Syncronize layout of doc panes' enabled (by default). So the session-record will be much 'lighter' in the registry/file then.

2. A new feature that will allow you to simply bind a session file to your session list in the application, without importing all data from this session file into the application settings, but using such data "by reference" from an external file. This will be a reliable solution to the problem of losing sessions when you have a lot of heavy sessions in the application settings, and since these settings are so heavy that sometimes, when restarting/shutting down the computer while the application is open, the system may forcibly terminate the application at the moment of saving the settings to the registry, because it takes too long...

Cheers.