All tabs are spontaneously closing

[ironick]

I'm running PDF-XChange Editor v10.7.3 build 401. Ever since the upgrade I've been experiencing a very weird behavior. I have approximately 150 tabs open at any given time. (BTW, it there a quick way to get a count of open tabs?) I typically load the set of tabs from a session file on my drive. Everything is fine at first. But eventually (typically overnight) something strange happens. When I return to using the Editor (say after using Chrome for a while), the pdf in the current tab displays as a white sheet (no text is showing) and then it closes, this continues for each and every open tab. I haven't found a way to stop the cascade of tab closures, other than closing the Editor. But when I restart the Editor the tabs that were closed are not re-opened. So I close all tabs and reload from the session file.

This has happened now about 5-10 times since I installed the upgrade. I've never had a problem like this before, even though I've routinely had many more tabs open at once.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, ironick

The only way such a case should be able to happen is if all of the following is true:
1. The affected files are located on a network resource
2. That resource is no longer available and so the file data cannot be re-loaded.
3. You have previously clicked "do not show again" on the warning dialogue we have in place for this scenario.

As such, could I ask that you open the preferences (Ctrl_K), and look under "General > Prompts and confirmations" and see if there are any unchecked items? I expect one of them may be the cause here, and re-enabling this prompt will at least give you warning when a connection issue has caused this to happen.

If the files are not on a network resource, or there are no unchecked items in the prompts section of the preferences, please let us know and I will escalate this to the Dev team for further steps.

Kind regards,

[ironick]

Hi Daniel,

Good to speak to you again! I'm running Windows 11 with all updates applied. The files I'm accessing with the Editor are all on a Google Drive that is configured to stream files (ie the files are not mirrored), so kinda like a network resource. There are no unchecked items under "Prompts and Confirmations"; this seems to be confirmed by the fact that the "Enable All" option is dimmed, seemingly indicating that all are currently enabled.

I have in the past experienced connectivity / sync issues with Google Drive in stream mode where the Editor will warn me about a file no longer being accessible and therefore closing the tab, and then doing it for another one, and so on. I've always chalked that up to a Google Drive issue, not an Editor issue. It's one of the reasons I regularly save my sessions to a file on my drive.

This behavior appears quite different to me. First, there are no warning messages. Second, the blank white image in each tab window as each tab closes is something I've never seen before. Third, the speed at which the tabs close is much faster. Fourth, the fact that it begins to happen only when I haven't used the Editor in a while, ie it never happens when I'm actively using the Editor to view/edit pdfs. Fifth, the regularity with which it is currently happening, which is every day or so.

Hope this information helps clarify the behavior.

-- Nick

[Dimitar - PDF-XChange]

Hello, Nick,

May I ask to go to this folder and check if there are recent crash dumps in there:

C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Local\CrashDumps\PDFX\

If there are, please notify us.

Regards.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, Nick!

I have some news. It seems that this issue can often be caused by the Windows "efficiency mode" feature, which is able to put Google Drive into a "semi-sleep" state, while it is running.

Please open your task manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) then on the "details" tab, located the "Google Drive" processes, and right click on them, disabling "Efficiency Mode". This should prevent windows from automatically forcing Drive to go to sleep, and in turn prevent these kinds of errors from appearing.

Our Dev team is investigating why no popup is offered in this case, but it seems to be unique to Google Drive when it fails to appear, so there is likely something connected here.

I hope this helps to resolve the issue, please let us know if it persists!

Kind regards,

[ironick]

Hi Dan,

Sorry for the slow reply. I did as you instructed. There were only two processes (both named GoogleDriveFS.exe) that appear to be Google Drive processes. I right clicked on each and then clicked on the 'Efficiency Mode' menu choice. The popup asked if I wanted to ACTIVATE efficiency mode, which I assume means it has not been active. I also found out that in the Process View of Task Manager, a leaf icon in the Status column indicated that a process is running in efficiency mode. Neither Google Drive process exhibits the leaf icon. See the two attached screen images for details.

So it doesn't appear that efficiency mode is involved in the problem.

One of the reasons I didn't respond sooner is that the behavior ceased for several days, so I hoped it had somehow been resolved. But yesterday it happened again. One of these times I'll try to start a screen recorder before reactivating the Editor window so I can record what the files closing looks like.

Google Drive Processes - EM.jpg

EM Processes screenshot.jpg

[ironick]

Dan,

It just happened again, and this time it happened with only a single pdf file opened in the Editor. I previously thought the problem might be due to the large number of tabs I had open. But now its happening with only a single tab. I didn't have the screen recorder ready because I didn't think it would exhibit the behavior with only a single tab open. Next time I'll know better!

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, ironick

Thank you for the information, I am actually just about to send you an email with some extended instructions (and a portable version with additional logging enabled) that should hopefully capture clearer details about the issue for us to investigate further.

Could I ask you to look for emails from me <Support@PDF-XChange.com>, and follow the steps there, then get back to us next time it happens?

Kind regards,

[ironick]

Hi Dan,

I downloaded and installed the portable version. It seems to be running fine, with a couple of idiosyncrasies:
1. I loaded my saved settings from a settings file, and it seemed to work, eg the theme changed from light to dark. But when I exit and then start the portable version again, it reverts to its initial settings. Not a biggie, just a little inconvenient.
2. Same thing goes for saved sessions. I loaded a session from my most recent session file on my drive and it worked fine. But when I exit and restart the session is not resumed. I start with no tabs. Again, not a problem in the short term.
3. After starting the portable version, I found the "FileIoDbg.log" file in the %temp%\PDFXEdit.Portable\ folder. After starting and exiting the portable version normally, I opened the log file with Notepad. It was empty. Is this normal behavior? Does the log file have content only in the event of a crash? Just want to confirm.

I'll let you know how it goes...

[ironick]

Dan,

One other, more serious issue. I just highlighted some text in a pdf using the portable version, and then saved the pdf. Watermarks were added to the saved pdf. (See image.)

pdf watermarks - Screenshot 2025-10-21 102451.jpg

Can I load my license key for my normal version of the Editor into this portable version in order to turn off the watermarking? If not, I can only use the portable version for read only, which really limits my ability to get things done. I am constantly highlighting the pdfs I read. Please let me know if there is any way to turn off the addition of watermarks when saving modified pdfs.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, ironick

All of those aspects are expected, yes. Since the issue seems to be with file closing after a long delay, the intent here was for you to open that portable, and if necessary for your reproduction process, make a few minor edits, then leave the files open for some time (ideally, with a few files you do not need to use today). Following that, if you return and the files have spontaneously closed, close the software, and the log file should hopefully have recorded some information about the issue for us. The logging not specific to a "crash" but it should only be recording details relating to the spontaneous closing of the files in question.

Beyond that, you should not need to use this debug version actively, so It should not be a matter to apply your license key to, or make any other changes beyond opening a few onedrive files and waiting. You can continue using the installed version of the software in the meantime, the two applications will not interfere with each other.

That said, if you wish to, you certainly can input your key to the Portable version, there would be no issues there since it is in use on the same device as your primary installation.

Kind regards,

[ironick]

Thanks for the clarifications!

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello again!

A quick update on this. It does apparently also include a targeted fix for the issue, along with the extended logging! So, if the issue has not happened in that build after a few days, please let us know the good news as well

Kind regards,

[ironick]

Will do. So far so good. I've had the portable version open since yesterday with no issues. I'll keep it open and keep my fingers crossed. I'll report back in by Friday, one way or another.

[Dimitar - PDF-XChange]

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello,

Quick update for everyone experiencing this issue. Thanks to some the reports we have seen so far, from a few helpful users, we located the issue, and are working on a permanent solution.
At the root, the only issue on our end is the lack of warning when a connection is dropped (it happens not only with onedrive, but also some types of local network shares, and other cloud services).

To ensure expectations are correct, The "fix" we can offer, will only ensure that when this happens, the Editor properly informs you that the document is inaccessible. It will then ask if you would like to

1. Try and re-open it. You will lose changes if you had any unsaved changes in place when you do so, it is not possible to retain previous changes when we do this due to the volatile nature of the storage location.
   OR~
2. Cancel and close the file immediately.

This handling is nearly identical to what happens in Acrobat and Other PDF software. In most of their cases, you are simply informed that the document cannot be loaded anymore, and told that it will close, with no option to attempt reconnection. Ours is somewhat unique in that it at least offers you the option.

Kind regards,

[ironick]

Dan,

I'm glad the bug has been identified, and I think the suggested behaviors are appropriate. I would like to suggest an additional behavior based on my frequent dealings with tab closures due to Google Drive hiccups.

When Google Drive causes files to temporarily appear unavailable, this almost always causes a cascade effect with files open in the Editor. That is, dozens upon dozens of tabs each generate a prompt regarding the action to be taken. During this cascade, as soon as one clicks on the dialog box to close the tab, a new dialog box almost instantly appears. This makes it very difficult to simply close the Editor entirely; one has to race to hit the "Close Window" button or hit the Close Window key chord. Also this usually results in losing one's entire session, ie the set of all currently open tabs. This is why I've gotten into the habit of manually saving sessions at least daily and sometimes several times a day.

It would be great if when an issue with an open file no longer being accessible is detected, the dialog box offers the option to save the current session, close all tabs, and exit the Editor completely.

I'd greatly appreciate it if you could pass this along to the development team addressing fixes to this issue.

— Nick

[Mathew]

(BTW, it there a quick way to get a count of open tabs?)

This gives the number of open documents: Paste into the javascript console and run:

Code: Select all

app.alert(util.printf("There are %s documents open.",app.activeDocs.length))

[ironick]

This gives the number of open documents: Paste into the javascript console and run:

Code: Select all

app.alert(util.printf("There are %s documents open.",app.activeDocs.length))

Sweet. Thanks!

[Dimitar - PDF-XChange]

[ironick]

As I promised, I'm reporting back about the stability of the portable version of the Editor. I've had it open since Monday with spontaneous tab closures whatsoever.

I think I'll switch back to my regular version of the Editor at this point, unless you want me to continue to use the portable version.

Any idea when the next regular release with a bug fix for this issue will be available?

Thanks!

[ironick]

(BTW, it there a quick way to get a count of open tabs?)

This gives the number of open documents: Paste into the javascript console and run:

Code: Select all

app.alert(util.printf("There are %s documents open.",app.activeDocs.length))

I took your suggestion and created a button in the Add-On Tools menu ribbon for counting tabs, if anyone is interested in adding this functionality.

Code: Select all

// I had some difficulty figuring out the privilege issue.
// According to the documentation in AcrobatDC_js_api_reference.pdf
// the activeDocs method requires privileges when when in a menu context. This privilege must be assigned at application
// initialization. I found how to do this in this forum entry: https://forum.pdf-xchange.com/viewtopic.php?p=183239#p183239

// The original suggestion for how to count tabs came from this forum entry: https://forum.pdf-xchange.com/viewtopic.php?p=198131#p198131
// which of course works as is in the console.

var HowManyTabs = app.trustedFunction(function ()
{
	app.beginPriv();
	const currDocs = app.activeDocs;
	app.endPriv();
app.alert(util.printf("There are %s tabs open.",currDocs.length))
});

app.addToolButton({
    cName: "How Many Tabs",
	cLabel: "How Many Tabs",
    cExec: "HowManyTabs()",
    cTooltext: "Display the number of open tabs.",
    cEnable: true,
// The default value of nPos is -1 which causes the button to be added to the end of existing buttons. This is the behavior I want.
//    nPos: 0
});

[Mathew]

Nice!

BTW this gave me an idea: Using an interval one can update the text on a menu item to show the currently open number of documents (no need to run a tool). I updated this tool to do that (requires build 393):

image.png

viewtopic.php?p=189161#p189161

Note, however, that this does not list the number of Tabs it counts open documents -- I don't think JavaScript has access to the tab order or what they are. So if one document is open in multiple tabs, then it will only be listed once. Also, if a document has been open hidden (ie by a script) there will be no tab for it, but it will show up on this list.

[ironick]

Very cool. I tried downloading the zip file for the new version (showActiveDocuments v2.0.zip), but Chrome/Windows 11 warns "Virus detected" and wouldn't complete the download. I downloaded the old version showActiveDocuments v1.1.zip) successfully.

PS Good point re tabs vs documents.

Update:
I tried downloading in Firefox, and was able to get more details about the threat. I just edited this post to add an image of the virus warning details.

Virus info - Screenshot 2025-10-26 114101.jpg

[Mathew]

Update:
I tried downloading in Firefox, and was able to get more details about the threat. I just edited this post to add an image of the virus warning details.
Virus info - Screenshot 2025-10-26 114101.jpg

Well sorry for that. I think it's a false positive: I ran a full scan of my computer and it did flag the javascript file when zipped, but not the javascript file itself. I re-zipped it and added LICENSE.txt file to the zip file and now it does not seem to be getting flagged. I also uploaded the suspect file to microsoft for them to review
[Edit Oct 27] Confirmed it was a false positive:

image.png

[ironick]

Interesting.

How do I access the new zip file with the license.txt file added?

[Mathew]

Interesting.

How do I access the new zip file with the license.txt file added?

I replaced the other one at the same link: viewtopic.php?p=189161#p189161

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

[ironick]

Interesting.

How do I access the new zip file with the license.txt file added?

I replaced the other one at the same link: viewtopic.php?p=189161#p189161

The zip file now downloads without issue, and the JavaScript extension works perfectly. Thanks!

[Sean - PDF-XChange]