Corrupted prefs file?

Hi All,
I need some advice. Why do you think that the text size pull down menu's up and down arrows would be grayed out/disabled? I can change sizes if I manually type in a number, and the pull-down works. The keyboard shortcut works to change the type size one point size at a time up and down.
Of course, my habit is to select the number and use the up and down arrow keys on my keyboard to change the size, sometimes I use the arrows in the box.
I've opened the file on a different computer and it behaves normally.
On the original computer, I've created a new file (the picture above) and it behaved the same way, so I think it's something independent of the file and something with the app.
I've also experimented with different fonts with no change in behavior.
I've deleted what I thought was the preferences file, the one just out there in the user/library/prefs folder. That did not change the behavior. There are a bunch of other Adobe-related folders in the prefs folder but I didn't want to mess with those and screw something up.
Anyway... Mac G5 PPC, OS 10.4.8, InDe CS4. The other computer (where the type control panel behaved normally) is an MBP (Intel), OS 10.5.8, InDe CS4.
Any advice will be appreciated.
Thanks--d

I held them down before I started it up... that must not be the way to do it either. It requires such pretzel-fingers... I'll have to experiment. For the moment, though, I have work to do!
I found this other article that gives more insight : <http://indesignsecrets.com/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-indesign-preferences-a nd-presets.php>. There's a link to a downloadable PDF. Although I didn't find my prefs files in the locations specified in the pdf, I did find a couple of files that I deleted and that re-made themselves when I started up ID.
SO, for now things are good. Thanks so much for your help!

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I'm a little confused by this?
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In the past two weeks I have had computer problems than I have had in years and end up with the solution of removing a bad prefs file.
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Hi ¿Qué?,
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Corrupted Illustrator files

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I have tried the following.
Changing the number in the pref file from 0 to 1 and then holding ctrl/alt/shift when error pops up trick.
Tried placing the file in every program I could think of.
Tried Distiller.
Won't open in text editor.
Tried changing from .ai to .eps and .pdf
Normally redrawing isn't that big of a deal except we have a lot of files that got corrupted and that is too much to redraw. I would appreciate any help or suggestions. Thanks.

ms,
Apart from the future precaution of your trying to avoid its happening again by saving to your harddisk rather than externally, as Monika is referring to as a quite likely source of file corruption,
you may try this Recovery Toolbox for free,
http://www.recoverytoolbox.com/buy_illustrator.html
and licence it (for a year) if it proves to work.
There are ways of trying to recover files yourself, but they are rather difficult and hard to bring to succeed.
You can read on here,
http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/troubleshoot-damaged-illustrator-files.html
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/500/cpsid_50032.html
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/500/cpsid_50031.html
http://daxxter.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/how-to-recover-a-corrupted-illustrator-ai-file/

Bridge corrupts my files

Hi:
I this has happened to me with a number of files: Bridge corrupts them. I have succesfully transfered the files, NEF from Nikon D700, from the camera and they open fine in both bridge and photoshop (CS5). But after doing batch renaming and adding meta data to a large number of files, some are corrupt. I cannot open then or see preview. I get the error "Unexpected end of file".I can still see preview in finder, but now I'm un certain if that's just the embedded preview or if the file is actually ok.
Unlike other entries on the subject, this is not caused by corrupt intermediate storage, flash or usb sticks. It's bridge that screws up.
Two questions:
1. How do I recover?
2. How do I avoid this in the future? Is DNG the only way to ensure that Bridge/Photoshop won't screw up my files?
Any help? Please?
Thanks, Erik

Two questions:
1. How do I recover?
2. How do I avoid this in the future? Is DNG the only way to ensure that Bridge/Photoshop won't screw up my files?
Any help? Please?
I would highly recommend that you run a good disk utility and look for problems on your HD, as this would be a very unusual problem for Bridge, but a likely problem from an underlying HD problem, like a corrupted directory file. This is a big red flag in my book.
Are you saving settings in sidecar files (my preference) or the central XMP database? (Check your prefs if you're not sure). I strongly prefer sidecar files.
DNG is not the answer to your problems - a DNG file can become corrupted just as easily as the XMP sidecar file. If you are just renaming files, the original RAW file should not become corrupted, as Bridge does not write info into the RAW file, it only re-writes the name. Adding metadata should put data into the sidecar file, and again leave the RAW file untouched. Have you looked to see if the original RAW files are unchanged? Have you looked at the sidecare files of "corrupted" images to see what happened to the XMP files? Have you removed the offending XMP files and let Bridge "start over" with a new XMP sidecar file? The image itself should be ok. I also assume that you're re-built the cache for the "bad" files to make sure that the problem is really with the files, and not the cache.
Has any other non-Adobe software "touched" your files? The only time I have had this type of problem was when using PhotoMechanic to change some GPS data, then going back to Bridge CS5. For some reason, at times they don't play well together and the XMP gets foobarred. The versions of XMP that they use are different.
Recover? That depends on how you have backed up your images and how many backup copies you keep. Hopefully, the original images are backed up as a last resort. I often keep intermediate backups as well, after making significant changes to images or adding lots of custom metadata, and I copy to tape every morning at 0300.
I'd start with a good hard look at your HD with the Apple Disk Utility, TechToolPro, or DiskWarrior (or all three). If there is a problem and it doesn't get fixed, you'll have more problems down the road.
Give us feedback on what you find and what your workflow is and I'm sure you'll get more advice.
--Rich

Photoshop file laid over a .mov from LiveType corrupts project files

I have an edited sequence in FCE 3.0 At the beginning in V1 is a 7 second .mov title created in LiveType: the usual thing - squiggling text appears over an animated background using the Texture > Liquid > Silver. In V2, and overlapping the .mov is a Photoshop file (.PSD). It has one layer which has an image occupying half of the layer which is otherwise transparent. (By "overlapping" I mean that when the Playhead is over the .mov it is also over the Photoshop file). The Photoshop file is shorter than the .mov and its right hand end is aligned with the right hand end of the .mov. The Sequence in the Timeline is of course rendered. The result is that the title appears and then the Photoshop image overlays it. Fine, it works.
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It seems clear that the PSD file is the problem. Can't FCE handle them as overlays? Any ideas please on how to get the effect that I want?

See my answer to your post in the other thread: FCE HD 3.0x: Corrupt Project Files after Photoshop-Import.
Piero

Where is my user pref file?

The icon in my Users & Groups preferences keeps changing back to one I don't want, no matter how many times I change it. I think the preferences file is corrupted and would like to delete it, but where is it in Lion? There used to be a Library folder in the user folder. Help!

I think I have solved my issue. When I looked at the pref files I found a number of gibberish files, usually in groups of two or three, which appeared to have no content. I deleted these and so far so good!
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Pref File (OSX 10.5)

So I'm using Lightroom 2.2 in OSX Leopard, and I'm having a bit of a weird issue.
For the last few weeks, LR has been prompting me to do a backup of the catalog every time I open it. I looked to see if the setting was correct, that it was to do it every week, and it was.
I found this annoying, but couldn't really think of what else to do so I ignored it.
Today, however, I decided that I was going to split up my massive catalog into one for each year (going back to '07), which I hope will lead to better performance. Well, I split off one catalog, and went to switch to it to see if everything was kosher. LR closed, re-opened (and prompted to do a backup again, naturally), and then I noticed that the catalog wasn't changed.
A little bit of poking around later, and I've determined that Lightroom can't modify it's own .pref file (In /Users/Steve/Library/Preferences). If I delete it, Lightroom won't make a new one either, and then every time it opens, it acts like it's the first time. I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling, and fiddling with permissions. No dice.
Anyone have any idea what might be causing this, and what I can do? I'm fresh out of ideas. The only other info I have is that the current permissions on the file itself I don't think matter, because LR can't make a new one either, and the permissions on /Preferences right now are dwrx---wrx+. The + irks me, because I get the feeling that it's some immutable tag, but OSX doesn't seem to have a problem with this, and no other apps are having a problem.
Thanks!
Steve Gaucher

Alright guys, I fixed the issue, with a little help from Apple's tech support guys. Here's how:
1. Turn the root user on. The procedure for doing this can be found here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1528
2. Log out of your main user, log in as root.
3. Move the Preferences folder onto the main user's desktop.
4. Log out of root, and log in as your main user again. OSX will recreate the Preferences folder (which in my case may have been corrupted somehow), and will recreate some .plists.
5. Open Lightroom. Everything works now, including switching catalogs, etc. Some settings will have to be reset and stuff, but that's no big deal.
6. Move all the files from the Preferences folder on your desktop back into the Preferences folder, overwriting nothing that has anything to do with Adobe. Log out, and back in, and everything should be back to normal for the most part.

Does tweaking iPhoto prefs file produce higher quality?

I'm about to order some books & calendars. In older versions of iPhoto there was a simple hack that was recommended to produce higher quality products. It involved editing the iPhoto prefs file and changing the dpi settings.
Is this still recommended for iPhoto 08? If so, where can I find the instructions?
Any other tips for a first-time photo services customer?

Steve M:
It's no longer necessary as iPhoto 7 has set the resolution to 300 dpi for all book sizes.
Happy Holidays
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Spotlight not working, no search, no prefs file

I have had an issue with spotlight for some time now and I hope it can be solved. I have tried to find the prefs file, but it is not in either the user-library-preferences folder or in the library-preferences folder on the HD. If I go to Sys preferences, then to Spotlight, my Macintosh HD is in Privacy tab. I remove it with the minus button and it goes away. Close prefs out and re-open and it is in there again.
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Hi Margaret
You should probably investigate your HTML Help components.
Hop over to fellow help MVP Rob Chandler's site at
http://www.helpware.net/htmlhelp/hh_diags.htm
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Restore Prefs files with batch file CS5

I'm running PS CS5 under Windows XP and ran into a "Refine Edge" problem where I couldn't get a functioning cursor. Checking around I came up with the solution of deleting & resetting my prefs file, which solved the problem. However restoring my prefs was time consuming and I thought there should be a better way where I could keep a backup prefs file & perform the restore with a batch file. So if anyone is interested here is the procedure and sample batch file I set up.
First in Win XP the prefs file(s) are buried in:
C:\ Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS5\Adobe Photoshop CS5 Settings\
and there were three prefs files that were affected when I deleted with the startup Ctrl/Alt/Shift procedure.
They were:
Adobe Photoshop CS5 Prefs.psp
Palette.psp
Color Settings.csf
I made copies of each with an extension of .org (to signify original) - so there were three duplicate files in the directory. There would be my backup files and are named:
Adobe Photoshop CS5 Prefs.org
Palette.org
Color Settings.org
Then I created a batch file named RestorePrefs.bat in the same directory as follows:
Copy C:\Documents" "and" "Settings\User" "Name\Application" "Data\Adobe\Adobe" "Photoshop" "CS5\Adobe" "Photoshop" "CS5" "Settings\Adobe" "Photoshop" "CS5" "Prefs.org *.psp
Copy C:\Documents" "and" "Settings\User" "Name\Application" "Data\Adobe\Adobe" "Photoshop" "CS5\Adobe" "Photoshop" "CS5" "Settings\Actions" "Palette.org *.psp
Copy C:\Documents" "and" "Settings\User" "Name\Application" "Data\Adobe\Adobe" "Photoshop" "CS5\Adobe" "Photoshop" "CS5" "Settings\Color" "Settings.org *.csf
The batch file copies the org (backup) files to the prefs files.
Note There are no spaces in batch file. These are linked with quotes.
Then create an icon on the desktop that runs the batch file in the prefs directory.
To check if its working properly prior to and without changing the prefs files, edit the batch file from *.psp & *.csf to *.XXX - run it - then check the directory for three new files with the XXX extension. If running OK, delete the XXX files and change the batch file back as above & your set to go.
Burt Stuttman

There are more files then the three that you noted that can can become corrupt in your user id Photoshop Preferences. Some preference files are not static some files are updated when you make changes to you Photoshop environment like edit action make brushes, patterns, define shapes etc. Some preference files are updated every time you close down Photoshop.   I find it best to back up your whole user id Adobe Applications version Preference tree when the application is working well as a backup in case thing go sour.   Its really not a complex or time consuming process. It actually a very simple easy process you can do in windows file explorer right panel.
Step one make your backup.   Highlight the preference folder right click click copy. Then right click and click on paste "Folder name Copy" is the name of the copy and is your Backup.
Should Photoshop mess up. Close Photoshop. In file explorer do step 2 recover.
Step 2 Highlight the preference folder right click click on rename add a suffix Rotten "Folder name Rotten".   Highlight the preference folder "Folder name Copy" rename to "Folder name"
Do step one create a new backup.
Start Photoshop If all is well and you do not need to recover newer thing from "Folder name Rotten" delete "Folder name Rotten" after a few daye.   and your more sure everything is A OK.

Corrupted Preferences File - Why?

Trash your Prefs! You know the mantra. When PS fails to do something, its trash your prefs!
I wondered why/how ones preferences ever get corrupted. Ive use PS, since 2.5 on all sorts of PCs, sometimes with it running around the clock for days. Never once had I encountered a corrupted preferences file until now, that is.
What I encountered can only be listed as an observation. Im sure that it is but one possible cause. Still, I thought that Id share my experience.
Up at 4:00AM to start a rush scan job. Everything boots up fine, and I start PS CS2. As its loading the plug-ins, etc., I notice that Sun Microsystems Java wants an update and its icon has appeared in the Tasktray of my XP-Pro SP3. I open it, and click Update Later, or whatever the exact dialog is. It drops back to the Tasktray. PS seems to be taking a long time to load on my workstation, but I give it a few moments. Nothing. Its hung at Reading Text Global Resources. I check Task Manager PS is shown as Not Responding. Odd, this has NEVER happened before in all those years. Not so much as once.
I remembered that there was an update for Extend Script, that I told PS to hold off on. I go to Updates, via Bridge and its still there waiting. I End Task for PS and look for something usable from MS. Of course theres nothing. Event Viewer shows an Application Hang, with no useful info. I install the Extend Script Update, and try PS again. It gets to the same spot and hangs.
OK, I allow Java to update (making sure to NOT allow the installation of the MSN Search Toolbar - sheezh! I try PS yet again. Hang at the same spot.
Re-boot and hang. Though I have said it a thousand times, trash your prefs, it takes a moment for it to sink in. I trash my prefs and all is good with PS. Luckily, I had my dual-monitor Workspace saved, and it only takes a minute to change the default preferences back to what I want.
Normally, I have everything, and I mean everything, set to NOT auto-update. I turn this feature off for every program that I install. I use Premiere a lot, and do not want Norton, or anybody, waking up and phoning home. Ill tell em when to update. Well, I missed Java.
I can only guess that it did its update thing, just at a critical time for PSs loading and blew up the prefs file. Had it popped up a second later, or maybe a second earlier, I doubt that Id have had to trash my prefs. After all these years (decades really), I had a corrupt preferences file.
Im sure there are a myriad things that can corrupt a preferences file, and I am only guessing at what caused mine. However, the timing is perfect, so Java gets the blame.
Just thought Id share,
Hunt

Ho,
I'm squarely with you on that one. If one's computer is just used for e-mail and browsing, it's not an issue. Real work, however, trumps getting the latest update, as soon as is possible. I just missed setting Java to manual. It slipped by my defenses. Won't happen again. I also hate any auto-update, that will require a reboot. Hey, I'm working here. I'll update and reboot, when I'm finished.
I also think that I need to clarify that I was only making an observation of what was happening on my system. The Java updater was not running yet, but only the "message" pop-up. Also, these two occurrances could have been purely coincidental. I was just the observer. After the prefs corruption, I did run the Java updater, and after the "trashing" of my perfs, all ran very well.
I do not want to scare people off from updating, Java, or anything. I am sorry if I was not clear. As I said, I have no idea whether the message pop-up had any effect whatsoever. It just hit at the same time. [and pissed me off, that I had not thought to properly configure it for my workflow]
Hunt

Corrupt Dock File?

Hi,
So on my dock, I have my Applications Folder on it to use as a shortcut, but just recently, it started to display two of every application. See my picture:
I also have my Downloads Folder on my Dock. When I drag things from the Downloads folder into the trash can, nothing happens. But then when I click +Show In Finder+, it shows the file as deleted.
So it seems my Dock is not refreshing or something? So what I did to fix it was just remove the Applications and Downloads Folders from the Dock, and drag the Applications and Downloads folder from my hard drive to the dock. But everytime I log back in or download something else, the problem will arise again.
Do I have a corrupt dock file? I didn't want to try messing with that until I consulted +Apple Discussions+ first.
Thanks, Alex

if recreating those stacks doesn't help try resetting your dock preference file. delete the file /users/user/library/preferences/com.apple.dock.plist and enter the following terminal command
killall Dock
your dock will be rest to the default. see if the problem goes away.

Corrupted prefs file?

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