I have a problem which on my system and those of my colleagues.
We are a graphic design company and use the Adobe Creative Cloud.
This current problem is in Illustrator.
When I copy a certain object, then Illustrator hangs for about 3 minuttes.
But if Keyboard Maestro is not running, then the copying happens instantly.
I have contacted Peter about this and he has been very helpful in trying to troubleshoot it.
We have tried to do the clipboard debugging but I ended up having all flavours checked before it works instantly.
I have also tried to examine the clipboard with this command in the script editor:
the clipboard as record
Then the script editor hangs.
I hope somebody on this forum, which also have Illustrator CC2015 are willing to help me test is only on our systems or it is more common.
Here is an Illustrator-file which I have used to reproduce the problem: http://cl.ly/3r251v0W1b0k (external link due to sizelimit in the forum).
It consist of only one object.
To replicate the issue, then make sure the KM Engine is running. Open the Illustrator-file and copy the object. If it makes Illustrator hang, then I would like to hear about it.
I am running on OS X 10.11.3, MacBook Pro 17", 16 GB Ram, 500 GB SSD.
My colleagues are using OS X 10.10.5, iMac 27", 16 GB Ram, 256 GB SSD.
I don’t have Illustrator to test with, but here are a couple of observations:
GraphicConverter reports the tiff alone takes 258.2 MB in Memory.
The Script Editor is not really designed to display so much data.
I tried copying the tiff using GraphicConverter and then running the clipboard as record in Script Debugger. Not surprisingly it hung.
So I tried writing to a file instead:
set filePath to (path to desktop as text) & "clipboardData.dat"
writeFile((the clipboard as record), filePath, 0, record)
on writeFile(srcData, targetFile, startPosition, dataType)
try
set fileRef to open for access targetFile with write permission
if startPosition = 0 then
set eof of fileRef to 0
end if
write srcData to fileRef as dataType starting at startPosition
close access fileRef
on error errMsg number errNum
try
close access fileRef
end try
error "Error in handler: writeFile of library: gen.lib" & return & return & errMsg
end try
end writeFile
It hung Script Debugger for quite a while, but after about 4 minutes or so I got a file. A 1.05 GB file.
So. I’m not shocked that you’re having problems.
Unfortunately I don’t have any ideas for sorting them out.
Yes, this is a big file.
But if I quit the Keyboard Maestro Engine then there is no delay.
I think Illustrator does not export the clipboard to the OS. Because when I quit Illustrator it ask me if I want to export the clipboard.
So maybe when KM is running it snatches the clipboard even though Illustrator it self has not released it.
Do you know if there is a way to exclude a program from the clipboard switcher?
Maybe a defaults command or something?
My tests shows that if I exclude all flavours then it works for me.
There is no delay. I can still paste in Illustrator and InDesign. These are the normal places I need to copy graphics to.
Can I set this myself on my system or does this require an update to KM?
Excluding all flavors would apply in all apps, not just in Illustrator, so it is not a solution. The result would be serious problems in using Keyboard Maestro. The purpose of those exclusions is to avoid specific problematic flavors (such as ones that are intended to be internal to the application), not for excluding applications.
That is a good idea. And @Tom made an AppleScript in this post, which I could modify and use.
I do not use FastScripts, but the built-in Scriptsmenu, which can be activated in the settings of the ScriptEditor.
At first run this ApplesScript quits the KM Engine.
Then I can without problems copy and paste in/between Illustrator and InDesign.
When I run it again it sets the clipboard to nothing, before starting the KM Engine again.
I would like to thanks this extremely great forum for help to find a work-around.
@peternlewis: A feaure-request is still to have an exclude list for the clipboard management of KM. But it is probably not easy to implement.
# Orignal made by Tom from http://dflect.net/en/ and published on the Keyboard Maestro forum (https://forum.keyboardmaestro.com/t/making-km-more-accessible-for-non-geeks/3261/12)
# Modified to only Quit Keyboard Maestro Engine and before enabling it again it clears the clipboard.
# This is to help with an issue with Keyboard Maestro and Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign discussed on this thread (https://forum.keyboardmaestro.com/t/copying-certaing-objects-from-illustrator-cc2015-is-slow/3134)
# Activate the scripts menu in the Scripteditor and put it there for easy access
property appsToShutdown : {"Keyboard Maestro Engine"}
property wasRunningBefore : {}
if application "Keyboard Maestro Engine" is running then
set wasRunningBefore to {}
repeat with i in appsToShutdown
if application i is running then
try
set wasRunningBefore to wasRunningBefore & i
tell application i to quit
end try
end if
end repeat
else
if wasRunningBefore is {} then set wasRunningBefore to appsToShutdown
tell application "System Events" to set the clipboard to ""
repeat with i in wasRunningBefore
try
tell application i to launch
end try
end repeat
end if
--log wasRunningBefore
property kmEngine : "Keyboard Maestro Engine"
if application kmEngine is running then
tell application kmEngine to quit
else
tell application "System Events" to set the clipboard to ""
tell application kmEngine to launch
end if
Here as a Workflow, so you can assign it a hotkey in System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services:
You can’t in general. There are some specific problematic flavors that are excluded (eg private flavors that broken applications explode or misbehave when you read them), but there is no way to exclude flavors from specific applications or in specific instances.
Peter, thanks so much for your prompt reply. That was fast!
My application involves copying patient face sheet data from large commercial software written in Microsoft’s no longer supported Visual Basic. KM does a fantastic job with placing this text data into variables using a regular expression. But the actual copying of the face sheet data is inconsistent. The only real option I seem to have is command-A (select all), then copy. About half the time, the copy operation completes immediately. But unfortunately, for the other half, it hangs for 60 seconds, and then moves on. They all have similar formats comprising mostly text, but with embedded separation lines. It seems that a given patient’s face sheet either works every time, or it hangs for 60 seconds every time. But the copy operation does not hang if the copy is done manually without the KM engine. Any ideas or suggestions?
If it is a particular flavour of data that causes the problem, and if that flavour is some proprietary flavour, then you can probable exclude it from the clipboard history system.
To find out, hold option and shift down and select Start Debugging from the Keyboard Maestro status menu. That will start the clipboard flavour debugging system in Keyboard Maestro.
As described in the resulting window, copy something that causes problems. Keyboard Maestro will list the flavours and exclude everything except the standard flavours. Now try copying again and see if the issue is fixed. If so, adjust the minimum number of excluded flavours (minimum entries checked) the removes the problem and report them to me.
Note that if you have to exclude everything, including things like plain text, rtf and pdf and such, then this system cannot help. If you only have to exclude some proprietary flavour, then it can probably be safely disabled universally.
Peter, your reply was spot on. My copy procedure turned out to involve 4 flavors: public.rtf turned out to be the offender. By checking its box, my copies all seem to work. I don't know if this feedback will help you, but the discovery helped me tremendously. Thank you!
So it seems the act of generating the RTF is what is causing the problem.
Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done in that case - public.rtf could not be excluded in general, and Keyboard Maestro has no ability to exclude specific falvours in specific applications. I may eventually after that, but it would be pretty ugly.
