Hello,
I am unsure if this is a coincidence, but I have experienced this issue a few times. Whenever I try to access the value inspector, my Mac freezes and crashes completely. I have no choice but to shut down my Mac and restart it to fix the issue. I just wanted to report this recurring/random issue. This problem only occurs when I try to access the value inspector, and it happens randomly.
Yikes. I have three ideas.
When you reboot and restart KM, does it warn you that KM shut down unexpectedly and give you the option to send a report to the KM developer?
Did you check the KM Engine log to see if there is any clue? You can get there easily by starting the KM Editor and selecting Help / Open Logs Folder.
There may also be a big clue inside the macOS log file. One way to access the log file is to open the Console app (which is in the Utilities folder in your Applications folder.) The simplest way to use this app is just click on system.log in the left pane. Check for error messages at the time of the crash.
You didn't mention which version of KM you have, or which version of macOS you have. These may be important. It also may be important to know if you have other apps running, particularly macOS utilities.
Thank you! Next time it happens, I’ll take a look and report back.
Wow, that's really weird, and definitely not something I have ever heard of.
It should be virtually impossible for Keyboard Maestro itself to freeze your Mac entirely - no application should be able to do that.
There are a couple of possible causes, but they would be deep down - basically system bug/corruption in the system, some sort of low level system extension, or hardware problems.
2/3. I will check next time.
Yes, it’s pretty strange. Let me explain how the problem occurs.
I go to the Keyboard Maestro search bar and type “va” to access/see the value inspector. Then, I use the down arrow to select the value inspector and press return to open it, but the program freezes.
However, the program never froze whenever I used the Command+6 shortcut to access the value inspector a few times before.
This issue is scarce, and I’ll update you if it happens again. Cheers!
I can see the beach ball which indicates something is wrong with an app, but even when you see a beach ball you can usually press CMD-OPTION-ESC and terminate whichever program says "Not Responding". Did you try that?
Previously when you said "crashes completely" I assumed that you meant you tried CMD-OPTION-ESC. But now I'm thinking that you didn't try that because now you are saying "the program freezes" which is not the same thing as "the Mac freezes and crashes completely."
If you try that, you will see a list of programs in a scrollable window, and one of them will probably say "Not Responding." It might be KM, or it might be a different app. Finding this out may be an important factor in solving this issue.
I apologize for my previous message. What I actually meant was that my entire Mac froze and I couldn’t do anything. I attempted to use the keyboard shortcut to force quit Keyboard Master, but it didn’t work. In other words, I also couldn’t click on any icons on the top right of the Mac because of the freeze. The only option was to turn off and turn on my device.
Ok, that's clear. My suggestion about the macOS system log still remains.
Um, how old is your Mac? I've had old Macs with RAM failures that couldn't be fixed.
I have a Mac with an M1 Pro processor, and the Keyboard Maestro always runs smoothly.
However, as I described earlier, I only experience a rare issue when I try to access the value inspector.
I appreciate the tip about checking the console, but it does not have any information about the crash. Next time it happens, I’ll check the console and share the details with you.
I assume by “search bar” you mean you are clicking in the Help menu and searching there?
And that that causes the freeze, but selecting the menu directly via Window ➤ Value Inspector or Command-6 does not?
If that is correct, then that definitely sounds like the crash/freeze is happening in the menu system, outside of Keyboard Maestro’s control.
