Handling Slow Access and Crashes
Help! PubGizmo/FileMaker Pro is crashing!
This is a frustrating and time-consuming occurrence, and we are sorry you are experiencing it. There can be a variety of causes, some of which are us, some of which are you, and some to chalk up to the mysteries of computers and networks.
Is it a Crash or a Freeze?
Firstly, we should distinguish between a crash and a freeze. These are different events, and require different handling.
Crash
A crash means FileMaker Pro has quit. All windows have disappeared from the screen. There's no spinning beachball, no hourglass.
On a Mac, you'll usually receive a dialogue that tells you FileMaker Pro has crashed, with a few options: re-open, report the problem to Apple, or cancel. If you look at the Dock, the icon is gone, or, if you keep the icon in the Dock, there's no black dot below the icon to indicate it's running.
On Windows, it no longer appears on the Taskbar. If you look at the Task Manager, FileMaker does not appear.
Freeze
If FileMaker Pro is still running but unresponsive, it has frozen or stalled. There's a good chance it's still alive, but it has stalled, possibly because it is:
- trying to run a complex calculation
- attempting to fetch a large volume of data from the server to display, or to calculate
- struggling the negotiate a bad network connection
- impeded by your computer's speed
- struggling with a heavy server load (unlikely)
Wait it Out
In this situation, you may just have to wait for PG to yield data and update – give it a chance to complete its processes, and your results will appear. It can take many seconds, or even many minutes, in extreme cases, to respond.
Data Volume and/or Complexity
Frequently, the nature of the operation you are trying to perform, or the volume or complexity of data you are trying to access, will help you understand why the freeze is happening.
For reference, these operations will be slow:
- Opening royalty statements with escalation and/or lots of sales records
- Using the Reporter with many of record selected, or covering a large span of time
- Viewing records in List View, especially Royalties if the amount column is toggled on (PG must calculate royalties for all the statements in the view, which invokes hundreds or even thousands of calculations).
What to Do
Crashes
Isolated
An isolated crash can be dismissed as a one-off. Computers crash, software crashes – we don't always know why. Just re-open FileMaker, connect to PubGizmo, and continue where you left off.
Chronic
If you are suffering chronic, not infrequent crashes, something more serious is going on. There are a host of possible causes, and solutions:
Computer Problem
Do other programs also crash? If yes, then the problem lies with your computer, either the hardware, or your operating system. Windows is more prone to this kind of issue that macOS. The best bet with either is a complete wipe and reinstall of your computer; it's not a trivial task, but it can yield significant improvements, not just in terms of crashing, but also computer performance. You can find on various tech sites information on how to perform a wipe and reinstall. The most important step is to back up your data, since the "wipe" part involves deleting everything on your computer.
If your problems survive a wipe/reinstall, it could be an issue with your computer hardware. This is best diagnosed by a professional.
FileMaker Pro Application Problem
If only FileMaker crashes, uninstall it, and reinstall. This will ensure that your installation of FileMaker is not corrupt.
Freezes
All Records, Operations
If you experience freezes (PubGizmo eventually responds), and it doesn't seem to matter what you're looking at (e.g., just a basic Contact record), something is impeding the exchange of information between your computer and the data on the server. This could be:
Poor Network Connection
If your internet is slow, access to PubGizmo will be slow. You can check your speed by going to speedtest.net and running a test. Faster is better, but at a minimum your up and down speeds should exceed 10 Mbps. Either or both of your internet provider speed or your network connection (e.g., on WiFi, but weak signal) can impede network traffic. If you rectify these issues, things may improve.
Slow Computer
An old computer or a computer problem (corrupt OS) can impede access to PubGizmo.
Some Records or Reports
Big sellers, or contracts with complicated clauses (escalation), or, worse-still, combinations of the two, will be slow to render. Try to limit your access to these records.
Improvements Coming
We have in our PubGizmo development plan a big update in the works that will cache sales data, instead of reading each sales record individually. This will yield a major performance improvement. Stand by for updates!