Pages 12.2 high CPU usage when text box in thread is selected

Question

Pages 12.2 high CPU usage when text box in thread is selected

This morning I noticed that the fan on my Mac was making more noise than normal. I opened up Activity Monitor and saw that Pages was consuming over 90% of the CPU — often as high as 98%.

After a bit of experimentation, I discovered that the problem happens only when editing a Page Layout document and selecting a text box that belongs to a thread of at least two text boxes.

The problem goes away immediately upon deselecting the text box or editing the text therein. The problem returns immediately upon selecting the text box again.

Computer: MacBook Pro 16-inch 2019

OS: macOS 13.0.1 Ventura

App: Pages 12.2

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 13.0

Posted on Nov 11, 2022 11:01 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 13, 2022 11:17 PM in response to kamote0628

The problem still happens when logged in as a different user.

When the Mac is booted in Safe Mode, Pages consistently consumes 20-25% CPU when any Text Box is selected in a Page Layout document. This is obviously better than nearly 100%, but it might still be an indication of a problem. E.g., multithreading is disabled in Safe Mode, it is possible that Pages is still consuming all it can of one CPU core.

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Answer 2

kamote0628

Community Specialist

Nov 13, 2022 5:52 PM in response to Michael Lowry

Hi Michael Lowry, We appreciate you reaching out to us. We understand that your CPU usage jumps to a higher than expected percentage only when editing a Page document and selecting a text box.

Does it help if you delete the text box, then recreate it?

Are you able to reproduce the issue if you copy all the contents of the affected document, and paste it on a new document?

Let's isolate this issue further.

Please check if the issue persists when signed in on a different user account.

The article below can help if you do not have any other user account to test with.

Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac

If you are experiencing the issue when signed in on a different user account, please check if the issue persists while on safe mode.

Safe mode does a basic check of your startup disk, similar to using First Aid in Disk Utility.

Performing this step may help resolve the issue, or further isolate the issue.

Below is an article to help guide you through the process.

How to use safe mode on your Mac

Take care!

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Answer 3

Nov 14, 2022 1:09 AM in response to Michael Lowry

I opened case 101859385995 about this problem.

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Answer 4

Nov 14, 2022 1:12 AM in response to Michael Lowry

One new data point:

The problem also happens if the document is a Word Processing document. That is, the problem is not limited to Page Layout documents.

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Answer 5

SnickZ.

Community Specialist

Nov 14, 2022 9:08 AM in response to Michael Lowry

Thanks for the update, Michael Lowry. However, since you’re now working with Apple Support directly, we recommend continuing with them.

All the best.

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Pages 12.2 high CPU usage when text box in thread is selected

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