How to fix Text Edit hanging ? OS 15.7.3.

etresoft wrote:

Owl-53 wrote:

Actually I used that exact path on macOS 26.2 Tahoe and Lo and behold the TextEdit .plot was located

Where as the offer path quoted by OP din not work for the .plist

I'm unaware of the OP ever quoting any path. But it's a moot point because hacking around on a plist is always a bad idea. The preferences ("cfprefs") system uses plist files as backing stores. Any kind of hacking around on a plist just confuses the preferences system. Maybe you can scramble the system badly enough that it gets reset and that inadvertently fixes some other problem. But that's just luck, not a solution. The correct solution to this problem was always launching TextEdit with the shift key held down.

One should never go into the ~/Library/Containers folder unless deleting some massive folder that has grown out of control. Ideally, only ever do it when the owning application has been deleted. Otherwise, there's a risk of data loss. Although it did "fix the hang" in this case, it also resulted in data loss for the OP.

These "Containers" folders are special, internal data repositories. They don't behave like normal folders. That path you quoted is a good example. It doesn't exist. You only think it exists because the Finder accepts it. But the Finder only accepts it because it's the Finder. There is no "TextEdit" folder in that Containers folder. There is a "com.apple.TextEdit" folder that has a localized display name of "TextEdit". But if you try to use that path anywhere other than the Finder, it won't work. If someone who isn't using English tries the path, it also might not work. (I don't know if TextEdit has a localized name, but some Apple apps do.)

This is a tricky thing. People see these situations and then extrapolate. They try them on other apps that are misbehaving. AIs notice that and recommend it. But it's always wrong and dangerous. Maybe it wasn't catastrophic in this one case, but these same instructions used in some other scenario could wipe out data both locally and in the cloud.

Share exit this thread with this

OP had specifically made mention Hidden Library/ Preferences

Unfortunately doing the recent Hiccups on these Forums

That specific posting as well as My Posting which I have reposted 1 hour after discovering it had been removed

Their too was removed

However out we go

The whole question seemed, in hindsight, to be more of a red herring than a real technical issue

Using Tahoe 26.2 and using the hidden " ~Library/ Preferences " path would not yield the desired results

Refer to below as proof of what did work

As others have mentioned and I totally agree

Mucking around in places that are purposeful hidden and a potentially dangerous thing to do not matter who provided the instructions

Startup in Safe Mode followed by a normal Restart and Test.

see > Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

If that does not fix the Text Edit issue..?

Download and run the free version of EtreCheckPro, from > https://etrecheck.com/en/index.html

Then post back here with your Report, as per > How to use the Add Text Feature When Post… - Apple Community

RAMSLOT wrote:

Thank you for the nice reply. Before seeing your post I deleted the plist in the Library, did a restart ---->. still hangs, Then I did a "safe launch" and the document window popped up. I tried a pdf and rtf and they both loaded fine, The Window selection at the top bar while running TE no longer shows recent documents. Seems I should try launching each and every TE document and perhaps that will find the offender. Why would jUst one safe launch cure this issue and also cause the new appearance of the selection window? Did the plist hold the list of windows in the TE menu? What is in the plist file?

Safe Boot does many things like clearing System Cache files and other behind the scenes things

It is used as one of the first Trouble Shooting suggestion

Now, having deleted the TextEdit .plist ?

.plist is shorten language for preferences list

In this specific case TextEdit preferences.

The restarting the computer and launching Textedit again ?

TextEdit would have created a New .plist for TextEdit

That is a rather unusual method that is not often used but available for those who to advance work.

Just for sake of interest

I am including a Screen Shot of my TextEdit .plist file running macOS 26.2 Tahoe

As you can see there is a lot of machine language which you and I would not what to monkey around with unless we were Experts in such matters

den.thed wrote:

You're welcome.

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/d7aa9715-3f8f-45a0-be15-b25bd9a24f2a

As mentioned, I would also refrain from deleting plist on a ➡️. whim ⬅️ or ➡️. on advise from AI.⬅️

So True

RAMSLOT wrote:

Then I did a "safe launch" and the document window popped up. I tried a pdf and rtf and they both loaded fine

That suggests that you have some kind of 3rd party system modification running that is interfering. A Safe Mode launch will disable most such modifications. So if the problem goes away in Safe Mode, that's what the problem is.

Sounds like you have third-party software, fonts or something else that caused the problem.

So once again:

Download and run the free version of EtreCheckPro, from > https://etrecheck.com/en/index.html

Then post back here with your Report, as per > How to use the Add Text Feature When Post… - Apple Community

RAMSLOT wrote:

But TE is launching fine and I am not in Safe Mode and not doing a Safe launch. The only thing missing is the document list under "Windows" in the top bar.

What would be the benefit of more investigation?

Where there is " Smoke there is usually Fire "

RAMSLOT wrote:

Amy comments or suggestions?

Would the OP like to retract that question? So Safe Mode did not help and Safe Mode also fixed it? OK then.

The only thing missing is the document list under "Windows" in the top bar.

What would be the benefit of more investigation?

Perhaps uncovering how you ended up here in the first place?

There is no "document list" in the Windows menu. There is a list of open window. In most cases, it only has one entry, the currently open window. Maybe some kind of TextEdit power-user might have 3 open windows. But a list?

It sounds like you were never closing any of your documents. So when you went to open up a new document in TextEdit, it first had to open up every single document that you have ever opened in TextEdit. That would explain the "hanging".

I think the answer is here:

Latest version of Sequoia

There is no "Sequoia". There is no "macOS". We're all just running "skinned" versions of the iPhone operating system. If you take your pentalobe driver out and open up the case, you'll notice that the logic board has the same components that the iPhone has. It's just an iPhone with a big freakin' screen and built-in keyboard.

If you inspect your apps on your phone, you'll notice that you're currently running every single app that you've ever run on the device. Apple's trying to make it work the same way on the Mac. When you open a document, it stays open until you close it. Quitting the app is irrelevant. The next time you launch the app, it re-opens all the documents you had open last time. That can take a while.

Your document list isn't coming back, unless you keep opening new documents and then not closing them. But if you do that, the hanging will come back too.

RAMSLOT wrote:

But TE is launching fine and I am not in Safe Mode and not doing a Safe launch. The only thing missing is the document list under "Windows" in the top bar.

What would be the benefit of more investigation?

"Windows"...? For me that list is under TextEdit > File > Open Recent.