Thumbnails sidebar gets smaller and smaller...

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Thumbnails sidebar gets smaller and smaller...

Problem: Every time I save, close, and then reopen any file, the thumbnails sidebar gets smaller.

About a half-second after opening any document with the thumbnails sidebar open, it shrinks just a little. It will keep shrinking every time I save, close and reopen unitl the thumbnails are the size of a single pixel or disappear entirely. What's weird is that the sidebar shrinks to a smaller width than is even allowed. You cannot manually make it this small.

I've deleted and reinstalled Pages and the problem persists. I asked a friend to try to replicate the issue on his computer, he could not.

I'm using Pages '09 v4.3 (1048) on Lion 10.7.5

Pages-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Aug 25, 2013 9:33 AM

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Answer 1

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fruhulda

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Aug 25, 2013 9:41 AM in response to reticentfaux

Does this happen if you use Pages in another user account on your computer? You can create a new user account in the System Preferences > Accounts

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Answer 2

reticentfaux Author

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Aug 25, 2013 9:57 AM in response to fruhulda

Yeah. Same thing happens in another user account on my computer...

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Answer 3

fruhulda

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Aug 25, 2013 10:16 AM in response to reticentfaux

When you installed Pages the very first time was it from the Mac Appstore or from an iWork disk?

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Answer 4

reticentfaux Author

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Aug 25, 2013 10:23 AM in response to fruhulda

Mac Appstore.

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Answer 5

fruhulda

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Aug 25, 2013 10:30 AM in response to reticentfaux

I think that uninstalling and reinstalling is one of the things to be done but after uninstalling you should restart the computer and also do some maintenance. You can use the free Onyx from http://www.titanium.free.fr/

Also look in the Users> your name > Library > Preferences and delete com.apple.iwork.pages.plist To find the right Library click on the Go menu in the Finder while you press the Option key.

Install Pages again. Cross you fingers it did work.

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Answer 6

reticentfaux Author

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Aug 25, 2013 11:53 AM in response to fruhulda

OK. Here goes: uninstalled Pages, ran all maintenance and cleaning in Onyx, restarted the computer a bunch of times, reinstalled Pages...problem still persists. 😟

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Answer 7

reticentfaux Author

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Aug 25, 2013 11:56 AM in response to reticentfaux

Oh and I used AppCleaner when uninstalling Pages to make sure it deleted the plist, too.

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Answer 8

reticentfaux Author

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Aug 25, 2013 6:15 PM in response to reticentfaux

Alright, so this is pretty darn remarkable. I erased my hard drive and did a clean install of OS X Lion. Downloaded and installed Pages directly from the App store and...the problem persists.

How is this even possible!? I can only conclude that there is a bug in the Pages software, but nobody else seems to have this problem...

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Answer 9

Aug 25, 2013 7:17 PM in response to reticentfaux

It is pretty weird, I've never heard of this before.

The fact that we don't have it, suggests something else installed on your system.

Do you have any suspect third party software? Or something to do with your keyboard or mouse?

How have you purchased Pages and installed it?

Peter

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Answer 10

reticentfaux Author

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Aug 25, 2013 7:31 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

Eureka!!! I figured it out. Thanks Peter for the recommendation to check 3rd party software. At first I thought, "no, the only thing I installed after the clean boot was Pages and Chrome."

But then I realized I was using a Logitech wireless mouse, so I unplugged it and voila! The problem disappeared!

So I'm stoked I figured out the cause, but I'm wondering why the heck this Logitech mouse would cause such a weird bug...

Anyway, thanks to all for the help!

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Answer 11

reticentfaux Author

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Aug 27, 2013 10:11 AM in response to reticentfaux

Sadly, this problem has returned. -_-

I plugged in an official Apple Mighty Mouse and the problem came back.

No mouse = no problem
Plug in a mouse = problem returns

I'm using a 2010 MBP. If I don't use a mouse, and just use the trackpad, everything is fine. But as soon as I plug in a mouse (Apple or otherwise) the problem comes back.

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Answer 12

reticentfaux Author

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Aug 27, 2013 10:38 AM in response to reticentfaux

Aha! A solution! (Again!)

Here's the rub: scroll bars.

OS X Lion tries to be smart about when to show scroll bars and when not to. When using a trackpad, it hides them. When using a mouse, it shows them. This causes a problem with the Pages thumbnail sidebar when opening a document with the sidebar visibile and a mouse plugged in. The app gets a signal from OS X to turn on scroll bars automatically when appropriate. When these scrollbars kick in, the scrollbar that pops up on the thumbnail sidebar shoves the thumbnails over to make room for itself, thus making them smaller.

SOLUTION:

Go to System Preferences > General
Change "Show scroll bars:" to anything EXCEPT "Automaticaly based on input device"

The "Automatic" setting causes the problem.

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