Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Constant autosave error in new keynote (6.0)

I just started using 6.0 after upgrading to Mavericks, with a new presentation.


Every few minutes, an alert pops up to say that the document "...could not be autosaved. The file has been changed by another application. Click Save Anyway to keep your changes and save the changes made by the other application as a version, or click Revert to keep the changes from the other application and save your changes as a version."


I haven't opened Keynote on any other machines or devices, or made any changes elsewhere. I did originally check the 'documents' box on iCloud's setup preferences, so it could sync across devices. Thinking this might be the culprit, I have unchecked it - but the error keeps coming.


This must be an embarassingly obvious cloud/keynote newbie error. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Posted on Oct 28, 2013 12:29 PM

Reply
33 replies

Jan 27, 2017 8:04 PM in response to JamesMac

I have the same problem on Pages, after writing a dissertation of more than 100 pages, I can say that I was wrong when I considered moving to Pages from MS-Word. However, I am now considering moving to LaTex more advance more control. I know I will waste about a week for just moving my stuff to LaTex but it worth! And for anyone who use MS-Word or Pages for academic purposes or any advanced writing style, don't waste your time and consider moving to LaTex, LyX or any advanced software which is specialised in long and complex writing styles.


-- Naithan

Oct 28, 2013 11:20 PM in response to JamesMac

I'm having the same thing with the new version of Numbers, which I also just started using after upgrading to Mavericks. After a bit of Googling I can see that we're not the first—it's been affecting users since Lion it seems—but so far I haven't stumbled onto the solution, or found out what is causing it. But if I do, I'll let you know! It's pretty annoying.

Oct 29, 2013 9:57 AM in response to Kalsta

I found a solution that seems to have worked for me, from another post in the community:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5231084


Basically, the culprit was in Fontbook: a bunch of duplicate and/or corrupted fonts. The fix involved opening fontbook, selecting all, validating and deleting miscreants - and then emptying the trash and rebooting for good luck.


I don't understand why the problem would be described as another app making changes (unless it was fontbook working in the background). But I haven't had another alert (yet) in Keynote. I have no idea whether the same issue would apply to other iWork apps, but it might be worth a try. So might shaking some chicken bones and chanting.

Oct 29, 2013 7:29 PM in response to JamesMac

That's awesome to hear this worked for you! After my last comment, I too found that thread. Normally I don't even use Fontbook—I use FontExplorer X Pro to organise all my fonts. That warns me if I try to turn on a duplicate font. But hearing that this has worked for you has given me some extra incentive to look for font problems. Thanks for taking the time to come back and post.


Yeah, it seems like a crazy kind of alert if it's related to font issues. Looks like something Apple needs to fix. I often submit feedback via this page when I come across things like this: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Oct 31, 2013 5:32 PM in response to Kalsta

Just started experiencing this problem, too, but only on a newly-configured Retina Macbook Pro. I was not experiencing this problem on my previous Macbook Pro for the 5 to 7 days I had been using Keynote 6 (build 1473) on Mavericks.


One thing I tried was to "pause Dropbox syncing", and the hour or so that I had it paused, this dialog no longer seemed to appear. When I turned on Dropbox syncing again, the dialog returned.


Are any of you using Dropbox with the affected files?


-- David

Nov 1, 2013 8:38 PM in response to davidepope

Yeah, I'm not using Dropbox syncing either.


Last night I finally got around to cleaning up my fonts a bit. FontExplorer X doesn't let you activate duplicate fonts anyway, but to be on the safe side I've removed all the duplicate fonts Microsoft and Adobe stuff into the /Library/Fonts folder. I'm busy with other stuff today, but I'll see how I go and let you guys know if it fixes the problem for me.

Nov 4, 2013 10:57 PM in response to davidepope

It's now a few days later and I am working with a copy of my original Keynote file plus my Mac has been restarted a couple of times for other reasons, and I am no longer seeing this auto-save error. Not sure what caused the error to stop occurring...


(I suppose it's possible that removing duplicate Fonts solved the problem, but a reboot was required in order for it to take effect?)


-- David

Nov 10, 2013 4:51 PM in response to davidepope

I have been searching futilely for other people having this problem, to no avail.


Today I noticed that Jean-Louis Gassee (former Apple CEO) mentioned this problem happening with Pages in his latest blog: http://www.mondaynote.com/2013/11/10/new-iwork-another-missed-opportunity-to-set -expectations/


I have also filed this issue at apple.com/feedback


Is there anything else that can be done to get Apple support to acknowledge this issue? Or do we just wait for someone to wander into this thread by chance?


-- David

Nov 10, 2013 6:53 PM in response to davidepope

I suppose you could always take your Mac down to an Apple Store, but that takes a fair investment of time. Leaving feedback at apple.com/feedback/macosx.html is probably the best way to go. I use that page a lot!


It's still happening to me, but only sometimes. I had a Numbers document open for ages, and a couple of times early on it gave me the autosave error, but at other times it just sat there happily in the background. So I'm still clueless I'm afraid.

Constant autosave error in new keynote (6.0)

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.