Léonie, thanks for the feedback here are responses to your questions:
You are getting mixed results? Sometimes the crops are sticking, sometimes not?
Yes. Most of the time, the crop does not stick. Every now and then --rarely-- it works on the first pass. Usually takes about ten attempts on the same image. Sometimes it takes upwards to twenty attempts. This is not conducive to efficient editing (and I shoot a lot of photos).
The crop toll is working well for me with Aperture 3.6 on Yosemite 10.10.2. perhaps you installed some additional software that is interfering? Have you tested in a different User account, where you have not changed any settings at all?
I had installed my Pixelmatr app, but I deleted it when the problem manifested. Same problem. I've since also deleted and reinstalled Aperture. Same problem. Logged off, logged in. Same problem. Rebooted. Same problem. No other apps or plug-ins have been installed or connected to Aperture. I *just* got this MacBook Pro 13" Retina this week. It's brand-spanking-new and I haven't added anything to it. No plug-ins or anything. And yes, the version is current. I've checked software update several times. I'll try creating another user account today to see if that somehow works differently, but I can't imagine how or why it would, and if it does it's not really a solution. I really don't want to have to login to a different account to use Aperture! lol. I haven't added hardly anything that didn't already come with the system.
Do all your images have the same file format? Where is your Aperture library located? In your Pictures folder, as is the default or on an external drive?
Mostly RAW -- just like I've used for years and years (I've been using Aperture for a long, long time). Of note, the cropping problem manifested immediately before I even began to import my old libraries. With a fresh, empty library, I imported RAW from an SD card to see how Aperture worked and immediately found the problem. So, it's not something I imported from the old library. The problem continues to persist *after* importing the old libraries as well. There are some iPhone shots in the mix now, but that's been the case for years -- and I've never had this problem until I cracked open and turned on this brand new computer out of the box. As for the default library, it's the default library: "Aperture Library" under the Pictures tab. I don't work on external drives (though I do backup and eventually move projects to an external when I'm done with core processing).
One thing to note - it may look like the cropping had not been applied, if you do not close the Crop tool or the Straighten tool, after you finished. Or open the image again, with the Crop tool still selected. If "Crop" or "Straighten" is still open, when you come back to the image, it will be displayed in the original state, with the cropping rectangle overlayed. This is due to the lossless workflow in Aperture. It will always keep the unmodified original image, and if you straighten or crop, you can modify the original crop. But the crop you applied is still applied to the image version, and you just have to switch to a different tool to see this.
Thanks, and I do understand this. I've been cropping photos (and occasionally straightening them) for years. I do understand how the crop tool is supposed to work -- and how they are applied. I've tried a number of methods to see if one of them worked. For example, crop image and then click "apply." Same problem. And, crop image and then click "x" closing the crop panel. Same problem. And, crop image and then right arrow to the next one to do a series. Same problem. I haven't been able to find a consistent workaround.
I'm far from being a technophile or a coder, but I am fairly well versed in Aperture from version 1 to now. I honestly can't think of anything else to try.
A note to others: If you're having this problem, are you using a new MacBook Pro Retina? The only thing that's changed from my end is I upgraded from a 2011 MacBook Pro 17" to a 2015 MacBook Pro 13". Other than that, no new plugins, no new software, nada. Looking for a pattern here!!!