P: Character Panel causes instant crashes

I just had another crash. I mentioned you in the crash report. Here is what i wrote in the report in case you don't see it for some reason...

"This occurred when I used the magic mouse, not the Wacom stylus. It was also when clicking on the character panel element, not on the options bar.

Right before it crashed, I had just printed and saved my work. I checked the status bar on the bottom left, and it didn’t show any sign that the saving hadn’t completed yet (I had the idea that perhaps it crashes when I click on it while it is still saving).

I have yet to clear my font Cache at the time of this crash."

I followed the steps in this guide... https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/troubleshoot-fonts-photoshop.html ...all the way until step 8 (I don't know what font might be causing the issue). I deleted the CT Font Cache folder, then ran the command in the console. I will try it again and see if anything changes.

I'll try out using a mouse as well to try and localize the issue.

While I do use third party fonts, none of them had any issues when running the font-test script (I have the log file for that test as well). Anything I'm working on is pretty basic stuff. Mostly just normal characters, an em or en dash is the most extreme character I'll use consistently. As far as the content of the text layer when a crash occurs, it varies. Sometimes it is Lorem Ipsum, other times it is already type out content. It can be a brand new text layer, or one that I've been using for days.

While I rarely, if ever, use the elements in the Options bar, it has never caused an issue. I'll incorporate it into my workflow a bit to see if anything happens.

The hardest part about this is the lack of repeatability. I haven't noticed any common situation between the 10-20 crashes I've had, nor can I trigger it on demand. At times I will go for a few days and not have an issue, then the other day it happened to me 3 times in an afternoon. As you said, very weird.

Thanks for your help on this! I'll be sure to comment your name next time it happens.

Howdy Joe,

Okay, here's the strange part.  Reading what you wrote, I would say "ah, corrupt font cache on Win10" but you're a on Mac and you said you ran the font utility.  Did you also clear the system font cache?  If not, it will just re-corrupt ours.  Are you getting a clean bill of health from the font-test script?

To rule out the Wacom, I would suggest just disconnecting and disabling it, using a regular mouse instead.  Assuming that the problem goes away, then we know that the stylus is a contributing influence.  Or if it still crashes, then we know it's gotta be a font or setting file.

Have you checked for third party fonts?  The free ones you get over the web can be rather buggy, particularly those which map across langauges, particularly Arabic, Persian, Devanagari, and other Indic ones.  I've also encountered issues with Klingon, Elvish, and Dwarvish rune fonts.

What is the text you have?  Just the default Lorem Ipsum?  Or do you have characters in your text that might not exist in the font due to language?  Under Edit > Preferences > Type, is the second checkbox on the left checked, for Enable Missing Glyph Protection?

What happens when you click these same UI elements in the Options Bar?  Does it crash there too?

In the crash report, feel free to put in something like "David Mohr asked me to send this -- can you forward to him?" and it'll get to me.  8-)  We really do check those, so as much detail as you can provide is always helpful when we're trying to slueth out the cause.

This is weird, but let's see what we can figure out...

Thanks,
David

2017 iMac 5k
macOS High Sierra v10.13.6
3.4 GHz Intel Core i5
8 GB 2400 MHz DDR4
Radeon Pro 570 4096 MB

I am using a Wacom Intuos Pro Medium (not the screen version) with a standard stylus.
(I am not sure anything I could do to the pen as you mentioned, aside from updating wacom drivers)

Font Preview is turned off.

If I click either of the areas shown below, it will cause the crash. I always report the crash when it happens with the built in report function. I have not had it happen when using the properties panel font dropdown.

Let me know if any other info would be helpful. Also, if there is a way that I could send a crash report to you directly, maybe that would help? (I would need a file path for where the report files are saved)

Thanks for your help!

Hey Joe,

Not what you probably want to hear, but I monitor the forums daily, particularly for font/text related issues.  I've never heard of this and don't recall any other reports since we put in the feature.

Would you mind sharing your System Info?  That might shed some light.  And, well, have you tried working with the stylus.  I've heard MANY issues involving styluses like that.

Thanks,
David