File > New is BROKEN

First off, I've been an Animate user since Flash 3 1999. I've been on the prerelease and the product has shipped with many of my own personal example files (start screen). 
Over a year ago I had to switch to non-Adobe animation software because Animate was simply not supporting the workflow I needed to continue my career.
That said, this week I launched Animate to help me with a client project. V24 has a crippling but that caused crashes when picking colors. That bug has existed for years. so I read a post here in this community to down-grade to V23. So I did. And now, File > New doesn't work. Create New doesn't work either. I have restarted the entire M1 MBP and still, File > New simply won't work. 
I'll add that Animate feels incredibly sluggish compared to what I've grown accustomed to this past year and I honestly can't believe how unstable and unusable Animate is. I simply didn't realize it until after spending a year with a non-Adobe product. Sorry but how on Earth does File > New not work?