Dreamweaver 21.5 unstable & crashing [MERGED by moderator]

[detor]

On my PC and work laptop Dreamweaver is freezing and crashing everyday since this last update, it is very annoying. Please fix this bug.

[Nancy OShea]

@Dwight241548106hfp 

How many files/assets does your local site contain?

Site ⇒ Advanced ⇒ Re-Create Site Cache (take a coffee break...)

[Dwight241548106hfp]

2260 webpages, ca. 60,000 jpgs. It's been accumulating over 25 years or so. I'm afraid that I still don't really know what Assets are. Certainly all of my website files show up in the Files window. I've just thrown out the site and reimported it, and it was reindexing the cache, but is 'Not Responding' again.

[glenn-p]

You mentioned going back to 21.3. Most of us had trouble when going from 21.4 to 21.5 (the useless version). I had success going back to 21.4. Perhaps try installing 21.4.

[Dwight241548106hfp]

Yes, thank you. I've tried all of the available earlier versions. They all behaved in the same way, trouble with  Access and then an immediate crash. Some of the crashes, when I let them gestate for some while, came back to life but then crashed again. I recently removed my site from DM and then reimported it, but still the same. It's quite a mystery, I guess.

[glenn-p]

I go back to Macromedia days, too. Here's a little info from ChatGPT. I hope it helps.

If you're still seeing crashes or blank panels like the Assets panel, try this cleanup process. It resets Dreamweaver’s settings but won’t touch your actual site files. Just be sure to back up your site definitions first, especially if you're not using Creative Cloud sync.

Step 1: Back up your site definitions

On Windows:

• Copy these folders to a safe location:
  Users > [your Windows username] > AppData > Roaming > Adobe > Dreamweaver 2021
  Users > [your Windows username] > AppData > Roaming > Adobe > Common > Sites

On macOS:

• Copy these folders:
  Library > Application Support > Adobe > Dreamweaver 2021
  Library > Application Support > Adobe > Common > Sites

Or, from inside Dreamweaver, go to "Site" > "Manage Sites" > "Export" to save each site as a .ste file.

Step 2: Delete Dreamweaver’s settings folders

On Windows:

• Delete these folders:
  Users > [your username] > AppData > Roaming > Adobe > Dreamweaver 2021
  Users > [your username] > AppData > Local > Adobe > Dreamweaver 2021

On macOS:

• Delete these folders:
  Library > Application Support > Adobe > Dreamweaver 2021
  Library > Caches > Adobe > Dreamweaver 2021

Then restart Dreamweaver. It will recreate clean settings. You can import your backed-up site definitions if needed.

[whcressall]

Same. Dreamweaver crashes once per session. I can recover the file no problem (thus far) but any kind of shenanigans (rapid text edits, cuting and pasting repeatedly, spellcheck) results in a terminal hang.

[Nancy OShea]

@whcressall,

Are you editing in Live or Design?  Try toggling to Design with Ctrl + Shift + F11.

• Live view requires more resources to refresh the screen. 
• Design is more efficient for routine coding & editing.
• Use Ctrl + S often to save work to disk & free up RAM.
• Run validation checks to ensure you're working with error-free code.
  Window ⇒ Results ⇒ Validation... check document.

[ninalove1]

This answer can not be  applied because DW 21.5 won't stay open for more than 30 seconds before hanging up. There's not even time to toggle the view (and I was already using Design anyway). Thanks for the attempt to help, but this version is badly broken and Adobe needs to withdraw it until it is fixed. What a waste of time they have caused with it!

[Nancy OShea]

1. Close DW. 

2. Restore Preferences.

https://helpx.adobe.com/dreamweaver/kb/restore-preferences-dreamweaver.html

3. Restart computer.

4. Right-click on DW icon, select Run as Administrator.

[Dwight241548106hfp]

Well said.

[Maxim28110272ol9l]

I'm experiencing the same issue since approximatly the same period.

[Ben M]

I'm experiencing the same issue since approximatly the same period.

By @Maxim28110272ol9l

Can you share anymore details from your instance? OS/version? Did you try any of the steps already mentioned in the thread and where they unsuccessful?

[Nayan_Kankariya]

Hi @detor,

Thanks for writing to us. Can you please share the workflow where you are observing the crash on your Windows machine. We can accordingly troubleshoot and investigate the issue further.

Have a pleasant day!

Regards,

Nayan

Dreamweaver Team 

[SendraDS]

Same issue here. Fresh install on new PC, only imported Site Definitions. Second time use and starts crashing again (same behaviour as last month still on older PC). Please fix this ASAP. Thanks!

Working in Code mode.

[Steve-Meza]

Has anyone established if the problem is worse in Live or Design View? I remember years ago, DW hanging because it couldn't process some Javascript. My website is HTML/CSS with Javascript for Google Analytics. And it regularly hangs. Running as Admin doesn't help. I will try to do some more tests on my computer. Actually, I really like DW - I've been using it for years. All the modern web-building apps are too flashy for me and HTML editors are too basic. It fills the space! 

[Skorpjun]

I too have constant freezes after a while (some seconds) when I use Dreamweaver. After terminating Dreamweaver through Task Manager and then running it again will make the app stable. Weird. Switching to 21.4 solves the issue.

[Steve-Meza]

I experience the same problem. I have Windows 11 Pro 24H2. DW version 21.5. Frequently, DW crashes and I have to re-start the app. It happens most days. Very annoying. I don't remember having problems before I updated to Win 11 from Win 10.

[Stef-Cairns]

I'm experiencing the same issues as everyone else, reverted back to 21.4 and it seems to have stabilised for now.

[Kajrov]

I have the same problem after the lates update, and I have a lot of resurces 8 GB GPU + 48GB RAM 2.24TB progam disc free space. all drivers up to date. OP Miscrosoft 11 pro version 24H2 build 26110.4652 intel I7-9700KF 3,60 GHz

[bronwyn_1292]

I'm finding DW is going non-responsive and I have to kill the task in Task Manager pretty much daily. This is an enterprise wide installation so reverting to 21.4 is not a trivial exercise. It'd be good to know someone is looking at fixing this.

[glenn-p]

There's no sign anyone from Adobe monitors this so I suggest reaching out to their support. You'll see Nancy's replies but she's just a nice person trying to help. She doesn't work for Adobe support.

Adobe is done with Dreamweaver so, as painful as it might be, going to back to 21.4 for your users might be the only viable option. I'm building all of my new projects using VS Code now. If you work in code view, it has been a breath of fresh air.

[BenPleysier]

There's no sign anyone from Adobe monitors this so I suggest reaching out to their support. You'll see Nancy's replies but she's just a nice person trying to help. She doesn't work for Adobe support.

Adobe is done with Dreamweaver so, as painful as it might be, going to back to 21.4 for your users might be the only viable option. I'm building all of my new projects using VS Code now. If you work in code view, it has been a breath of fresh air.

By @glenn-p

A very wise decision, one that I have been advocating for the last 10 years. Dreameweaver is dead were it not for the life support machine called Adobe. I do not understand why any serious 'enterprise' would still be using it.

[bronwyn_1292]

Thanks for taking the time to respond, glenn-p, and thanks for the heads up re DW having no future. 

[bronwyn_1292]

Sorry - I got those posts mixed up. Thanks BenPleysier and glenn-p.

We have a CC licence. I don't get to choose what software I use, unfortunately. It's not impossible I'm the only one using this - I think others use a CMS for websites. I just use DW for editing HTML for insertion in our LMSs.

I'll see if I can get IT to revert this. 

[glenn-p]

Welcome! I'm still using Dreamweaver for older stuff that uses their templates. It works fine. Just go back to 21.4 and never touch it again. If you're only using the code view, see if IT will install VS Code - it's free :-). the Live Server extension is wonderful.