Dreamweaver CC 18.0 Unbelievably Slow

[ToloUSN]

Okay, I've been using Dreamweaver since it was Macromedia, but it's NEVER been that slow.

I am using the most up to date version (even though I did try to downgrade to 2015 because according to some topics that solved people's issues).

I've tried everything and it just makes no sense. It's a text editor, but each time I place my cursor inside Dreamweaver it takes about 2 minutes to think about it first. Then it works for 5 seconds, then it still deliberates for another minute and then it allows me to continue typing. I can keep typing just fine, but the second I switch focus to the browser and come back, it's the same thing all over again.
I've tried turning off everything I could:

1. I disabled the site caching
2. turned off linting
3. turned off w3c validator
4. turned off related files
5. deleted the cache folder
6. reinstalled and updated dreamwever

I've been trying to disable git too, but it just doesn't go away. I want to use git, but I don't plan to use git with dreamweaver, why am I being forced to see all the highlights? And if that's what slowing everything down, I sort of wanna punch the code in the face.

Anywho, if you had similar problem and solved, please, PLEASE tell me what to do. This is an editor in 2018. My notepad on Windows 3.11 never had as much lag. Could Windows version be an issue? I'm using Windows 7. I'm a paying member for multiple CC subscription (at home and at work). Both computers have the same (or similar) issues.

Please help.

Moderator: Moved to Dreamweaver forum

[ALsp]

It is slow. It can range from merely slow to agonizingly slow. It is a little faster on Windows 10 as it is on Windows 7. Don't let anyone, especially from Adobe, lead you to believe the problem is caused by your computers and not by Adobe code.

You get used to it, I guess, as evidenced from the handful of Adobe regulars around here who actually seem to use it, and I can offer testimony that it does get a little faster the more often you open and close it, and based on the number of files in your local defined site.

If you have Dreamweaver CS6 available in your Cloud configuration, my advice would be to install it and use it as Dreamweaver 18 has absolutely nothing of value as far as I'm concerned, especially when you weigh the features removed versus the ones added.

[ToloUSN]

Thanks ALsp,

This is beyond unacceptable. The least Adobe can do is offer some sort of debug utility that monitors what DW is actually doing and an ability to turn it off.

You bring up a good point. All my sites are pretty large in size. One of my sites includes a social network site built over the last 6 years, and the other is multi design web-builder framework. So yes, even the smaller one has over 130k files, and I've given up a long time on an ability to use DW search functionality, because it crashes each time, but if I open a single file with related files disabled, it shouldn't keep on crashing all the time.

As I said, I've been using DW for about 15 years now, and I'd hate to switch, but I doubt that any sane new developer would try DW and want to stick with it. If there's no fix for that, I can only see everyone leaving Adobe and no one new coming in, especially on the coding end of it.

[ALsp]

I guess what I was trying to say is this...

If you've been using Dreamweaver for 15 years, then you should have one of the Creative Suite editions (CS4-CS6). Those are fine, and if you use Windows, will likely work just fine and dandy for the next 15 years. If you use a Mac, then you could use CS6. Those versions are superior to the more recent Creative Cloud versions. So, there is no need to abandon Dreamweaver. Simply use a stable older version until Adobe gets its doodoo together.

[ToloUSN]

It's really frustrating that Adobe's not doing anything about it though. I just reupped my subscription and I'm guessing if I wanted to cancel it I have to pay the 50% cancellation fee. This thing is so irritating. How many years will it take for them to get their doodoo together. It's an editor! I'm not trying to get a meaning of life, the universe and everything.

[Preran]

Apologize for your frustration. Please DM your Adobe ID, location, and phone number along with the URL of this post. Also let me know if you would prefer call or chat. We will get in touch with you for investigation.

To send a DM, click my picture and use the Message button.

Thanks,

Preran

[ToloUSN]

Thanks for coming along, Preran.

To everyone else, I will come back and update the status if we figure anything out. There's gotta be a solution out there.

[ToloUSN · Accepted solution]

Okay, if anyone else is having issues with Dreamweaver hiccups, all you have to do is switch mode from "Developer" to "Standard".

I asked the person assisting me with this why this is the case, but I couldn't get a clear answer, in either case that had solved the issue for me, so if anyone else is dealing with it, give that a shot.

Honestly, if they're aware that "Developer" mode causes issues, I'm not sure why they even have it, haha, but oh well, if things are working much faster now, I'm quite satisfied. Sooo, even if you're a developer and you only work with code view, don't use "developer" mode. I think I only used it so I could get rid of the pesky "Code / Split / Live" menu which won't go away otherwise, but half an inch on screen is a small price to pay for properly functioning software.

And just in case others search for this answer, I'm adding some keywords below:

• Dreamweaver slow to respond
• Dreamweaver hanging up
• Dreamweaver not responding
• Dreamweaver getting stuck
• Dreamweaver very slow
• Dreamweaver crashing

[Jon Fritz]

I wonder if Developer is just a corrupt workspace.

When testing, I use a custom workspace and, while it's still too buggy for production purposes, I don't get the lag you describe in CC2018.

It might be worth testing a totally new workspace to see if that functions correctly for you as well.

To do that, you can...

1. With Standard still selected, open/close whatever panels you like from within the Windows menu
2. click and drag the named tab of each panel to where you want, when you get close to an edge of the application frame, or other panel, the edge will highlight telling you the panel will lock to that position when dropped.
3. Once everything is the way you like, go to Window > Workspace Layout > New Workspace and give your workspace a name

If it goes south again, switch back to "Standard"

[ALsp]

Is there a panel that's in one workspace and not the other that is contributing to the problem... perhaps Assets or syncing? Anything that either needs to parse an enormous number of files or that needs to go out on the Web?

[Jon Fritz]

They're pretty different, but backwards from what would be expected from the OPs issue/resolution if it were a specific panel causing the probelm...

Developer (not working for OP)
Common Toolbar
Files
Snippets
Document

Standard (works for OP)
Common Toolbar
Files

CC Libraries

Insert

CSS Designer
DOM

Assets
Snippets
Document

[ALsp]

Wow. Seems the Standard would be the problem 🙂

[ToloUSN]

Hi Jon,

Yeah, I can play around with troubleshooting a bit longer, but the only panels I ever use are Files and Snippets. That's all I had selected on the Developer mode before when it kept crashing, but I'll give it a shot.

Funny part is, my DW just crashed and I lost all of my sites definition, haha. I guess no good deed ever goes unpunished?

[Jon Fritz]

You may be better served using one of the older versions of the program while Adobe works on getting CC2018 up to snuff.

It's easy enough to have multiple versions installed on the same machines at the same time with your subscription. They won't run concurrently, but they do run better and crash less than the newest.

Personally, I use CC2015 for production work, but I leave CC2018 installed so I can test updates when they're released. I'm optimistic Adobe will take care of most of the issues they introduced over the last two versions when they added the Brackets code engine to the program, so once they do, I'll be up to speed on what's available.

To install older versions...

1. Open the CC Desktop App
2. Click the Apps tab
3. Click the small triangle next to DW's button
4. Choose Other Versions from the pop up
5. Click and install CC2015 (or earlier)

In the future, when installing new versions, make sure to click the Advanced Options link in the installer dialogue window so you can turn off the "Remove Older Versions" checkbox.

That will allow your CC2015 or earlier to continue living on your system as newer versions come out, until a point when you're comfortable the latest will do the trick.

[allisonleanne0]

I'd like to add that I never use the Developer workspace, only Standard, and on it I've had the same problems with it being slow to respond and using a ton of memory. As a designer, I'm used to having Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver open at the same time and since the last update I have had to close Dreamweaver to use the other programs successfully. Editing an HTML file (in Standard workspace) has become a pain. The Developer workspace may be adding to the problem, but it is not the only cause.

[B i r n o u]

well I posted bugs , logs files about it, and so on... since many builds... DW CC 2018 is still so sloooow... and setting it in standard doesn't help either. so cool that it works for you... but not here... I downgrade and use CS6... works like a charm and is really responsive

[carlot96977735]

Hi,

I have the similar problem.

I'm using Win10 with 16Gb of RAM, 3 Gb of Video and more...but the Dreamweaver CC2019 is everyday more slow, and sometime also crash.

U may teach me how to fix it pls?

Tnx

Carlo

[awn2be]

I found that I was able to improve FTP performance by NOT maintaining synchronization information with the remote server.  This setting is found in "Site Setup/Servers/Advanced".  I do not suggest you change this setting without fully understanding all ramifications... I'm just saying that it worked for me.

[robertp90358595]

Hello, I am a long time Adobe user and have periodically had to solve similar issues with their software, so I am fairly competent with troubleshooting these types of issues. However, with Dreamweaver 2018 I am unable to get it to run properly. I have gone through every fix that I can find, but none of them seem to make any improvement at all. I am having this problem on my work PC, my  home PC and also my colleagues PC. On all of these computers the performance is unacceptable and thus they are all also using DW2015 as that is the last version that appears to run smoothly. With DW2018 the lag is constant, everywhere, when typing, selecting, scrolling, whatever.

Here are the specs for this particular PC

- Model: Asus Q504UAK
- Windows 10 Home 64bit (latest updates installed)

- 16gb ram

- Intel Core I7 @ 2.7GHz

- on board graphics

I have periodically tried coming back to DW2018 over the past year, each time checking on any new/updates about these issues. After all this time there is still no solution, and it seems that there are many others in the same situation as myself. I find it hard to believe that it's a problem with my computer when all three of the PC's I have tested it on all have the same problem, along with so many others.

[Nancy OShea]

The current version is 2019.   Have you tried it?  I ask because I did not like 2018 for other reasons but slowness wasn't a particular problem for me on Win10. 

There are a number of things that can cause slowness but we would need to know more about your workflow.

• Are you working in a defined local site folder on your primary hard drive? 
• Do you use externally hosted assets on CDNs?
• Do you mainly work in Live, Design or Code view?
• How  many site files?

[robertp90358595]

Hi Nancy,

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I was not aware a new 2019 version was released, I just updated to it and tried it out but unfortunately it is still very slow. It seems like it may be a tad faster, but overall the performance is still unacceptable. With that said, I didn't go through the trouble of trying the various fixes with the 2019 install, so it's possible it could be resolved with some additional tweaking... So, maybe I'll take some time and try to do that at some point.

To answer your questions:

• My local site is normally on a network drive, however for testing I switched to a local drive and that did not seem to make any noticeable improvment.
• Yes, some of them, though the lag exists on all files that do not have any.
• Code view 99.99% of the time.
• Depending on the site, it could be a couple dozen to a couple thousand, just depends.

For testing I made a new site on my local drive with just a single file a couple hundred lines long, no remote connection, no testing server and no fancy stuff. Just using it as a plain old text editor... Yet I Still getting terrible lag!

[robertp90358595]

Despite everything posted on this thread  I am still experiencing unacceptable lag with DW2019. To make matters even worse, for whatever reason, Adobe has stopped allowing the download of DW2015 (the last version which didn't lag). This infuriates me to no end, not only have I wasted so many countless hours upon countless hours trying to fix this broken software, but now my backup of using DW2015 has been taken from me. Is there really no solution? Nothing that can be done? I am honestly upset over this.

[Jon Fritz]

I'm pretty sure the CC2015 downloads still work over at ProDesignTools.com

Make sure to follow the instructions exactly, specifically the need to go to Adobe's site first...

https://prodesigntools.com/adobe-cc-2015-direct-download-links.html

[robertp90358595]

Thanks Jon, I have saved a copy of it for later use.

FYI, I may have found a clue. It appears that the CPU is getting bottlenecked by the Adobe Dreamweaver 2019 Helper process (C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Dreamweaver CC 2019\DreamweaverHelper.exe). Whenever I start typing, scrolling or selecting text the CPU on this process jumps up to aboue 30 to 40%. Unfortunately I don't seem to be able to disable this process without crashing the document. There is no reason it should be consuming this much processing power. There is a single unresolved thread about this plugin on uservoice, so not sure how to fix this.

Thanks

[rokb55178802]

I had the very same problem and found out that somehow I had Git activated for particular site. But not in actual Site preferences, but just had a git folder. And I wasn't actually using it. Maybe it even had false connections to git.

I think all may files have been monitored by git service (nothing in gitignore actually) and that slowed everything dramatically.

Anyway, I wasn't checking in detail.

I went to Site files (show hidden files) and just deleted the git folder (I had git folder).

Of course If you don't need git.

That worked for me.