All the fixes you list are work-arounds

[Mei111111]

Mod Notes: Branched. Re: the Unofficial Troubleshooting Guide

Thanks for writing this Jim, it's very thorough and useful.

What I'm about to say isn't aimed at you, but at Adobe.

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I think it's a massive shame that this guide needs to be written. All the fixes you list are work-arounds to faults in Adobe's software. The problems aren't aren't caused by users making mistakes or not understanding things, they're down to bugs in the (expensive) Adobe product.

Adobe themselves could never write this guide, because it would have to start with, "We know our software is very buggy and often crashes. We're not going to fix it, but here are some ways to minimise the pain we're causing you..."

[PhotogCda]

There's a difference between knowing how a computer needs to be spec'd and knowing how to build one.

Yes, understanding the hardware requirements of the software is important.  That is different from knowing how to put those parts together.  That is different from knowing how information is routed through the system, how RAM works, or how the CPU uses its various cores to process instructions; which is what the author of the drivel is indicating.  You can get a properly spec'd computer built for you.  It is not, as the author states, mandatory to do it yourself.

Yes it is important to know what a particular menu command, or keyboard shortcut does.  Or what a control in the Lumetri panel does.  Reading through reams of detritus, which is what Adobe manuls mostly are, to find those few little nuggets is inefficient.  The links you refer to only work if you read the manual on a computer.  Not everyone does. 

[Duncan McEwan]

Having built many computers over the years, including back in the days when you actually *did* build them, (Anyone remember the old IMSAI 8080? You had to use a soldering iron!) Today's PCs are simply assembled. The most difficult part of assembling a PC from scratch these days is specking it out. The actual assembly is far easier. Then, then next most difficult part is installing the OS. Then check and setting the necessary settings. Specking out the computer in the first place, while not all that difficult, is a lot harder than building it. That's because it's so easy to build them these days.

The thing to know about your computer with Premiere is your operating system. Whether Windows or OS X, you should take the time to learn what goes on under the hood. There's some cool stuff to be found there.

[Abambo]

It’s free speech! I do not agree with all of what is written here (building own system, use of mobiles, ...) but it has it’s merits. And it says clearly that it is the personal opinion of the OP. So yes, let it be here. If you do not agree, do us a favour and post your own guide.

[Mei111111]

"Actually, I do believe most troubleshooting issues are related to making errors, not understanding things, in addition to issues with the software. It's OK, because it can be a confusing combination of these things and it's a lot to know and process. Sorry about that."

That's a politician's answer. I don't know if you're deliberately conflating user mistakes / lack of knowledge with actual bugs, or if you're simply not aware of the difference, or of exactly what it is we're talking about.

For someone in user support, I'm sure it's true that most troubleshooting issues are related to users making errors, not understand things etc. but those problems are not what we're talking about. We're talking about the subset of the problems users have which are specifically down to program faults - and 100% of those are Adobe's fault because it is Adobe that makes the software.

1) An example of a user error:

I can't rename a video track in the timeline. I can't find the option and when I do find it it is grayed out and can't be used and I get frustrated.

That is my error /lack of knowledge, I now know if I enlarge the track vertically so the name shows, the 'rename' option will no longer be grayed out and  I will be allowed to rename the track.

2) An example of a program/Adobe error

I open a project that was a working fine yesterday but today my main timeline won't play. After a couple of minutes premiere's memory use heads up towards using the entire memory of my machine (I have 32GB ram and the timeline is only 5 minutes long with only two tracks and 1 (built in) effect on a few of the clips). Premiere crashes. It happens again. It happens again but this time brings the whole machine down.

There are many errors like number (2). A similar problem with rendering was what made me post to this tread in the first place. Many other people have posted similar problems. I've already wasted another hour today dealing with premiere crashes (NOT user errors).

Adobe does not offer fixes, does not acknowledge that such problems are an issue, does not offer an official guide to getting such problems fixed and, as you are doing on this thread, attempts to blame users for its own programming faults.

[Rob Ainscough]

We're evaluating Lightworks Pro and Sony Vega Pro suite right now, both are proving to be a very stable and powerful products with 4K support, direct to YouTube support (our primary delivery of content), and a very responsive support group that actually response to submitted tickets and a very helpful forum/community.

I can understand that software has bugs, heck I've created many in my 30+ years of creating software for our clients/users.  But Adobe doesn't/hasn't even acknowledge any bugs I've reported ... not even a "we'll look into it", just nothing at all (and I've reported many over the years).  So as far as I can tell the "Feedback/Bug" report process is simply lip service.

Oddly, I keep getting "surveys" from Adobe that I've completed (usually with very low scores and detail explanations) and still not a single word back from Adobe, not even a "Thank you" for taking my time. 

We don't want to pay $50/mo (each) to be left isolate from any contact with Adobe.  I moved from Apple's Final Cut Pro 7 and FCPX to Adobe suite primarily because the Windows platforms offers more hardware options than Apple who take many years to update their Mac Pro line to more recent hardware ... time is money.  Now I'm left with a horribly unstable PP, no response at all from Adobe support, and I've got work stacking up that needs to be done ... I really have no option but to look into purchasing competitor video editing tools.

BTW, this guide isn't bad, it's got some useful information in it for beginners and/or users that aren't that involved with their hardware and OS.  The only aspect of this guide that I didn't like was the immediate implication of assuming every problem is an end user created issue, which is simply not the case.  There should always be some avenue of available contact between a "customer" (provider of funds) and "creator" (receiver of funds).

Cheers, Rob.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Rob,

There should always be some avenue of available contact between a "customer" (provider of funds) and "creator" (receiver of funds).

I apologize for the frustration. As a Creative Cloud member, you do have access to chat and phone support. Always be sure to ask for the Video Queue. If your support needs are not being met by our video queue, please send me a PM and I will try and remedy the situation.

As far as acknowledging bugs and feature requests, that is a problem. Our engineers are so busy, and the volume is high enough, that it is difficult to respond to each one. I will do my best to foster change in this regard.

Other products at Adobe, like XD, Dimensions, Character Animator and now Illustrator, have been experimenting with better customer feedback tools with great success in providing commentary and acknowledgement to our customers filing issues. Great news. The result has been higher customer satisfaction. I expect to see these new tools in action in the short term in digital video and audio products and I am pushing for them as a public facing customer advocate.

Stay tuned for more info on this.

Thanks,
Kevin

[R Neil Haugen]

Other products at Adobe, like XD, Dimensions, Character Animator and now Illustrator, have been experimenting with better customer feedback tools with great success in providing commentary and acknowledgement to our customers filing issues. Great news. The result has been higher customer satisfaction. I expect to see these new tools in action in the short term in digital video and audio products and I am pushing for them as a public facing customer advocate.

That's good to hear, Kevin. Would sure be nice 'here' ... !

Neil

[Rob Ainscough]

Kevin-Monahan  wrote

As far as acknowledging bugs and feature requests, that is a problem. Our engineers are so busy, and the volume is high enough, that it is difficult to respond to each one. I will do my best to foster change in this regard.

Hi Kevin,

A response!!

I fully understand that your engineers are busy, I insulate my engineers also.  However, we have a support tiered system with guaranteed response times (this is fairly common for software companies to implement) ... tiered system means we have first contact support crew, then and escalated support contact crew (they will be in charge of attempts to replicate the issue and acquire any related content/information needed to replicate), once verified via support crew as an issue, OR if the issue needs some code tracing it'll be given to an first tier software engineer (usually a junior level software engineer) for validation/identification.  Once that happens, the issue is place into a bug queue and prioritized and/or assigned to an appropriate engineer.

During this tiered process the customer is informed and/or requested to provide additional information.  It's also possible we're unable to replicate the issue (very common) and as such the customer is informed.  For valid bugs, if a work around can be established that will be provided to the customer until we (software development) gets around to fixing the issue (obviously issues with no work-around usually end up as a higher priority unless it's a very obscure low usage feature impacting very few customers).

But no matter what tier of support, we ALWAYS guarantee any paying customer 48hr response time.  Frankly, that's all I was asking for, some sorta of validation/communication on my reported bug.

Cheers, Rob.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Rob,

We have a similar process for escalating issues and reporting back to customers that have important bugs. We do not yet respond to every bug report or feature request, but I hope we will have better processes in place to communicate better with customers.

If you ever have an issue that cannot be solved in 48 hours by our video queue, be sure to PM me. Thank you for bringing the topic to my attention.

Thanks,
Kevin

[RjL190365]

Actually, Rob, Sony no longer owns the Vegas line. You see, Sony sold most of its Creative Software business, including the Vegas line, to German-based MAGIX back in May of last year. So, the product shall now be referred to as MAGIX Vegas, not Sony Vegas.