My big documents paralyze Atlantis

[Tester]

First of all a Hello to the forum,

looking for an alternative to MS Word, in the last days I made my first acquaintance with Atlantis (version 4.0.4.0). The overall impression is very good, especially I appreciate its possibility for a quick and comfortable search within a document. (A more comfortable search function is the main reason why I consider to leave MS Word.)

Nevertheless I have a fundamental problem with Atlantis: I mainly work with two quite big files (.doc) which obviously paralyze Atlantis (at least for a considerable time): The files open relatively quickly in Atlantis but then when pressing a key, trying to scroll or to search or to make any other activity Atlantis either does not react at all or only after a long delay.

I currently use Microsoft Word 2002 (yes, a quite old version ), SP 3, my OS is Windows 10 Home, 32bit, I have a Pentium Dual-Core processor 2.39 GHz, and 4,00 installed RAM.

In MS Word I do not have and I had never the slightest problem with the files concerning the speed.

The documents have a size of
a) 45,4 MB
respectively
b) 15,9 MB

With the bigger one it was not possible (or at least I did no wait long enough) to make Atlantis work normally. With the smaller one it was possible after about 10 to 15 minutes! After this time Atlantis worked/reacted in all his functions in a normal speed.

Below is the statistic for the smaller file (which I was able to create after these 10-15 minutes).

(The numbers in the statistics of MS Word are a little bit different – e.g. about 455.000 words – but I assume that's another point. Anyway, the document size is exactly the same according with the statistics of both programs.)

For the bigger file I could not create statistics because of the long delay.

But below you can see the data produced for this bigger document by MS Word. (It is in German - the order is: Words / Sentences / Characters [without/with spaces] / Paragraphs / Lines).

As you can see from the statistics, the files have no pictures (only text), and they have no indexes.

I know that it was stated already several times that the size of a document is not important for the performance and I already looked at these topics:

https://www.atlantiswordprocessor.com/e ... .php?t=231
https://www.atlantiswordprocessor.com/e ... php?t=1571
https://www.atlantiswordprocessor.com/e ... php?t=2059

As suggested in the first topic, I disabled the feature "spellcheck-as-you-type" as well as the sounds. It had no effect.

If it would be of use, please tell me if you want to test at least the smaller file by yourself. I would send you by PM a link where you could download it.

Many thanks in advance for your support.

[Tester]

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By error I posted the above message a second time. Please remove this posting if possible.

[admin]

If possible, please zip & email your document files to support@atlantiswordprocessor.com

[Tester]

Thank you. The files are on the way.

[Leister]

Split files

You could split your big documents into single files of appropriate length. To have them still connected to be able to use them as a single file as well, e.g. for printing them, MS Word uses a concept called Master Document which is kind of difficult to handle. Much more user friendly is the solution presented by Atlantis Word Processor called Document Projects:

At times, you will be working on documents that are linked to one another in some way. For example, you might be working on several documents concurrently, each representing individual chapters of a book. You will often want to open all these related documents together. This is done by including them in an "Atlantis Document Project". [From AWP Help]

It is easy to add existing or new documents to a project. Using the Find/Replace from the Control Board in a single file comprises the whole project if checked.

• > To combine the single files to one document you rightclick in the Document Bar and choose „Select All Documents“. Rightclick again and choose „Selected Documents“ – „Combine Into One Document“.
  
  > To split a document into single files mark a part of it. For example you could use „Select heading(s) and associated body text in the document window“ in the Control Boards Headings panel. Then rightclick and choose „Save Selection As…“.

In case you have implemented a Table of Contents or an Index in a file, they can be updated in the combined document.[

[Tester]

Thanks, Leister, for your suggestions.

I will take a closer look at the Document Projects feature in case I will decide to change finally to Atlantis.

But in general any type of splitting the documents into separate files will be no satisfactory solution for me: These documents are (two) dictionaries and the only efficient way to use them (= to search for a word) is to have all the words (= from A to Z) in one single document. Editing the entries of a dictionary possibly may work in a sufficient way with splitted documents too, but using a dictionary becomes too uncomfortable when you have to open separate files whenever you want to look up a word that does not begin with e.g. letter B but letter W. (The same applies to some other relatively big documents I have and whose contents should be concentrated in one file.)

I am astonished by myself that in MS Word I can use even the document with more than 45 MB without any performance problems at all - but it works. So I hope that the team of Atlantis will achieve that it works with Atlantis in the same way.

[admin]

Thanks for the document files.

Their size is irrelevant. What matters is how many objects are contained within the document: characters, paragraphs, bookmarks, fields, hyperlinks, tables, etc.

Obviously, hundreds of tables, thousands of pages, and millions of characters is far above the average. Of course, printed books never include that many pages. So I personally would change the project's structure.

Anyway, when I open your document in Atlantis under the factory settings on a system with only 2 GB of RAM, I can edit it without a problem. Yes, things are a little bit sluggish compared to much shorter documents. But when I open and edit your document with MS Word (from Word 2000 to the latest versions), there are similar delays.

So possibly the delays on your system are linked to your Atlantis configuration. I might have some suggestions if you sent me your current Atlantis configuration. Please choose the "Tools | Options..." menu command of Atlantis, click the "Save to File..." button to save the settings to an INI file, and email the INI file to support@atlantiswordprocessor.com

Please also tell me what exactly has be to be done to "paralyze Atlantis".

[admin]

By the way, with the Find/Replace panel of the Control Board, you can easily search all open documents.

[admin]

One more suggestion. If you divide your document into "chapters" by adding "Heading N" paragraphs, you could temporarily collapse the document fragments you currently do not need. This would improve the document pagination significantly.

[Tester]

Many thanks for examining my documents and for all your conclusions and suggestions. Your support is very much appreciated - even if the news are not very encouraging from my perspective.

I will try to deal with your comments step by step.

Let me start with a slightly critical remark:

Atlantis writes for example on its homepage (https://www.atlantiswordprocessor.com/en/features.htm):

Document support is comprehensive:

- Document size is literally unlimited.

The same is stated in a number of topics here in the Forum (see the URLs in my first posting) and once more in your above response:

Their size is irrelevant. What matters is how many objects are contained within the document: characters, paragraphs, bookmarks, fields, hyperlinks, tables, etc.

But all these details must be regarded as (part of the) size of a document too. For example: The more characters and paragraphs (and tables etc.) a document has, the bigger it will be. These objects are the reason why my documents have about 16 respectively 45 MB. And what else is the number of MB than the size of a file?

And you confirm this indirectly by yourself when you write:

Obviously, hundreds of tables, thousands of pages, and millions of characters is far above the average. Of course, printed books never include that many pages.

So yes, it IS a matter of size!

Therefore I think that writing on the homepage "Document size is literally unlimited." is not fair because this assertion creates hopes and expectations in potential users like me which finally cannot be fulfilled.

I admit that various other word processors which I tested during the last days had all quite similar problems with my large files (big delays either in opening them and/or freezing afterwards). But the difference is that - as far as I have seen on their homepages - no other program claims that the document size is unlimited or irrelevant.

Now concerning the configuration:

So possibly the delays on your system are linked to your Atlantis configuration. I might have some suggestions if you sent me your current Atlantis configuration. [...]

I never install and test new software on my real system but only with a sort of virtualization (using "Shadow Defender"). That means that at the moment I no longer have the software installed on my computer.

I can reinstall it but concerning the configuration I think that I did not change fundamentally the standard settings. As already mentioned in my first posting, I disabled sounds and "spellcheck-as-you-type" and I made the 8 or 9 steps which are offered as basic settings when starting Atlantis for the first time. I do not remember any other important changes of the default settings.

Please also tell me what exactly has be to be done to "paralyze Atlantis".

By the way, perhaps my expression "paralyze" was misleading. I simply meant that Atlantis is freezing or working only with big delays.

What has be to be done to cause this situation is easy to explain: It happened as soon as I opened a big .doc-file in Atlantis. The file appeared quite soon in the editor but then the delays started.

Anyway, when I open your document in Atlantis under the factory settings on a system with only 2 GB of RAM, I can edit it without a problem. Yes, things are a little bit sluggish compared to much shorter documents.

Does "without a problem" apply to the search within the documents too? I ask because searching would be even more important for me than editing (which as workaround I could continue in MS Word too).

By the way, with the Find/Replace panel of the Control Board, you can easily search all open documents.

That's good to know. I like the search function of Atlantis on the whole. For my needs and for my taste it is the best of all the 4-5 word processors I have shortly tested during the last days. - And as quick and comfortable searching within a document plays an important role for me, Atlantis would be my first choice.

One more suggestion. If you divide your document into "chapters" by adding "Heading N" paragraphs, you could temporarily collapse the document fragments you currently do not need. This would improve the document pagination significantly.

Thanks. When reinstalling Atlantis perhaps I will try to experiment with this feature.

[Tester]

PS:

[...] That means that at the moment I no longer have the software installed on my computer.

In the meantime I reinstalled Atlantis and sent you the ini-file via e-mail.

[admin]

The document size (in terms of characters) and the document file size (in terms of megabytes) are two completely different things. You can have a document with 100 pages of plain text, and another document with a single picture and no text. And both document files might have identical file size.

There is no limit regarding document file size. Atlantis can open a document file of virtually any size (assuming that you have a sufficient amount of system resources). But this does not mean that editing a 3,000-page document will be as fluent as in case with a 30-page document.

I am sorry, but searching millions of characters will definitely take time.

Thanks for the INI file. But reinstalling Atlantis means reinstating the factory settings.

[Tester]

Thanks for the INI file. But reinstalling Atlantis means reinstating the factory settings.

Just to clarify it here too (as already written per e-mail):
Of course I did not only reinstall Atlantis but then I configurated it in a few details, quite similar to the previous installation (the 10 steps, disabling of automatic spell-check and sounds). Only afterwards I saved the ini-file which I had sent you.

Sorry, obviously it was too short and misleading that I wrote "In the meantime I reinstalled Atlantis and sent you the ini-file via e-mail."

[admin]

OK, but your INI file is very close to the "factory settings".

[Tester]

OK, but your INI file is very close to the "factory settings".

Yes, it is.

But this shows that the delay has obviously no connection with my individual configuration of Atlantis.

[Tester]

I made a new attempt to find out what may be the reason for the delay on my computer.

In the meantime I am quite sure that the loading itself of a document works very quickly. Obviously the delay is caused by the next step:

After the loading (of a bigger document) the page number (caret position in the status bar) starts to tell me e.g. "Page 1/3". Then there is the first delay in scrolling down in the document. When waiting some seconds I can scroll for the next time and the page number in the status bar changes to e.g. "Page 1/17". Then there is the next delay in scrolling, finally I can continue and the number changes e.g. to "Page 1/25" and so on.

This procedure continues until the full number of pages is shown, e.g. "Page 1/100" if the document has 100 pages. From now on there are no more delays. I can use the document and Atlantis in general without any problem in speed.

So, please can you tell me: What does Atlantis do immediately after having loaded a document? I assume it starts some sort of counting concerning the number of words, characters, paragraphs etc. within the document.

And if this assumption is correct, do you have an idea what could slow down for me this procedure (in bigger documents)?

Alternatively: Is there a possibility to disable (temporarily) all counting after the loading of a document (just to check if the delay then disappears)?

Thanks for your support. Atlantis could be a fine program for me – in case that the issue with the delay on my computer can be resolved.

[admin]

What does Atlantis do immediately after having loaded a document?

It does plenty of things.

Did you try disabling the status bar before loading your document (the "View | Status Bar" menu command of Atlantis)?

[Tester]

Did you try disabling the status bar before loading your document (the "View | Status Bar" menu command of Atlantis)?

I tried it just now. Unfortunately no difference.

The delay seems to have some connection with the formatting of a document. It occurs with a document loaded as .doc, .docx and .rtf file but not when loading (the same document) as a .txt file. With a .txt file there is no delay at all.

[admin]

This behavior is not reproducible on my system.

If you believe it is linked to some formatting in your document, you can try removing certain formatting types from your document to find out where the bottleneck is. The Reveal formatting panel of the Control Board is a good tool for this task.

[Tester]

I found the reason for the described issue:

It's the 32-bit OS (Windows 10)!! Today I made (as a trial) an upgrade to 64-bit. (The hardware remained completely the same.)

And the speed for loading of a document, showing it completely on the screen and being able to work with it (srolling, start a search) is absolutely fantastic.

Only for the very big document applies what you have mentioned too:

Yes, things are a little bit sluggish compared to much shorter documents.

But obviously this is inevitable and something I would accept because the certain delay in searching/finding is outweighed by a much more comfortable search possibility compared with my (old) version of MS Word.

So there are good chances that after a change to the 64-bit version of Windows 10 I will change from MS Word to Atlantis too. (There are still a few smaller shortcomings but I think they could be resolved. - Perhaps I will report them later in other posts.)