My big documents paralyze Atlantis

[admin]

I am not sure that switching to the 64-bit Windows on its own could change anything since Atlantis Word Processor is a 32-bit application. As I understand, you have reinstalled Atlantis. Maybe those performance-related issues were linked to your previous Atlantis settings.

[Tester]

As I understand, you have reinstalled Atlantis.

Correct.

Maybe those performance-related issues were linked to your previous Atlantis settings.

No, the Atlantis settings were the same: more or less just the default ones. (Just like you have seen it by the ini-file I had sent you).

So many failed attempts to solve the problems on 32bits and an immediate and so clear success on 64-bit. That means that at least on my machine it must have to do with this switch.

But anway, I am very happy that now I know how I can make all run fine.

[Tester]

I am not sure that switching to the 64-bit Windows on its own could change anything since Atlantis Word Processor is a 32-bit application.

It seems that you are right. I think I found out now the real reason for the delay. The disappearance of the delay was only triggered by my switch to 64-bit Windows but has not to do with using 64-bit Windows itself.

1.
In Windows 10 both my "Windows display language"* and the first language in the list of my "Preferred languages"* are (and were always) "German (Austria)" (my second preferred language is Greek).

*) Can be found under Settings --> Time & Language --> Language

2.
a)
My "Current language for non-Unicode programs"** was "Greek (Greece)" (so chosen by myself).

**) Can be found via Control Panel --> (View by: Category) --> Clock and Region --> Region --> Click on Tab "Administrative" (in the opening window "Region")
Can be changed by clicking the button "Change system locale..." - see the attachment

---> With this setting in Windows for non-Unicode programs occurs in Atlantis the enormous delay after opening a (bigger) document.

b)
When switching from Windows 32-bit two Windows 64-bit the silly (Windows) system changed this setting (without my knowledge) to "German" (obviously because this is my "Windows display language" and my first "Preferred language" as described above).

And this change of the "Current language for non-Unicode programs" made disappear the delay in Atlantis!

I tested it: When changing back the "System locale" / "Language for non-Unicode programs" to "Greek" the delay in Atlantis is here again!

_________

I am aware that Atlantis is compatible with Unicode (the less I understand why these settings obviously influence the behaviour of Atlantis). But I would prefer Greek as language for non-Unicode programs (because this is useful for using various other software).

So please could you try to reproduce the above behaviour?
It is important that for testing you choose a "System locale" = "Language for non-Unicode programs" that differs from the "Windows display language" and/or the first "Preferred language" on your system.

And in case that you can reproduce it: Please could you try to fix the issue? It would be so important for any further work with Atlantis.

Thank you.

[Robert]

Have a look at this related thread: Funny characters when installing xplorer2
The only solution is to switch that Windows beta option off.

[Tester]

Thanks for this advice. But I always had (and have) unchecked this box concerning Beta. The issue exists independent of it.

[Tester]

Just a small but perhaps essential correction to my statement from above:

I am aware that Atlantis is compatible with Unicode (the less I understand why these settings obviously influence the behaviour of Atlantis).

As I see now, Atlantis itself is obviously a non-Unicode program! (Fortunately not concerning its editor or the search within a document etc. but in its user interface.) See the two pictures in the attachment which show a window of Atlantis when I have chosen Greek - instead of German - in my setting (in Windows) regarding the "Language for non-Unicode programs".

To avoid misunderstandings: This is no problem at all for me. The wrong characters are normal in the user interface of non-Unicode programs with my setting. - The problem is "only" the mysterious effect on speed/performance when opening a document.

So perhaps all could be resolved by making Atlantis a program (fully) based on Unicode?

[admin]

The Atlantis GUI is not fully UNICODE.

[Tester]

Yes, that's what I described in my last posting.

But do you have plans to try to reproduce the situation I reported yesterday (= delay/freezing as consequence of language settings for non-Unicode-programs in Windows) and to find a solution for this issue?

[Robert]

As I understand things, you have:
– A German Windows OS
– German as both your "Windows display language" and your first "Preferred language"
– Greek as the Windows “Language for non-Unicode programs”
– Atlantis Word Processor whose "Preferred language" is English.
I can perfectly imagine Windows and Atlantis being confused about all these conflicting claims.
Have you tried running your OS more simply with German as your "Windows display language", your first "Preferred language", and your “Language for non-Unicode programs”?
How is Atlantis behaving then?
What problems do you encounter with other applications? Can’t they run properly with German as your “Language for non-Unicode programs”?

[Tester]

As I understand things, you have:
– A German Windows OS
– German as both your "Windows display language" and your first "Preferred language"
– Greek as the Windows “Language for non-Unicode programs”

All correct.

[...] you have:
– Atlantis Word Processor whose "Preferred language" is English.

Correct - if you mean that I use (= test) Atlantis with its standard English user interface (there is no other I think). (No connection with the "Preferred language" as determined in Windows.)

I can perfectly imagine Windows and Atlantis being confused about all these conflicting claims.

There should be no confusion (apart from displaying some "wrong" letters as shown by the images in my posting above). To use another language for non-Unicode programs (than your "standard" language) is an option explicitly offered in Windows. And that a software has an English user interface is also nothing unusual.

Have you tried running your OS more simply with German as your "Windows display language", your first "Preferred language", and your “Language for non-Unicode programs”?
How is Atlantis behaving then?

Yes, I found out the difference by chance and it is as described above:
a) With the combination "German - German - German" Atlantis works perfectly.
b) With the combination "German - German - Greek" Atlantis freezes when opening an (even slightly) bigger document.

What problems do you encounter with other applications? Can’t they run properly with German as your “Language for non-Unicode programs”?

If I choose German as “Language for non-Unicode programs” I cannot type Greek letters at all in such applications (or better: I can type them but they are not displayed at all - only weird signs instead).
So I prefer Greek (as “Language for non-Unicode programs”) because then there is only a minor problem with German letters (missing "Umlaute" and no letter "ß").

But whatever I choose for this setting - there is never a negative impact on the performance of an application. This happens only with Atlantis.

Using the "wrong" (as interpreted by Atlantis) language for non-Unicode programs obviously makes Atlantis to check page by page the characters in an opened document. I conclude this from the progress that gradually I can scroll more and more pages in time (and from the increasing number of pages in the status bar). But in bigger documents this activity takes minutes and it obviously requires so much performance that apart from it Atlantis (or my computer in general) stops to respond to commands until this mysterious procedure is finished.

[Tester]

As various issues remained unclear here in this thread I would like to describe now my solution. Perhaps it may be of interest for other users too.

The situation has to do with two basic problems:

A) When a user has chosen in Windows as “Language for non-Unicode programs” (alias "System locale")* a specific language (presumably a language with non-latin characters) Atlantis has difficulties in opening respectively displaying documents. The delay in larger documents is so big that in my case it made Atlantis practically unusable.
*[see the picture in my above post of Jan 17 th]

The reason why Atlantis shows this behaviour remains unclear.

Obviously the only solution to solve this problem is either to abandon Atlantis or to abandon in Windows the specific “Language for non-Unicode programs”, typically by reverting to the regular "Windows Display Language" (e.g. in my case German).

I decided now to do the second thing.

Support and communication in general from the part of the Atlantis team is quite poor. But Atlantis itself is an excellent software and at least for me the best alternative/supplement to MS Word I could find until now. Additionally, the Help sites of Atlantis (https://www.atlantiswordprocessor.com/en/help/) are excellent too. That's why I decided to sacrifice my language settings (which I had used for years now without any problems) in favor of Atlantis.

So after changing in Windows the “Language for non-Unicode programs”, opening and displaying (large) documents and searching within them works completely fine in Atlantis.

Nevertheless this decision leads to another problem:

B) Atlantis does not fully support Unicode. Admin confirmed this with a brief sentence above. (More information or at least answers to my questions I did not get in this thread.)

The missing full support of Unicode has as result at least the following issue (hopefully it is the only one):

Bookmarks with non-latin characters (set with MS Word) are not readable in Atlantis. They look like in the picture below. (And of course it is also impossible to add in Atlantis new bookmarks with non-latin characters.)

The weird looking bookmarks are not only a simple visual problem but mainly a practical one: These bookmarks cannot longer fulfill their role as anchors (= references to hyperlinks) within the documents: Hyperlinks that are associated with such bookmarks like "???" often do not open at all or they open on a wrong place.

Finally I had an idea how this issue can be resolved too: I have to rename (within MS Word) all the bookmarks with non-latin characters (Greek characters in my case) into bookmarks with latin characters (transliterating the original expressions). Even if this is unelegant and very cumbersome as I have to do it for hundreds of bookmarks. - So that's currently my preparation work for using Atlantis in the future.

[Robert]

Tester, you might be able to rename all of your bookmarks through a Word VBA macro. Have a look at Word – Batch rename multiple bookmarks in Word .docx file – iTecTec
HTH
Robert

[Tester]

Robert, thanks for your interesting advice. I will notice this link. It could be useful for possible future changes of my bookmarks. The current (manual) renaming I have already finished just a few minutes ago. (Doing it for some hundred bookmarks was extremely cumbersome and boring. )