BigText Viewer: Fast, Lightweight Text Viewing for Developers

Troubleshooting Common Issues in BigText Viewer

1. App won’t open or crashes on launch

• Clear cache/data: Close the app, then clear its cache and app data (Settings > Apps > BigText Viewer).
• Reinstall: Uninstall and reinstall the latest version from the official source.
• Check permissions: Ensure storage and file access permissions are granted.
• Check logs: If available, open the app’s logs (or system logcat on Android) and look for stack traces pointing to missing libraries or resource errors.

2. Very slow when opening large files

• Use streaming mode: Enable any “streaming” or “read-on-demand” option so the app loads only visible chunks.
• Disable syntax highlighting: Turn off heavy features (syntax highlighting, live wrapping) for huge files.
• Increase memory limits: If the app has an advanced setting for memory usage or cache size, increase it moderately.
• Open a sample smaller range: Use the “open range” or jump-to-line feature to load a subset of the file.

3. High CPU or memory usage

• Limit background threads: Reduce concurrency/worker threads if configurable.
• Close other apps: Free system memory by closing memory-hungry apps.
• Switch to plain view: Disable rendering features (line numbers, folding, previews).
• Report with profile: Capture a memory/CPU profile and include it when reporting the bug.

4. File encoding or garbled characters

• Change encoding: Manually select UTF-8, UTF-16, ISO-8859-1, or the correct encoding in the file-open dialog.
• Detect BOM: Ensure the app detects BOM; if not, try opening with an editor that shows BOM and re-save in a standard encoding.
• Check line endings: Convert CRLF/LF differences with a tool and reopen.

5. Search/find not returning results or slow

• Match settings: Verify case sensitivity, whole-word, and regex toggles.
• Indexing: If the viewer uses indexing, ensure indexing is complete or rebuild the index.
• Limit scope: Search within a smaller range or disable regex for speed.

6. UI layout or rendering glitches

• Update GPU drivers: On desktops, update GPU drivers; on mobile, update OS.
• Disable hardware acceleration: Turn off hardware acceleration in settings if rendering artifacts occur.
• Adjust font settings: Try a different monospaced font or reset font size and line spacing.

7. Files not listed or missing in directory view

• Refresh folder: Use the refresh button or reopen the folder.
• Check filters: Ensure file-type filters or hidden-file filters aren’t hiding files.
• Storage scope: Confirm the app has permission to access external storage or the correct directory.

8. Problems saving edits or autosave failures

• Check write permission: Ensure the file is writable and the app has write permissions.
• Disable external sync: Temporarily disable cloud sync (Dropbox/Drive) to rule out conflicts.
• Use “Save As”: Save a copy under a new name to avoid permission/lock conflicts.

9. Plugin or extension errors

• Disable plugins: Disable third-party plugins to isolate the issue.
• Update plugins: Ensure plugins match the app’s version.
• Check plugin logs: Look for specific plugin stack traces and report them.

10. How to report a reproducible bug

1. Describe environment: OS, app version, device specs, memory.
2. Provide steps: Clear step-by-step to reproduce.
3. Attach files/logs: Include a sample file (or minimal reproduction), screenshots, and log output.
4. Specify expected vs actual: State what you expected and what happened.

If you want, I can draft a concise bug report template you can paste into issue trackers.