Cannot edit PDF metadata in version 11.8

In the latest version 11.8 I find I cannot edit PDF metadata in the corresponding panel. If I try to enter or edit text in the Author or Title field the keyboard strokes appear to operate on the file window. In previous versions I never had this problem.

Working OK here.

When you say they operate on the file window, what exactly happens?

Have you set up any hotkeys recently, which might have been set to "system-wide" by mistake?

Leo,

Operate on file window: If there is text in a metadata field, e.g. Authors, and I wish to delete characters with the backspace key the folder level goes up with every key press while the metadata text itself does not change.
I have not set up any hotkeys, let alone system-wide. Where could I check?

I have just disabled the Backspace hotkey in the Customize Toolbar menu. This solves the problem of going up the folder tree. But I am still unable to edit the metadata fields. I cannot get a cursor placed in the field I want to edit.

If I use the metadata editor (Ctrl M) I can now edit metadata without any problem. Did not know this handy little metadata editor existed.
So it would appear my problem is restricted to the use of the metadata pane to edit.

Have narrowed down the problem further: It appears to be related to the location of the file. I cannot edit the document properties in the metadata pane if the file is located on my Synology NAS and accessed over my home network. If I copy the file to my local harddrive the problem disappears and I can edit as usual.
Any ideas? This problem never appeared in any of the previous versions of Dopus.

The way keyboard focus works should not be affected by which folder you are in (unless it is a folder that has its own custom user interface which Opus just hosts inside its window, but I don't think any Synology NAS devices do that).

Seeing a video of it happening might shine some light on it. Would it be possible to make one? (If you don't have screen-capture tools, just pointing a phone at the screen is good enough.)

Please also link your account.

Leo,

Just made a video with my tablet. How shall I send it to you?

Leo,
Have made a proper video which illustrated the problem (bug in Opus?) properly: size is 5Mb. But still do not know how to get it to you.
I have also linked my account by the way as requested.

[quote="Gaspard"]Leo,
Have made a proper video which illustrated the problem (bug in Opus?) properly: size is 5Mb. But still do not know how to get it to you.[/quote]

The usual advice from Leo is to send such things to leo@gpsoft.com.au .

Thanks for the video, Gaspard.

Something very strange is going on there, possibly involving a third-party tool.

It looks like when the metadata panel's edit control gets focus, something else is opening its own, much larger edit control on top of the Opus window. That is taking all the keyboard input, so it isn't reaching (the right part of) Opus.

It could be some kind of keyboard input IME, perhaps, although the IME I'm familiar with is the one for Japanese and Chinese characters which looks quite different.

Tools that modify normal window behaviour in other software could also be involved, or things like AHK / AutoHotkey, perhaps. It does not look like something Opus itself could/should ever do on its own, or that we've ever seen it do (nor any other reports of it doing similar).

Leo,

What you see in the video is the action of ActivePresenter; the tool I used to make the video.
If any tool like AHK were installed on my computer, which I am pretty sure is not the case, one would expect it would act the same way regardless of the location of the file. As I said before: if I copy the PDF's to a local drive on my computer Opus works correctly in the metadata pane.
It would appear the problem has something to do with the way Opus communicates with the Synology NAS. Perhaps, like the sFTP problem, this is due to changes at the Synology end.
I have just done another experiment with interesting results: If I copy the PDF to a USB disk attached to the Synology NAS the metadata pane works normally. So the problem is restricted to files located on the internal disk of the Synology NAS.

Unfortunately, if the video-recording tool puts things on top of important parts of the window, it makes the video much less useful as we can't really see what is happening.

Would it be possible to record the video with something else? Even a phone pointed at the screen might do the job, if you don't have alternative recording software.

Thanks for the new video! Much clearer now.

My guess, from seeing that, is that the NAS is constantly sending file-change events for the file, which is causing the metadata panel to keep refreshing the tags it displays.

If you turn on Preferences / Miscellaneous / Advanced: no_external_change_notify and the problem stops, that would support my theory.

You could also do the Debugging steps in the Changes to folders are not being detected guide; if you do, I bet you'll see an endless stream of lines saying the PDF has changed.

We've seen this a couple of times before where just reading the file attributes or other metadata from a file, without modifying the file at all (or even opening a write handle to it), can generate a change event on some setups. The change event causes Opus to refresh the file, reading it again, which then (wrongly) triggers another change event.

It can be caused by shell extensions (e.g. Microsoft themselves ship an email shell extension with Windows that really modifies the file each time it's asked to read it), but if that were the case it would probably affect all of your devices.

If the NAS is doing that, it's something to report to Synology so they can fix it in a firmware update. (I have a feeling one of the NAS vendors had a similar problem in the past where reading file attributes triggered a change event. Not sure which one it was, but that was years ago and hopefully has been fixed by now.)

That did indeed solve the problem. Thank you.

It's not really a solution since now Opus won't notice changes made to folders. But it does indicate the problem is likely due to a fairly serious bug in the NAS.