Posted
When opening a document with Synfire, entering text in the MacOS Finder "File open" widget immediately terminates Synfire.
Steps to replicate:
- Start Synfire, in the "Select a Template, Document or Example" dialog choose to open an empty arrangement, this creates an empty document
- Press CMD-O or select "Open …" from the File menu, this makes a Finder file selector form appear
- Enter arbitrary text in the top right "Search" form field, this immediately ends Synfire
Tested with Synfire Pro 3.0.6 under MacOS Ventura 13.6.6 on an Intel iMac 2019
A video showing this (in my opinion very severe) error is here: https://youtu.be/O0jNVgQTSvI
Mo., 12.01.2026 - 13:05 Permalink
This is a known problem. Multi-threading issue with macOS and the UI. We tried to remove or disable the search box but it didn't work yet.
Mo., 12.01.2026 - 13:23 Permalink
At least it's good to know this issue is known and fixing it is seemingly impossible.
Can Apple or perhaps the supplier of the UI framework that Synfire uses, resolve this bug?
I can hardly imagine Synfire being the only software using this Finder form and that very UI framework.
So for now the only workaround for this bug is "Don't even think about using that search field"?
Sorry for me being really put off by this bug which already made me lose work in the past.
Mo., 12.01.2026 - 17:05 Permalink
Yes this is a serious problem. Good that you bring it back to our attention.