SuperMemo editing disabled all of a sudden!

SUMMARY

Recent updates to Windows (Apr 2014) cause editing problems in older SuperMemos. The only known solution to-date is to disable the problematic update. In particular, uninstalling Internet Explorer 11 seems to resolve the issue.

There have been no reports of problems with SuperMemo 16.

Answer: Windows XP/Vista/7, SuperMemo 2004/2006/2008

Uninstalling Internet Explorer 11 seems to have solved the problem in all cases reported

Answer: Windows 8, , SuperMemo 2004/2006/2008/15

Internet Explorer can only be deactivated. Please see if you can locate and disable the update from Apr 9, 2014 (the day after the support for XP ended)

Answer: Windows 8, SuperMemo 16

Until now, there have not been any complaints about Internet Explorer 11 and Windows Update in Windows 8 in SuperMemos 16. SuperMemo 16 seems to work flawlessly in Windows 8 with the newest version of Internet Explorer.

Links

• Compatibility View
• Uninstalling Windows Update
• Uninstalling Internet Explorer 11

Windows Update

• Several similar cases in succession indicate the problem is caused by a recent update to Windows (with Internet Explorer 11). Please use Help : E-mail : Bug report to submit your version of SuperMemo, IE, Windows, etc.
• Recent security update to Internet Explorer 11: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2936068
• Bugs in past IE updates were usually fixed with the successive update (within weeks). Disabling the update in the meantime is the only option known.

Severity

The collection should be safe. SuperMemo data is not affected. The problem is related to the behavior of Internet Explorer when interfaced by older SuperMemos. This could be a bug, a configuration setting, a software problem, etc. The IE update might include a bug that disabled editing in SuperMemo. This could also be a case of IE ditching some prior functionality, which would be a rare, breaking change, that is bound to cause serious inconvenience to users of older versions of SuperMemo.

Original hints: Things to try

• see if Ctrl+E, Q, A or a similar keyboard shortcut allows of editing (e.g. in case the problem was mouse related)
• undo the most recent IE/Windows update (at last for a while)
• resetting Internet Explorer to config defaults
• this will probably not help: reinstalling Internet Explorer (Microsoft's support for IE8 ended on Apr 8, 2014, and that browser might now be vulnerable to malware infections)
• this will probably not work: repair Windows

technical

In IE11, Microsoft ditched support for some of objects and methods. This might be the reason for the incompatibility. It is unclear if this is a temporary glitch, or if this means that IE11 is dead for older SuperMemos (or older SuperMemos are dead if you want to use Internet Explorer 11).

Feedback

If you find a solution, do not forget to write back!

Individual cases

Several cases have been pasted below to make it easier to find this page with different keywords:

Joe's case, Apr 11

SuperMemo 2004, Windows 7, IE ver. 11

I've used Supermemo for years without any problems (I bought Supermemo 2004).

For no reason whatsoever, while going through one of my reviews, I noticed a mistake I made with one of my element's question and tried to edit it... but couldn't. I thought it was just that element, and tried to edit a different one... couldn't either. I tried using an entirely different collection, and neither the answer nor question field couldn't be edited at all. I tried the solution given here:

http://www.super-memory.com/help/faq/archive2005-2008.htm And that also didn't work. Really, the only time I can actually type in the question and answer field, is when I add a new element. If I add another new one, then come back, I magically can't edit anymore.

Please help. This collection has THOUSANDS of elements all of which I wouldn't be able to make any edits at all! I've gone through the online documentation as best as I can all to no avail. I've never had problems making edits before today and this is driving me crazy. If it helps any, I'm in Windows7, and the supermemo version is 2004. I've ported that copy over the years to different computers as I've bought new computers over the years, but like I said, I've never had this problem ever, even in this relatively new computer until today.

Your help would be highly appreciated.

Sam's case, Apr 12

SuperMemo 2006, Windows 7, Firefox, IE ver. 11.0.9600.17041

My computer restarted itself while Supermemo was open and now it won't let me type in anything on any of my collections even after trying to reopen and repair them.

Richard's case, Apr 15

SuperMemo 2006

My collection that was created within supermemo 2006 seems to have become read- only. I am unable to edit old questions and answers or create new ones. The actual learning process is still intact. In other words, I can still view & learn already created materials. However, I can not add anything new to this collection. Please help me. I have a separate collection that also seems to have become read only. So it seems to be something global happening to my supermemo. Whatever is happening prevents me from typing. All of the other features, menus, and buttons of super memo appear to work.

Please help me. I am getting desperate. This is over 7 years worth of information gathered in this collection.

Szymon's case, Apr 16

SuperMemo 2004, Windows XP

I've encountered a serious problem while using Supermemo 2004. One day I was unable to edit the fields of Answer and Question. I did not change anything in the setup and the problem appeared overnight. I upgraded my version to the trial one - Supermemo 2008. It changed for better as after moving back to the previous element just after creating the new one and returning to the new one it is possible to edit. However, it still seems to be a nuisance. What is worse, I am afraid it might change for worse one day without the possibility of editing as it was in case of Supermemo 2004. I want to buy Supermemo 2008 but could you explain what the problem is behind this nuisance. best regards

Windows 8.1 case

SuperMemo 2004, Windows 8.1

I´ve been trying out supermemo 2004 on Windows 8.1 for almost 2 months and I´ve been happy with the results, but recently a rather annoying problem has appeared in my copy of SuperMemo: whenever I import an article using Ctrl+Alt+N (or any other Import Article button), I can´t select any text to extract fragments through a regular left-click “drag” selection; instead I have to right-click wherever my selection starts, then Shift+left-click where I want my selection to end.

Afterwards, when I click con “extract fragment”, it creates the new fragment topic alright, but then sends me back to the beginning of the article.

My left-right mouse clicks are not inverted since the contextual menu shows up when I´m selecting with the right click. I can´t edit any text either with my keyboard even though the edit mode is activated; to delete any text I have to select it through the manner described above, then go to cut/copy/paste on the contextual menu and choose delete.

Normal “drag” selection comes back if I change text from Full HTML to Read only, but then the extract fragment buttons wont work.

This wasn´t happening until a few days ago but now it happens with every element, both ítems and articles are affected. I tried creating a new collection but it still happened there. I also tried deleting the SuperMemo files and unzipping the original zip file again, basically “reinstalling” the program but the problem still persists.

Though this problem doesn´t break the Incremental Reading functionality, it makes it really annoying and even frustrating to use, so I was hoping you could help me figure out a solution to this problem. I´m saving money to buy SuperMemo 15 or 16, but it will take a few months and in the mean time I´ll need to keep using super memo 12.

Thank you very much in advance.

Roope case

SuperMemo 2004

I'm using Supermemo 2004. Some time ago I noticed that I can't add new items or paste articles. When I press "Add New"-button, Supermemo opens a new item, but I can't write anything to it. When I try to add articles with Ctr+Alt+N, internet explorer opens, but the article isn't added to the collection. I tried finding a solution through FAQ, but didn't find anything that would work.

Feedback

Feedback 1

Joe B. wrote:

Ah! brilliant. I just uninstalled version 11 of IE that seems to have solved the problem!

Thank you very much for not abandoning me, I'm actually pretty relieved this worked out :)

Thanks again.

Joe

Feedback 2

Sam wrote after uninstalling IE11:

All sorted so thanks for your prompt help.

How odd, but thankfully I don't use IE much.

Keywords

edit, editing, SuperMemo 2004, SuperMemo 2006, Internet Explorer, update, Windows, uninstall, can't edit, cannot edit, editing stopped, editing disabled