File Association To Text Edit Problem- Edit A RTF & File Will Never Open Again

[PGB1]

Hi All!
I apologize for posting this question, but I searched & experimented with no resolution. I know I've been asking a whole lot of questions in the last few weeks. This must National Paul's Computer Acting Up Month.

I made two Sparse Bundle folders and moved some documents of all sorts into them (rtf. pdf, docx, xlsx, tc3, etc).
I tested many files by opening them, changing something, saving, closing & opening again. All worked except RTF documents- new or preexisting.
Once a change is made, the RTF will never open again.

What I Tried:
A) A box pops up asking me to choose an application. Text Edit is not a choice, so I select All Applications & try Text Edit. Text Edit opens, but the file does not.
B) Right-Click the file in Finder & repeat the steps in "A", above. No luck
C) Highlight the file in Finder & choose Get-Info. In the window, choose "Open With", pick Text Edit. No Luck again. The Change All button is grey'd out.
D) Restart the computer.
E) Restart with a PRAM reset.

Interestingly, if the RTF is not in a sparsebundle, it opens fine after making a change.
If I restore a file from the backup & make a change, it will never open again if it is in the sparse bundle. Outside is OK.

Do you all know what I missed that will get these RTF documents to open again?

Thank You Very Much for helping!
Paul

 

[MacInWin]

Paul, as I recall you protected the sparse bundle with a encryption. Could that be the issue?

Also, is it possible that the extent of the document got changed from .rtf to something else in the save process?

 

[PGB1]

Thank You Jake for the good suggestions.

The extensions stayed RTF.
I tried making new, not encrypted, sparse bundles & put new RTF documents in them. The same symptoms appear once a file is opened & changed.

Something I just noticed is that if one were to use Finder and search for a document, the bottom always shows the path to the document (Folders above it).
But, if the document (rtf only) is opened, changed and saved, the path disappears. (Only the ones in a sparse bundle)
Clicking it yields a pop-up asking to fix the alias. Fixing doesn't work.
Closing the Finder window, reopening one & searching for that document again shows the path is still missing.

I can navigate to the file by starting at the upper parent folder, but it still won't open. Text Edit opens when manually told to do so, but not the document.

At this point, I am totally without things to try next.

 

[MacInWin]

Clicking it yields a pop-up asking to fix the alias.

So now I'm confused. Are you just creating aliases for these RTF files and putting the alias in the sparse bundle? That seems to be what is happening. And that would be consistent with the document not opening--the alias has been broken by the sparse bundle way of storing the alias.

 

[PGB1]

I did the Copy - Paste routine to copy the files from the existing sparse images to the new sparse bundles.
I checked the size of the sparse bundles and they nearly match the size of the sparse images (+/- a few MB). I think, but don't know for sure, if they were aliases the file size would be smaller.

I think the pop up about broken alias arrived because I found the files by typing in the Finder search box & selecting form the list that is presented.
But, if I start at the top (MacIntosh SSD) and work my way down manually to find & open the RTF, the problem remains, but I don;'t get the broken alias message. The file simply does not open.

But, your alias question has me thinking...
Do you think that something may have gone wonky during the copy - paste with the RTF documents?
If so, I can delete them and move them again. (There are thousands of scattered rtf files, so in reality I'd delete the contents of each sparse bundle and copy everything over again.)

Thanks for sticking with me on this confusing glitch!
Paul

 

[MacInWin]

I would try again. An from what I know, if you do a "get info" on an alias, you can see that it's an alias, not a real file. Wouldn't hurt to try again, being very careful in the copy process. You don't need to move all of them, just one as a test.

 

[PGB1]

Thanks Once Again Jake! I really appreciate your guidance. I'm quite lost.

This morning I had time to experiment:

First I noticed this happens to RTF documents in both sparse bundle and sparse image folders. I've never noticed the problem in the sparse images before and I use the Finder search box to find files often.

Next, I took your advice and started over. The bundle was deleted and a new one made. I carefully copied the files and folder from the original sparse image (not the problem sparse bundle) to the new sparse bundle.
Checked: The files in the sparse bundle are real files, not alias links. (Using your Get Info idea made confirming this easy.)

NOTICED THESE BEHAVIORS-
A) Closing the Finder window after the failure happens, then opening a new Finder window & searching again will let the file open.
Saving the file again will cause the problem to reoccur.

B) One may open the file and close it many times with no problems as long as no changes are made.

TRIED THIS-
Suspecting Finder, I deleted all the plist files for Finder one at a time, with re-starts between. Problems remain.

SUMMARY-
Only happens with RTF documents inside a Sparse Bundle or Sparse Image. All other rtf & all other file types work fine.

Only happens when a Finder Search box search is used to locate the file.
Example- Type In search box Deduction Notes 2018 Open that file from the window and the problem will happen.

Finding the file by starting at any folder above the document and drilling down to it does not produce problems.
Example- Income Tax - Income Tax 2018 - Personal Return Notes - Deduction Notes 2018.rtf Open that file & the problem will not happen.

A THOUGHT-
Since closing the Finder window and opening a new one clears the glitch, do you think the problem is how Finder Search results relate to sparse bundles and sparse images?

 

[MacInWin]

Could be. You haven't mentioned what version of macOS you are running, but from your profile I suspect it is an older version. Are you at the most recent version and update? This behavior sounds like a bug that may have been found/fixed in an update.

 

[MacInWin]

OK, I created a Sparse Bundle Disk Image in Mojave, moved an RTF into it and then edited the RTF and saved it back to the image. It opened with no problems, was able to edit it a second time and open again after that edit. So, either it is a bug that got fixed (I'm running Mojave 10.14.6) or it's something strange in your system or account. Have you tried creating a new account, log into that account, create an image, try an edit? If that works, we know it's something in your account, but if it fails the same way, it's something in the system.

 

[PGB1]

Thanks Jake for the good idea and for taking your time to test this.
I forgot to put in the post that I am using El Capitan, 10.11.6. It has all the updates.

The problem only happens if the rtf is located with a Finder Search Box, as opposed to locating the file manually with Finder.

Using all new sparse bundles and sparse images:

1) I tried this on another user account on this computer & had the same problem.

2) Next, I tried it on a separate partition that has 10.11.5. Slightly older version of El Capitan. Same problem.

3) Then I borrowed my wife's MacBook Pro running 10.6.8 Snow Leopard. The same problem is there, too.

So, at this point, I think the problem is a glitch in the operating system, not my particular computer.

Since I can't usually remember where a file is located, I guess I'd better get in the habit of finding the file with Finder's Search box, then opening a second Finder window and manually going to get it.
I can't think of any more tests to run or things to try without having a newer operating system. (My computer can't use a version past 10.11.6 & my wife's is maxed out at Snow Leopard.)

Thank You Again for helping me and for all the time you took to test things and explain things. You're a very good teacher!
Enjoy Today!
Paul

 

[MacInWin]

Paul, I created a new sparse bundle drive, put an RTF there, use search in Finder to find it, opened it, edited it, put it back, closed Finder, opened Finder, searched for the file, found it, opened it, edited it a second time and saved it. No issues. So I guess what you are seeing is a bug in El Cap that has disappeared by Mojave.

What you might try is to see if something like EasyFind can find files in sparse bundles, or mount the sparse bundle and search with EasyFInd, then track to the location that way in Finder.

Just curious, why are you going about it this way? Maybe there is a better way to protect your files than using sparse bundle disks.

EDIT: Oh, and why RTF? Does it work properly if the files are .TXT? Is there a reason to use .rtf format?