If Scriptation is running slowly or crashing, the fastest fixes are to close extra tabs, restart the app, restart your device, and make sure you're on the current version. The steps below walk through each — start at the top and work down.

Scriptation can comfortably handle very large PDFs (100 MB+), but performance can slow when several big scripts and other apps are open at once. When memory or storage runs low, your device throttles speed to avoid overheating — and in extreme cases, the app may crash.

Quick fixes (try these first)

1. Close extra tabs. Keep tabs open only for files you're actively working on. This frees memory for the scripts you actually need.
2. Restart Scriptation. Force-quit the app and reopen it.
3. Restart your device. A full power cycle resolves a lot of temporary issues.
4. Update Scriptation. We ship fixes and performance improvements often. Check the App Store on your device to make sure you're on the latest version.

PDFs won't import, won't open, or appear blurry

If Scriptation suddenly stops importing or opening new PDFs — or a file opens but looks blurry — this is usually a loading or connectivity issue. Try the Quick fixes above first (restart the app, restart your device, update Scriptation). If the problem continues, contact Support and include:

• A short screen recording showing what happens when you try to import or open the PDF (iPad, iPhone, or Mac);
• Confirmation of where the PDF is coming from — cloud storage (iCloud, Dropbox, etc.) or imported directly from the device.

Deeper troubleshooting

5. Optimize your layers. A Layer Optimization shrinks the document's file size — that saves space on your device and helps Scriptation run faster.
6. Turn on the Thumbnail Icon setting. In the Settings menu, enabling the Thumbnail Icon swaps the document preview for a generic file icon. On older devices, this can noticeably reduce memory use.
7. Quit background apps. The more apps running in the background, the less memory available to Scriptation. Close anything you're not actively using.
8. Archive scripts you don't need. (iPad / iPhone) Move older scripts out of the On My iPad / On My iPhone folder into cloud storage or onto a Mac. Best practice: copy the files first, confirm they're safely in the cloud or on the Mac, then delete the originals from your device and empty the Trash.
9. Check device storage. (iPad / iPhone) Go to Settings → General → iPad Storage (or iPhone Storage) and see if you're running low. Remove apps you no longer use — but check first; some apps delete their data when removed.

10. Update your operating system. Scriptation is built for the current versions of iPadOS, iOS, and macOS. Open the Settings app and choose Software Update to install any available OS updates.
11. Consider a device upgrade. If you're consistently working with very large scripts on an older device, a newer iPad, iPhone, or Mac with more memory will give you a noticeably smoother experience.

Crashing or freezing while drawing/annotating?

If Scriptation freezes, then shuts down, and your annotations are missing when you reopen — and this happens specifically while drawing or marking up a page — check whether you're using an Apple Pencil Pro. Its Hover feature is a known cause of crashes during drawing. See Scriptation crashes when using Apple Pencil Pro for the fix. If you're marking up with your finger instead of a Pencil, this isn't the cause — follow the general troubleshooting steps above and send us a screen recording along with the file if the freeze continues.

Crashing when saving or sharing a specific file?

If Scriptation only crashes on a specific document — for example, when you save, add/move pages, or use the share option on that one file — while other files (even much larger ones) work fine, the file itself may be the cause (e.g. corrupted PDF data). Try opening a clean, unedited copy of the source PDF in Scriptation and rebuilding your annotations from there. If that resolves it, reach out to Support and send us the problem file so we can look into what caused it.

Crashing during Note Transfer?

If Scriptation crashes while transferring notes to a new draft, large, high-resolution images (such as blocking plans or shot lists) inserted via the image annotation tool are a common cause — especially if several are included on facing pages. Removing these images before running the transfer, or reducing their file size beforehand, can resolve the crash. If the crash persists even after removing images, there may be a corrupted annotation somewhere in the file; try splitting the script into smaller sections to narrow down which pages are causing the issue, and see Transfer is crashing? How to fix non-native page issues for another common cause of transfer crashes.

The more detail you can include, the faster we can pinpoint what's going on.

Crashes after an OS update

If crashes started right after updating your device's OS (iPadOS, iOS, or macOS), first check the App Store or Settings for a newer OS update — a subsequent OS patch release often resolves crashes introduced by a previous update. If the crash continues after updating to the latest OS version, reach out to Support; we can arrange a live Zoom troubleshooting session if needed.

Crashes tied to a specific action (e.g., audio playback, headphones)

If the app consistently crashes during a specific action — such as when plugging/unplugging headphones during text-to-speech playback — let us know:

• Whether you're using wired headphones, wireless/AirPods, or the device speaker;
• Whether you're using AI voices, Basic voices, or both;
• A short screen recording showing the crash happening.

This kind of detail helps us reproduce and fix the issue much faster.

Freezes or crashes that seem tied to a specific device

In rare cases, a crash or freeze may not reproduce on other devices or even after erasing and setting up a device as new — but stops occurring entirely after switching to a different device model. If you've ruled out file-specific and background-app causes and the issue persists across multiple resets on the same device model, this may point to a device-specific memory issue rather than a Scriptation bug. Let Support know what troubleshooting you've already tried so we can keep investigating.

What's Next

Are there any Scriptation best practices?

• Where those files live (iCloud, Dropbox, On My iPad, etc.);
• A short screen recording of the slowdown or crash if you can capture one.

The more detail you can include, the faster we can pinpoint what's going on.

What's Next

Are there any Scriptation best practices?
What hardware does Scriptation work best with?
How do I find my IDs for support?
Scriptation keeps crashing on launch

Updated on: 04/08/2026