User Guide
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10.1 · Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Text Markup Says "No Text Found"

Symptom: Dragging with Highlight / Underline creates no annotation. Status bar reads No text found at this position.

Cause: The page has no selectable text — it's image-only (scanned).

Fix: Run OCR. Right-click → OCR → OCR This Page. See 06.1.

Can't Select an Annotation

Symptom: Clicking on an annotation doesn't select it.

Causes and fixes:

  1. You're in a drawing tool, not Select — press V or Esc to return to Select mode.
  2. The annotation is on a hidden layer — check the Layers panel.
  3. The annotation is locked — select from Comments panel, right-click → Properties → unlock.
  4. Multiple overlapping annotations — Alt+Click cycles through stacked annotations.

My Cloud Won't Flip

Symptom: Right-click on cloud → Flip Cloud Direction is greyed out or missing.

Causes and fixes:

  1. Not a cloud annotation — Flip only appears for Cloud-style shapes (Rectangle/Circle with Line Style = Cloud, or Revision Cloud annotations).
  2. No annotation selected — right-click is on the target annotation directly.
  3. Document is read-only — check the title bar for (Read-Only).

Measurements Show 0 or Strange Values

Symptom: Distance measurements report 0 m, or values that don't match reality.

Cause: The document has not been calibrated.

Fix: Tools → Measure → Calibrate Scale, then draw a reference line with a known real-world length. See 05.1.

Undo Doesn't Restore What I Expected

Symptom: Ctrl+Z produces no change or reverts a different operation than expected.

Causes and fixes:

  1. The action wasn't undoable — view changes (zoom, scroll), tool selection, save operations don't go on the stack.
  2. The document was closed and reopened — undo stack is per-session and discarded on close.
  3. Applied redactions — permanent, not undoable.

Save Takes a Long Time

Symptom: Ctrl+S hangs for several seconds on large documents.

Causes:

  • Large number of annotations (1000+).
  • Embedded file attachments.
  • Heavy images.
  • Auto-save running simultaneously.

Fixes:

  • Use File → Save As → Linearize PDF for faster subsequent opens.
  • Disable auto-save temporarily in Settings → Save during heavy editing.
  • Consider splitting the document if it exceeds 500 MB.

Annotations Don't Appear After Save / Reopen

Symptom: Annotations that were visible before save are missing on reopen.

Causes and fixes:

  1. Layer hiding — the annotations' layer was hidden when you saved. Open the Layers panel and show it.
  2. Incompatible flags — annotations with custom flags may be filtered out by other viewers. Reopen in Spark to verify.
  3. Save to a different file — you saved to a new PDF but the annotations were on the original. Open the original.

Performance Drops With Many Annotations

Symptom: Scrolling / zooming slows down with 100+ annotations on a page.

Fixes:

  • Use Continuous mode rather than Single Page — virtualisation helps.
  • Zoom out before heavy operations.
  • Close unused tabs.
  • In Settings → Performance, disable Antialiased handles (may reduce visual polish but speeds up redraws).

Cursor Doesn't Change / Tool Won't Activate

Symptom: Clicking a toolbar tool doesn't change the cursor or activate the mode.

Causes:

  1. A dialog or context menu is open — close it first.
  2. Focus is on another window — click inside the Spark canvas to restore focus.
  3. Licence issue — some tools require a licence; check the status bar for a licence message.

OCR Fails or Returns Gibberish

Symptom: OCR produces garbled output or doesn't recognise text.

Causes and fixes:

  1. Wrong language — Settings → OCR → Language; match to the document's primary language.
  2. Low-resolution scan — OCR requires at least ~150 DPI for decent accuracy; 300 DPI recommended.
  3. Skewed page — use Pages → Straighten (if available) to de-skew before OCR.
  4. Handwriting — OCR engines are tuned for printed text; handwriting recognition is limited.

Can't Apply Redactions

Symptom: Apply Redactions is greyed out.

Causes:

  • No redaction markers drawn — mark areas first (see 03.8).
  • Document is read-only or password-restricted — you need write permissions.
  • Saved document is open elsewhere — close other instances.

Where Is My File Auto-Saved?

Spark writes auto-save snapshots to:

%APPDATA%\Spark\AutoSave\

Files are named {document-id}-{timestamp}.pdf.autosave. They expire after 30 days or after a clean close.

Still Stuck?

  • Help → About — copy version info and OS details.
  • Help → User Guide — opens this document.
  • Help → Report Issue — opens the bug tracker / support page (where available).
  • Logs — enable verbose logging in Settings → Diagnostics; send the log file with any bug report.