Camtasia Mac is Crashing

1. Save your work and restart your Mac.
   
   1. Simply rebooting your Mac can potentially address numerous issues, from performance-related problems to crashing on Startup.
      
      
2. Reset Camtasia's Preferences and Settings.
   1. Open the Applications folder in Finder
   2. Right-click on Camtasia and choose "Show Package Contents"
   3. Navigate to Contents > MacOS
   4. Open CamtasiaSupport.app
   5. Click on "Create Archive" to create a Preferences Archive.
      1. A Window will appear with the Camtasia_Data.zip file; please drag this file to your Desktop to save it there as a backup.
   6. After the backup has been saved, choose "Reset All"
   7. Click "Reset"
   8. Relaunch Camtasia and see if it opens
      
      
3. Performa a complete reinstall of Camtasia Mac (previous versions) - note this will clear any settings/preferences that you have set in Camtasia.
   1. Confirm that Camtasia is not running
      1. Open Activity Monitor to verify that Camtasia is not hung in the background
   2. Open the Applications folder in Finder
   3. Move Camtasia to the Trash
      1. Empty the Trash
   4. Click on Finder and then the Go menu a the top of the screen
   5. Select "Go to Folder..." then copy and paste the following then press Enter:
      ~/Library/Preferences/
   6. Locate all com.techsmith.plist files and move them to the Trash
      
      1. Empty the Trash
   7. Reinstall Camtasia Mac (previous versions)

Camtasia may run into some performance issues as projects become more complex. While we have made significant strides in improving Camtasia's performance with these heavier projects, there may still be situations where the following steps might help with projects like this:

If you're running into issues with Camtasia crashing when you're working in a complex project, try these steps:

1. Save your work and restart Camtasia.
   • In many cases, crashing can be mitigated / reduced by saving your work and restarting Camtasia
   Make sure you are not saving your project in a cloud folder, external hard drive, or network drive as doing so can impact Camtasia's performance.
2. Restart your Mac prior to long stints recording or editing within Camtasia
   • Video editors like Camtasia can be resource-heavy so restarting your Mac can help reduce performance-related crashing.
     
     
3. Practice and prepare; recording in short, practiced sessions while using a script can help reduce the resource cost for Camtasia and in doing so, potentially reduce performance-related issues.
   
   
4. Maintain 100% scaling wherever possible; while it is not always possible, working with content that does not need to be scaled/resized can help reduce resource cost and ensure your content is not blurry once you export it.
   • Your recording, editing, and exporting dimensions should match the recommended settings for how you intend on sharing your project.
     • Ex. if you're hosting your Camtasia-created media on an LMS that has a maximum supported video resolution of 1920x1080 (1080p), then you would want to make sure you are recording, editing, and exporting from Camtasia at that resolution.
   • Assets and other imported media, such as logos, watermarks, and other similar items, should also be retained at their original sizes.
   • You can find additional tips and tricks on how to maintain crisp, clear videos on our blog!
     
     
5. If crashing persists, save your work then export the project to an MP4 and add it to a new project to continue editing.
   
   • Flattening the MP4 will make callouts, visual effects, and other elements un-editable; use this method if other troubleshooting steps haven't fixed the crashing issue.

1. Save your work in Camtasia and restart your Mac.
   1. Try exporting after restarting the Mac.
      
      
2. Try exporting a portion of the project.
   1. Using the red/green tabs on the Playhead, select an area on the Timeline and then go to Export in the upper right corner of Camtasia.
      
      
3. Group all of the items on the timeline by zooming out on the timeline and box-selecting all items then press CMD + G or right-click on an asset and choose "Group."
   1. Right-click on the group and choose "Copy."
   2. Open a new project.
   3. Right-click on the Timeline and choose, "Paste."
   4. Try exporting the new project once it has copied the content over.
      
      
4. Make sure the project file and is not being stored on a network drive, external hard drive, or cloud storage location as doing so can heavily impact performance.
   1. If you are exporting to one of these locations, please try exporting to your Mac's hard drive.