Performance in Google Docs!

[stefan]

I don't think that's related to the other bug.

It seems that cracking open the paper pile app immediately puts strain on the performance.

You mean when you open the Paperpile web app in a new tab or the Google Docs plugin dialog within Google Docs? Can you explain in more detail the performance issues you see?

[Eric_Potratz]

No, I mean when I interact with the paperpile Google Doc plugin, such as citing a reference in the paper. Within a couple minutes the typing becomes really choppy and laggy. Its the same performance issues I've been talking about for awhile.

Do you want me to share the doc? Have you guys never seen a really badly choppy google doc before?

[stefan]

Yes we have seen the issue. It occured whenever you moved your cursor through the document over a heading. That triggered a URL change which in turn triggered some events in our plugin which made the whole experience slow.

But this particular issue has been fixed and the fix has been confirmed by several other users.

Can you contact us through our messaging system with the following information:

• Can you confirm that your extension has been updated to 1.0.72
• Open the debugging window (Tool menu > More tools > Developer tools). Clear the content with the little "clear" icon in the toolbar. Then open the Paperpile dialog and do whatever it makes it choppy. Then send us the content of the debuggin window (if any).
• Also you can share the document with me (washietl - AT - gmail - DOT - com) and I can try to reproduce.

[Eric_Potratz]

Ok, I just sent a comment to support and shared the file.

[mickeylever]

Hi. I have had a similar problem. Been writing my dissertation. Have over 87 references with a 20 page document. It is very slow when adding references to the parts of the page I want. Had to make comments on my Google Doc to make the references later. This has been happening on Gogole Chrome. The speed of the Google Doc is faster on Safari but i cannot add references because there isn't a Paperpile extension for the browser. Please can you look into this asap and let me know what is going to happen. Thanks in advanced.

[stefan]

We have not heard complaints since more than a year about Google Docs performance. 20 pages is not a big document and 87 references is also not that much.

We can look into it for you but would need much more information. Can you contact us through the in app messenger and explain in more detail what is slow under which circumstances? Thanks.

[mickeylever]

Overall same Google Doc is slow on Google Chrome and fast on Safari (both browsers are up to date - Google Chrome Version 49.0.2623.110 (64-bit) and Safari Version 9.0.3 (11601.4.4)). When I try to reference a piece of text, it takes a long time for the search field to appear, search for the reference, and inserting the reference into the text. Also typing is slow in Google Chrome. Sometimes i have to switch to Safari to type faster.

I tried using fewer tabs in my browser. Even the only tab used is the one with the Google Doc and the same phenomenon occurs.

I have attempted to clear my cache and load the page again but the problem still persists.

Please let me know what more information I can provide you.

[stefan]

Thanks for the information. Can you try to disable the Paperpile Chrome extension and then reload the Google Doc, to verify that Paperpile is actually the reason why your document gets slow in Chrome.

[mickeylever]

I just deleted the extension and re-added it to my Chrome browser. It made no different in the speed. However, I tried to access another Google Doc which uses the same Paperpile library and has fewer images and in-page references. Therefore there must be something wrong with the document. I exported the document to Micosoft Word and the file size is only 867 KB. Does not seem big enough to cause this slow processing. But i duplicated the document and removed the images, this made a big difference to the speed. There were not many images in the document, especially with the overall size. Is there any way the speed can be improved?

[stefan]

So the slow performance of your document also occurs while you have the Doc opened without the extension loaded (i.e. no Paperpile button can be seen in the menu)? That's important to know.

If it's a problem of Google Docs itself (e.g. too many images) we can forget about Paperpile when debugging it and concentrate on the other content of your document.

[mickeylever]

It is still slow after deactivating PP from Chrome. However, I just started using PP in Safari on the same document and the speed of inserting references and typing is normal. Google Chrome is more convenient as the "insert citation" option in the menu is omitted when accessing the document on Safari.

[stefan]

Yes, the sidebar add-on also works on Safari. It seems really strange though that Chrome is slower than Safari. My guess would be that another extension interferes with Google Docs. Can you try to look at the document in Incognito mode or disable all your other extensions.

[mickeylever]

It is working now. Not sure which extensions were causing the problem. Just deleted the ones which were not necessary. Thank you Stefan for isolating the problem.

[jeasan]

I've also faced similar problem and I thought my internet service was slow but after increasing my internet bandwidth I'm having same issue. May be some extensions are causing this problem and glad to get clarification from here.

[stefan]

It seems in case of @mickeylever this was not related to Paperpile but a general issue with Google Docs and Chrome (-extensions). I'd suggest to disable all extensions and open the document that is slow. If that fixes it, you can re-enable your extensions one by one and see which causes the performance issues.

[sis20]

I have the same problem when it comes to documents over 6000-7000 words with 50+ or so footnotes. The longer the doc and the more footnotes there are, the slower the typing. I have to break up longer docs into separate files. The problem is exactly the same on my PC, Mac, and Chromebook, irrespective of whether I connect through Wifi or LAN.

[jesshooks]

I am having the problem with lag times relating to the length of the document and the number of citations. I have uninstalled and reinstalled paper pile. I have uninstalled and reinstalled chrome! I have deleted all other apps in chrome (ie quizlet, kindle, plex, videostream, etc).

I'm at a loss. It is happening in all my documents.

I'm superbummed as I've transfered everything to paperpile. I hadn't tested paperpiles in text citation tool on anything longer than 1000/1500 words until now. Not sure what to do at this point.

Thoughts?

[stefan]

Can verify that you problem is related to Paperpile and contact support@paperpile.com so that we can investigate this?

We have not heard any complaints about performance in a long time.

[Eric_Potratz]

I was battling this Google Doc performance issue for several years, but recently found the culprit.

If you have another browser window open that has Adobe Flash on the page, it can slow down Google Docs dramatically.

I often have Dictionary.com or Thesaurus.com open in a separate browser window, which always have flash advertisements. I found that once I close these windows, or other windows with flash, the performance problem goes away in Google Docs.

[stefan]

Wow. That's unexpected. Actually this thread here is one of the most popular because many people come here independent of Paperpile looking for Google Docs performance advice. So thanks for sharing and I hope that helps others.