Opening do files in a new tab

[Matthew Comey]

I recently upgraded to Stata 17 and I am no longer able to open do files in a new tab. Instead, my only option is to open additional do files in entirely new windows. This quickly becomes cumbersome as I open more and more do files.

When I go to Preferences --> General Preferences --> Windows --> Do-file Editor --> Windowing, the "Open documents in tabs instead of windows" is checked. I tried restarting the computer and even reinstalling Stata 17. Neither solved the issue. I'm running Stata 17 for Mac on operating system Monterey (12.4).

I'd love to find a way to open additional do files in tabs instead of windows. Any ideas?

[William Lisowski]

I too use Stata for Mac 17 and macOS 12.5 (and until recently macOS 12.4), and have not experienced this problem. I spent a while on my system trying to duplicate your experience and was unable to.

I had a subtle user interface problem a few releases ago, and they were aware of a conflict between Stata and several system utilities of the sort that run at startup. Perhaps something similar is going on here.

You could check this by booting your Mac in Safe mode, which should disable all the stuff you've installed that runs at startup, including not only apps but extensions and the like, and then see if the problem persists. (Pro tip: check the macOS Help menu for "save mode" to find instructions, and be sure to do that if you have upgraded to Apple Silicon, because the instructions for accessing the booting options have changed, as I learned the hard way.)

In any event, I think this is worth reporting to Stata Technical Services, at https://www.stata.com/support/tech-support/.

[Egle Karpauskaite]

Hi Matthew,

I am having the same exact issue today right after updating Stata. I am also using Stata 17 on Mac, the Monterey (12.3) system. I have reported this to the Stata Technical Services, but please let me know if you're able to resolve this. As you said, working with multiple windows open is cumbersome.

[Egle Karpauskaite]

Hi,

The tech team sent me these instructions:

We have tested this on Monterey, and this may be an issue with a corrupted
preference file which is saved at the location:

~/Library/Preferences/com.stata.stata17.plist

The "~/Library/" folder is often hidden on modern Macs. You can Option-click
the Finder Go menu, and your Library folder will appears in the menu; choose
Library from the menu to open the folder in the Finder.

To recreate a clean copy of this file we need to close Stata, then delete the
"com.stata.stata17.plist" file and then restart the Mac.



You can also try creating a new user on your Mac to rule out any other applications that
might be interfering. If the new user account works, then you'll need to find
the app that's causing the problem in your main user account.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-...c-mtusr001/mac

Another thing to try:

Restart your Mac and temporarily disable login items by holding down the shift
key while logging in (https://support.apple.com/kb/PH25590?locale=en_US). If
the problem goes away, you've got a utility that's automatically launched
that's causing the problem.

Deleting the .plist file worked.
Hope this helps!

[William Lisowski]

Note that the advice given for starting macOS in safe mode (disabling login items) in Post #5 backed up by the linked Apple Support document is applicable to Intel-based Macs only. I learned this the slow way (if at first you don't succeed, try the same thing again, unsuccessfully, and keep doing so until you throw in the towel and ask Mr. Google) with my Apple Silicon MacBook Air.

Apple's complete advice on startup key combinations is at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201255 - it appears that Apple has yet to update all its support pages that make reference to startup key combinations.

[Jing Xu Xu]

I had the same issue, and it went away for a few weeks after I deleted com.stata.stata17.plist. But now, the problem is back. And com.stata.stata17.plist is not in ~/Library/Preferences/.

[Owen Davis]

I'm also having the same issue. I deleted com.stata.stata17.plist in the ~/Library/Preferences folder and restarted. This fixed the problem for two days, now it's back. I would rather not have to delete this file continually both for the obvious annoyance of having to do so, but also because it seems that this erases Stata's memory of what I've done in the past (eg, recently opened do files). Anyone figure out a more permanent solution?

[William Lisowski]

I suggest you raise this issue with Stata Technical Services at the address in post #2 and see if they have updated advice. In particular, their previous advice quoted in post #3 was based on macOS Monterrey, so if you have upgraded to macOS Ventura, which was released in October, be sure to let them know. The fact that - for some users in some circumstances - the problem reoccurs subsequent to applying the workaround was not reported here before.

[Jorge L. Guzman]

I would just drag the new do-file to Stata (that is already opened) and it will be considered a new tab. It works for me.

[Owen Davis]

For those who are still having this problem, I found a solution that prevents me from having to delete the .plist file -- and lose preferred settings -- every time this issue arises (which for me is roughly every 1-3 weeks).

Open the file ~/Library/Preferences/com.stata.stata17.plist (I use the app BBEdit). Then find the following line:

    <key>NSWindow Frame Do-file Editor</key>
    <string>### 52 1087 1043 0 0 1792 1095 </string>

For the first number in the second line, which I've written "###" , I found that if I changed it to 693, the do-file editor returns to the desired tabbing behavior. So now when this issue arises I just manually edit the .plist, restart Stata, and I'm good to go.

[Matthew Comey]

Thank you, Owen! Your trick in post #10 (editing the .plist file) worked for me after the issue reemerged.

Jorge: when this issue emerges, no mechanism for tabbing do files works, including the tip you propose.

[Ellen Kiley]

I am having the same problem with Stata 18....wondering if I should delete the plist file from Stata 18?

[Todd Jones]

I also have Stata 18 (on Mac) and am having this problem. Has a good solution been identified?

[Good Bai]

i'm using Stata18 and adopted the solution provided by #10. It finally works!