Troubleshooting

“Gatekeeper blocked the app from opening” (macOS)

The macOS build is notarised, so this shouldn’t usually happen. If it does:

1. Right-click Trove in Applications → Open.
2. Confirm in the prompt.

This only needs doing once. After that the app launches normally.

Activation failed

If Settings → License → Activate returns an error:

1. Check your network connection.
2. Confirm the License Key is exactly the format TROVE-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX (4×4 hex groups, no extra whitespace).
3. Check your activation count in the Polar customer portal. If you’ve used all 5 slots, deactivate an old machine.

If the error persists, contact support with the error code shown in the dialog.

My editor is read-only

You’re in read-only mode because either:

• Your trial has elapsed (14 days from first launch). Activate a License in Settings → License.
• Your License’s expiresAt has passed (very rare; lifetime Licenses don’t expire, but a payment dispute or refund can transition the license to expired).

Your files remain visible and exportable in either case. Trove never locks you out of reading or compiling your work.

I edited a file in another app and Trove won’t let me save

Trove is single-writer per file. If it detects a file changed on disk after it was loaded into the editor, it prompts before overwriting.

You’ll see a banner: “This file changed on disk.” Options:

• Reload from disk — discard the in-Trove edits, take the external version.
• Overwrite — keep what Trove has, replace what’s on disk.
• Cancel — defer the decision.

To avoid this dance: pick one editor as authoritative when a Document is being actively worked on.

Sync conflict in iCloud Drive / Dropbox

Cloud sync providers occasionally produce conflict copies (e.g. chapter-03 (conflict 2026-05-10).md). Trove won’t auto-merge — it’ll show both files in the Manuscript binder.

To resolve:

1. Open both Documents side-by-side.
2. Manually merge the content into the canonical one.
3. Delete the conflict copy (right-click → Move to Trash).

Sync providers handle text well; conflict copies happen most when two machines write the same file within seconds of each other. The general fix is to keep only one Trove instance editing a Project at a time.

The Manuscript binder is empty

Trove couldn’t find or read the manuscript/ folder for this Project. Common causes:

• Trove root changed — re-point in Settings → Storage.
• Permissions — macOS may have lost Full Disk Access permission to the Trove root. Re-grant in System Settings → Privacy & Security.
• The folder genuinely is empty — add a Document from the binder’s + button.

A Document won’t open

Most likely the file’s frontmatter (the colon-separated block at the top) is malformed. Trove will surface an error in a Toast.

Open the file in any plain-text editor and check the frontmatter syntax — every key needs a value, no trailing colons, no tabs. If the frontmatter is intact, the file’s body is what you’d see in any other Markdown editor.

Trove is slow to open a Project

Large Projects (10,000+ Documents, multi-gigabyte World folder) may take a few seconds to scan. Once loaded, the binder is fast.

If scan time becomes painful:

• Move .trash/ and unused .snapshots/ out of the Project (or purge them from Settings → Storage).
• Split the Project — really long manuscripts (a trilogy in one Project) are often better as three Projects sharing a World.

I lost a Document

Check .trash/ inside the Project. Soft-deleted Documents stay there until you purge.

If that’s not it, check .snapshots/ — there might be a Draft of the Document.

If neither, your backup tool (Time Machine, iCloud version history, git) is the next step. There is no Trove-side cloud restore.

Reporting bugs

GitHub Issues. Use the bug label.

Include:

• Trove version (Trove → About).
• macOS / Windows / Linux version.
• A short reproduction.
• The error from any visible Toast.