I have been using Encore for many years. But a few years ago I started having frequent crashes in which all fonts (rehearsal letters, instructions on the parts, tempo markings, etc.) are lost or changed from Times New Roman to Lucia Grande (which I hate). I have written hundreds of scores and parts in Encore, primarily for my 17-piece jazz orchestra, and have become very fluent in it’s use. Last winter, I upgraded my MAC Air OS (after frequent “nagging” by my MAC) to the successor to OS High Sierra. I could not open Encore anymore and had to have the MAC Genius Bar’s help to revert to the old High Sierra OS, v. 10.13.8. Unfortunately, returning to the older OS didn’t work, so I had to buy a new MAC 2, Sonoma 14.5 in order to move all my data to from my old computer to my new one. After the data transfer, they had to wipe the old computer clean. The only program I now use on the older computer is Encore, so I still have all my compositions, which I’ve backed up on external hard drives.

But running Encore on the older MAC Air still frequently crashes and sometimes parts are lost. I can either re-extract them from the scores (which with a 17 piece band is very time consuming). Sometimes if the crash isn’t too extensive I can reinsert the missing fonts, but often the Encore document won’t even open.

I’ve tried everything I can think of to prevent crashes from happening – not running any other programs, keeping the trash emptied, and keeping very little items on the desk top. Not only do the fonts vanish, but I often get weird looking symbols like giant square shapes and lines running across the page. It really is bizarre.

I did buy Dorico for my new computer and tried to learn it, but I can’t afford to take time off from writing music to learn such a complex program, so I’m struggling on with Encore. I can’t wait for Encore 6 to be available. I’m wondering if anyone else has had similar issues with lost fonts and parts that won’t open. If so, did you find any solutions or work-arounds?