This is bewildering. I’ve been using the same AppleScript solution (except for minor necessary updates) to automatically prompt me for text to rename screen snapshots since the classic Mac system. A couple of days ago I started getting error messages rather than text prompts when I took a screen snapshot. The nearest system-wide event I can line up with the occurrence was my option to accept the 15.3 update. A week or so later, when I decided to troubleshoot, I discovered that my AppleScript app package had become corrupted. Script Editor was displaying gibberish instead of AppleScript in the Script Editor window. I have apparently solved that first issue by restoring the script text from a backup, which apparently wasn’t affected. I’ll take time now to say that I haven’t observed any other unusual operation on my system, so the presence of malware would seem unlikely.
After fixing the script app, instead of failure to execute alert, I saw a “file not found” alert. I can capture the notification alert to screen snapshot, because the process is now managed by Keyboard Maestro. Here’s what I see as the new screen capture’s default name.
Screen Snapshot 2025-02-12 at 4.59.28 PM.png
Here’s a screen capture of what is displayed when I copy that name and paste it into a BBEdit window.
AppleScript appears not to be able to handle that unusual character. Any ideas? Thanks.
On my Sequoia 15.3 that character is a Narrow No-Break Space U+202F. It’s part of the Unicode general punctuation class which should normally be handled without incident.
Applescript has supported Unicode since V2.0 (OS X Leopard) so your error is odd.
You might want to create a new script file, copy the text of the old script, and paste the text into the new one on the off-chance that there was a gremlin in your old compiled script.
OK, but it also appears that the screen snapshot naming mechanism has undergone other changes. There’s apparently an invisible file that is created first, so my script itself may indeed need further scrutiny. But what caused the corruption in the file may never be solved. It appears that I was hit with 2 problems at nearly the same time. Hard to imagine that they may not be related. Thanks.
If you have solved your problem you can ignore this, but I like to mention that this might be a font related problem. I have seen Helvetica Fractions pop up when in font conflict situations. Also look for missing fonts and corrupt fonts.
In this case, I think the script file was actually corrupted, because it’s the only one for which this problem has occurred for me in a very long time. Still, worth looking into, though. Thanks!
Folks, I’m pretty embarrassed, but maybe this will suffice as a word of warning. A good bit of my method depended on Keyboard Maestro. By carefully analyzing my Keyboard Maestro macros, I discovered that I must have inadvertently performed an accidental drag that moved the macro that set the variable I was using behind the macro that used the variable. I switched them back and everything was fine. All these interface enhancements over the years, and I’m still vulnerable to an unintended muscle movement. Sheesh! Thanks!
