The file couldn’t be opened.

[mcandre]

Every single time I open a comic with the Simple Comic app, I get an error message "The file couldn’t be opened." Then the comic loads anyway.

This is a spurious error that should not be shown, unless the reader is actually unable to load the comic.

macOS Sequoia.

[nickv2002]

We're going to need some more info to address this since it works fine on Sequoia for me. Can you send us any log files or repeatable examples?

Also to try debugging on your side, try to uninstall the app and reinstall it and/or reboot your computer.

[paulb]

I installed SimpleComic today for the first time and have the same problem. macOS Sonoma 14.7.2, M2 Pro Mac mini. I made a simple 2 image cbz file – took two free jpeg images from the web and told macOS to compress them through Finder then renamed the file with a cbz extension. I get the error every time I open it with SimpleComic. Other comic readers can open without errors.

This does not prevent reading and the file opens after dismissing the message.

I installed through Homebrew, because I don't install anything through the App Store if I don't have to. "About Simple Comic" shows "Version 1.9.8 (355)". Tried uninstalling and reinstalling.

I uploaded my example file to Dropbox. Will expire in a few days because I do not have a pro account. If it expires before you see this I can upload again.

https://www.dropbox.com/t/94QhViyRq9jt4bzA

How do I get logs?

[nickv2002]

Thanks @paulb

I tested your file on my version of SimpleComic (same version as you) and it opened without issue. (Though I'm on macOS 15.2, not that that should matter). I'm pretty sure it's not a problem with the file itself, but I attached it here (with a .zip extension instead of .cbz) comic.zip

Please do try these things:

1. Try the Mac App Store version after brew remove simple-comic
2. To get the logs, you can open /System/Applications/Utilities/Console.app and search for simplecomic then hit "Start" and try to dupe the bug (using the App Store and/or brew version). You can then use the Share button to export those to a text file that you can zip up and share here along with a summary of your findings.

Thanks for your help debugging.

[paulb]

I didn't think to attach my file...

I'm attaching what I got from the Console app log, minus a bit of semi-personal information which shouldn't be relevant like my username. I don't know if this will be helpful. I don't see anything related to the error, though it did happen during this session. The log runs from file open to closing the app.

Unfortunately it seems that I won't be able to set up my system to have SimpleComic remember my reading location (the required system setting is not one I am willing to disable – that's a separate discussion, however) so even if this bug gets figured out I probably won't continue using it. I'm bringing this up only to explain why I created these logs with the Homebrew version and don't wish to clutter my App Store purchase history with an app I probably won't use.

But if I can otherwise help further debug the issue, I am happy to try.

SimpleComic-log.zip

[nickv2002]

Thank you @paulb for taking the time to report this bug even if Simple Comic is not for you.

We know Simple Comic is not for everyone with its deliberately "simple" feature set. We do our best to fix bugs, but it's a part time project that we give away for free so I don't know when/how this bug will be fixed.