Does Messages (macOS) crash for anyone else when trying to insert emojis?

[usagora]

For months now, I frequently get crashes on Messages for macOS when I go to insert an emoji by clicking on the emoji menu button to the right of the message entry field (the smiley-face button on the right side of this screen capture):

Sometimes it will be fine. Other times it be fine for a few seconds as I'm browsing the emojis and then it will crash. Other times it will crash instantly as I click on it. I've submitted multiple crash reports to Apple since this first started, but it's still happening. The crash report says:

Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '-[CPKSearchFieldCell accessibilityColumnIndex]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x7fc40f851860'
terminating with uncaught exception of type NSException
abort() called

I can't seem to find reports of this online. Is this happening to anyone else?

macOS 11.4
Messages 14.0 (6000)

 

[Blowback]

Just played around inserting some emoji from all over the selections....only thing I noticed bug wise was that some of the emoji didn't go in at or send at the correct size. No crashing. MBP 2017 BS 11.5.1

Re-checked...they all 'went' and 'arrived' at the correct size. No crashing. Maybe you have to update to the latest OS to see if it will fix the problem? You may also want to check the Apple Support Forums.

 

[usagora]

Just played around inserting some emoji from all over the selections....only thing I noticed bug wise was that some of the emoji didn't go in at or send at the correct size. No crashing. MBP 2017 BS 11.5.1

Re-checked...they all 'went' and 'arrived' at the correct size. No crashing. Maybe you have to update to the latest OS to see if it will fix the problem? You may also want to check the Apple Support Forums.

Like I said, I can't consistently reproduce the problem, but it happens often enough that I now CMD+C my messages before attempting to insert an emoji 😬

Well, I thought I was on the latest Big Sur update, but apparently my system failed to notify me of the available 11.5.1 update for some strange reason (I manually checked just now). So I'll update this thread after a while to let you know if the issue still persists after updating.

 

[neutrino23]

Hmm. I just ran across one where I copied a page from a PDF in Preview then tried to paste into Messages. That crashed twice in a row so I gave up and pasted a screen shot of the information.

 

[usagora]

Hmm. I just ran across one where I copied a page from a PDF in Preview then tried to paste into Messages. That crashed twice in a row so I gave up and pasted a screen shot of the information.

Well that I can understand, as the PDF likely contains embedded formatting information that is causing an issue with Messages. Here's how to get around that:

1. Open TextEdit.
2. Be sure the TextEdit document is in plain text mode (should be no formatting options at the top: press CMD + SHIFT + T to toggle between plain/rich text modes or choose from the Format menu).
3. Paste the copied text from the PDF into the plain text TextEdit document, which will remove any embedded formatting.
4. Then copy the text FROM TextEdit and paste into Messages. That way there's nothing but text being pasted into Messages and there shouldn't be an issue.

 

[usagora]

Still happening on 11.5.2

Just typed out a message to send my mom, and wanted to insert an emoji at the end. As soon as I clicked on the emoji button (to the right of the text field), Messages instantly crashed. I sent yet another crash report to Apple.

 

[Blowback]

Still happening on 11.5.2

Just typed out a message to send my mom, and wanted to insert an emoji at the end. As soon as I clicked on the emoji button (to the right of the text field), Messages instantly crashed. I sent yet another crash report to Apple.

Using same as you: BS 11/5/2 with Messages 14.0 (6000). Not happing with mine. Sent emoji from iMessage as well as Keyboard. Look and see if you have some other 'message/ emoji' application that may be conflicting? Have you tried from both iMessage and using your keyboard?

 

[usagora]

Using same as you: BS 11/5/2 with Messages 14.0 (6000). Not happing with mine. Sent emoji from iMessage as well as Keyboard. Look and see if you have some other 'message/ emoji' application that may be conflicting? Have you tried from both iMessage and using your keyboard?

Well it doesn't happen for me every time, so it's hard to reproduce. Seems to happen randomly. I have the Facebook Messenger app, but it's not open when this happens and this also happened before I installed that app, so it can't be that. By using the keyboard, do you mean the CTRL + CMD + Space Bar shortcut? That's a system-wide function, though, and I think the problem is the "insert emoji" button that's built into Messages itself. I will try to remember to use the keyboard shortcut exclusively for now, though, just in case that also causes a crash.

Also, it seems to only happen if click on the emoji button AFTER I've typed a message. It's less likely to happen (or may never happen?) if I just start a new message and immediately go to insert an emoji. I've tried to reproduce it over and over again just now on a screen recording, but of course it won't happen (that would be too convenient ).

 

[usagora]

Still happening! 😡 Big Sur 11.6. Messages 14.0 (6000).

Just happened twice in a row. I was responding to someone's text, clicked on the insert emoji button to the right of the text field, and Messages crashed as I was scrolling through the emojis. Sent another report to Apple. Reopened Messages and it did it AGAIN. Tried a third time while screen-recording so I could show this, but of course Murphy's Law then takes effect and it works fine this time just because I'm trying to capture it on screen recording 🙄🙄🙄