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SourceTree Mac has a major UI bug that has not been fixed in 2 years

SourceTree Mac has a major UI bug that has not been fixed in 2 years

The SourceTree Mac has items in the sidebar:

File Status
History
Search

I switch between File Status and History 50+ times per day.

Frequently, when you click on a sidebar item, the sidebar item will be selected but the view shown in the main window will not change.

This is incredibly annoying, and requires you to click other sidebar items, then back to the one you want, in order to hopefully get the screen to load.

This bug is logged in the following tickets:

"Sidebar doesn't switch detail view at times"
https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/SRCTREE-5158

"File status and history menu highlighting not functioning correctly."
https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/SRCTREE-3602

"Clicks in sidebar are frequently ignored"
https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/SRCTREE-6331

"Right Pane does not Update"
https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/SRCTREE-5396

> "Anyone else got a bug with @sourcetree when you click the 'File status' and it doesn't update the panel? Have to click 'History' and then back to 'File status' to get it to load." https://twitter.com/YellDavid/status/932950587733348353

I have attached movies of this issue to the bug report, and will attach them here as well if possible.

This bug has existed roughly since the 2.0 release and is still not fixed nearly 2 years later.

The inattention to this MAJOR USABILITY ISSUE speaks broadly to the terrible overall performance of SourceTree Mac in recent years.

What was once my favorite git tool is now a terrible experience that I put up with due to no other available options for certain features.

Due to this single bug I am actively looking for alternatives to reduce my professional dependency on SourceTree / Atlasssian.

5 answers

4 votes

Hi @pkamb,

Let me start by acknowledging how frustrating this bug is, regardless of any complexities, and that’s been compounded by the lack of clarity. It’s not our intention to ignore users or turn away from any issue. In this particular case, there are numerous side effects (including on performance) which mean we need to tread lightly and proceed very deliberately.

A workaround for the moment is to use the keyboard shortcuts (Cmd+1,2,3) to switch to one of those three sections, especially if ‘stuck’ after a click, and the UI should refresh without the need for multiple selection hassles.

I appreciate the list of tickets, I’ve updated them so there’s a single source of truth that’s easier to track (SRCTREE-3602) and also tweaked that to more properly reflect the impact. There are efforts underway to improve our communication around tickets which I discussed recently in this thread.

We’re currently in the midst of wrapping up 3.1. Once that’s taken care of the areas of focus for Sourcetree on Mac are:

1. improve performance and stability
2. address Mojave compatibility issues
3. focus on top voted UX issues

I assure you that this is one of the top issues on the backlog and will be investigated soon. That said, I can’t provide an exact timeline on when this particular issue will be fixed or when its release will ship. Please be sure to vote and watch that ticket and we’ll update it as soon more information becomes available. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Brian Ganninger
Principal Developer, Sourcetree