There are a few reasons why symbols might be slow to come up after you have clicked on "Symbolise".


You have a slow internet connection

If you have no internet connection and you are using an "online" symbol set, you will get a message saying that a symbol could not be downloaded. However, if you have a slow connection, then you might need to wait a short while whilst the symbol is being downloaded.


You are trying to add symbols to a large block of text

If there are hundreds of words in a text box, then it might take longer for symbols to come up.


  • If this is happening, split your text up into smaller text boxes.


You are using a lot of symbols with a block of text

If you are trying to add dozens of symbols to one block of text this is likely to slow things down. Even if you are just trying to change or add one symbol, if you already have a lot of symbols associated with the text box, things may still slow down.


  • Could you use less symbols? Symbols should carry the key information from text. It's usually not helpful to have symbols for everything you are trying to say. What is the one piece of key information you want to get over from the text?
  • You could split your text up into smaller text boxes.