Alert for macOS users

Updated 20 Jan to add more suggested work-arounds.
Updated 24 Feb to correct typo (missing “1” from list).

Apple released Big Sur, the new Mac operating system, last week, and we’ve discovered several compatibility issues which means Stitchmastery won’t run properly on that system. It will take us a wee while to work out the changes required and issue our own software update, so in the meantime our advice to any Stitchmastery users on macOS is not to upgrade to Big Sur, if it’s your only machine for designing on.

If you’ve already upgraded, it should be possible to revert back to Catalina:

1) If a user has taken a full Time Machine backup then they can revert back to Catalina using the back up.

2) If a user has not taken a Time Machine back up or does not want to downgrade, then instead, if they have access to an external hard drive, they can install Catalina on that and boot up Catalina from the external hard drive.

If reverting to Catalina on your machine is not possible then you have several options available. One used suggested using Boot Camp to run Windows on your machine. Boot Camp is an Apple utility that will allow you to have both macOS Big Sur and Windows installed on the same machine. You can find details about Boot Camp here;-

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/boot-camp

Another option is to install Catalina on an external hard drive and then run Catalina from that hard drive. This leaves your machine unchanged but gives you an option to run Catalina when needed. When you start your machine you can either run Big Sur as now from the hard drive in your machine or select the external hard drive and run Catalina from that. This Apple support article explains how you can switch between different macOS versions;-

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchlp1034/mac

I have tried to find an Apple support article that explains how to install Catalina on an external hard drive but couldn’t fine one. It is definitely possible though as I have done it myself. This is an article that I have found that describes the process but I cannot give any guarantee that the steps in this particular article are accurate as it has been a while since I have done this myself;-

https://www.chriswrites.com/how-to-run-any-version-of-macos-from-an-external-hard-drive/

As with any changes to your computer make sure that you have an up to date Time Machine backup before you try any of the above. Installing Catalina on an external hard drive (which will be a different hard drive to the one used by Time Machine) shouldn’t affect your machine but up to date Time Machines are always a good idea.

Hope the above helps. The Apple store should also be able to help you with Boot Camp (if you want to run Windows) or with installing Catalina on an external hard drive (if you want to stick with macOS). Please let us know if you need more help.

We’ll post again when there is a Stitchmastery update available.

If you have any questions, you can contact us via our help centre (either in the https://stitchmastery.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360013964117-Alert-for-macOS-users-Big-Sur-Stitchmastery-compatibility-issue thread or click on Submit a Request) or by email to support@stitchmastery.com.