wtwolf

Thanks for your reply.  Upon further investigation, based on your comment alluding to forward compatibility, prompted me to launch the back-level (1.7.3) version of Affinity Photo and import a collection of macros, primarily to ascertain if they were compatible (and would install) in 1.7.3.  Out of curiosity, I "quit" 1.7.3 and launched 1.8.3.  The macros carried forward to the current 'production' version without having to reinstall them.  Apparently, I had never installed them in the previous version and accidentally launching 1.7.3, seemingly regressed the imports in 1.8.3.
I'm still not sure whether this would be considered a bug, but at least I understand the <apparent> reason for the disappearance.

Thanks for both replies.  I did some searches before posting, and didn't find any clarification pertaining to my question.  I apologize as it appears my inquiry has been previously addressed.