[I want to save my studio settings]

Thanks, CLC, but we shouldn't have to know computer-speak (if I wanted to be a programmer, I wouldn't be purchasing programs to assist me with my work! hehe) to do something that I truly think should be an innate bit of functionality. Shoot: even Microsoft allows you to customize your workspace and if they can do it. ... I actually fear making minor config changes.

[I want to save my studio settings]

Like, today already! What a total waste of time and frustration having to reset these - and I've not figured out if even saving the toolbar after I've reconfigured it to fit my needs can be done. I love these programs, but the lack of these basic functionalities really put a damper on a should-be smooth creative experience.

[Strange auto-feathering]

I'm checking out this thread as such a newbie that I cannot figure out how to remove the fr***ing background without the same jagged effect. While this does give me ideas to go about correcting my issues, it seems that this most recent response from firstdefence takes the initial poster right back to where the  question began - to get rid of the feathering effect. 

How about background removal without any effects? I am presently (probably because I'm an idiot!) having issues with using the node tool. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't - as in, it will not allow me to make any adjustments to the selected image. It remains outlined in blue, but no matter of clicking will add another node. That being the case, I've used another insufficient program to remove the background, which now requires a feathering effect (such as the first poster does not want) to correct it, which would actually work very well for this particular project). 

Why can't an "expert " user simply post the parameters for making a clean removal of background? I know that images differ, but seriously - a baseline would be of great assistance to those of us who don't have time to experiment around.... (Agreed this offers a solution to feathering my image, but I'd rather it be clean to begin with, thus allowing me to decide what to do with it thereafter....)

[permission denied message(s)]

On 5/25/2018 at 6:49 AM, firstdefence said:

Not everything is an Affinity issue, Windows at the best of times is temperaMENTAL and with constant background updates being pushed on to the system, things can easily get messed up.

You should really save to Documents not to Desktop; one reason is file safety. If saving to Documents has the same issue you may have a corrupt user profile/account or permissions to test that theory, you can create a new user profile/account and log into it, then try opening and saving to that user profiles desktop. 

I choose to save my files to a certain place for a reason - those I'm actively working on are most easily found on my desktop and when I've finished, I can then file them away. "Where" I save the files should have no relevancy to permissions being granted - that seems to me quite preposterous. (I think that if you go into "updates and security" you can change whether or not you allow updates to run in the background and instead assign a time for them to occur, FYI.)

I find AlainP's reply more feasible; if this is the issue, this should be easily remedied  by allowing Affinity through....

Thanks all for your suggestions! As a "newbie", I'm quite impressed that others go out of their way to assist people like me - and I expect that I will be asking "stupid" questions as my learning curve intensifies (though I do try to search inet and "help" prior to doing so). 

[permission denied message(s)]

I have been getting the permission denied on and off all day when exporting to PDF. It says that there is an error in exporting at this time...permission denied. Several different files, same outcome. I'm on deadline, so I have just continued trying until ... it suddenly decides there is no longer an error in exporting at this time? It is nonsensical and random.