Cannot open JPEG, PNG, GIF, or TIFF files from Open menu

[R C-R]

In File > Open windows, all JPEG, PNG, GIF, or TIFF files are greyed out so they cannot be opened in a new document ... BUT they all open just fine using Finder's Open with ... > Affinity Publisher right-click option, or by dragging & dropping any of them on Publisher's Dock or Application folder icon.

Once opened any of those ways the file will appear on Publisher's File > Open Recent list & can be opened that way without issues as well.

[walt.farrell]

It works the same way on Windows, R C-R, though with the Windows dialog one can override Publisher's filtering and open the files directly.

I've never considered this to be a bug, merely a preference (intended workflow) to open a document file rather than an image file. The full filtering list on Windows has these entries:

But we'll see what Serif has to say

[A_B_C]

Interesting find. 

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

I've never considered this to be a bug, merely a preference (intended workflow) to open a document file rather than an image file.

Maybe it is intended but if so it seems strange that in the Mac version raster image filed can be opened through the Finder, or via drag & drop onto the app's icon. This behavior occurs because Publisher's info.plist file includes "CFBundleType Extensions" key/value pairs for these (& many other) raster image filetypes, including bmp, jxr, j2k, jp2, webp, tga, & even a bunch of RAW formats.

CFBundleType Extensions key/value pairs in an app's info.plist file is the standard way for an app to declare to the Mac OS that it can open a file with a particular extension. It is what the Finder "Open with" right-click option uses to populate that list & if dragging & dropping a file onto an app's icon it should pass the file to that app. (It does not guarantee that the app can open the file, only that it will be passed to it.)

I did not check every filetype in the key/value list but all that I did check including several RAW filetypes did open in Publisher! Since Publisher has no Develop Persona of its own, not even via StudioLink, I am not quite sure what to make of that -- the RAW files open at their full pixel resolution so they are not thumbnails or previews. They open as single "(Pixel)" layer files using (I think) the default ICC color profile set in Preferences > Color, but they have a dull, underexposed look different from with the Mac Quick Look feature, using Apple's RAW Engine in Affinity Photo, or even using that app's Serif Engine with all corrections & enhancements turned off.

In fact, I just now checked the Finder > Open In & drag & drop behavior of Affinity Designer & it also will open RAW files, with the same appearance as is Publisher. However, Designer does not grey out any of the raster image file formats in its File > Open menu -- only Publisher does that.

For the curious, TypeExtensions.txt is a plain text list of the array of key values of item 2 of the CFBundleTypeExtensions key of Publisher for Macs' info.plist file. There are 71 extensions in the array, although AFAIK a few are neither raster nor vector image file formats.

[walt.farrell]

4 minutes ago, R C-R said:

including several RAW filetypes did open in Publisher! Since Publisher has no Develop Persona of its own, not even via StudioLink, I am not quite sure what to make of that -- the RAW files open at their full pixel resolution so they are not thumbnails or previews. They open as single "(Pixel)" layer files using (I think) the default ICC color profile set in Preferences > Color, but they have a dull, underexposed look different from with the Mac Quick Look feature, using Apple's RAW Engine in Affinity Photo, or even using that app's Serif Engine with all corrections & enhancements turned off.

The Affinity applications will open RAW images in several surprising places, including batch jobs in Photo and File > Place, and when that is done I believe the Serif engine is used but with none of the adjustments that are selectable in the Develop Assistant settings. I'm not sure what else might be missing, but the result is usually not as good as using the Develop Persona, and is not something that I recommend doing

[R C-R]

But it still seems odd that only in Publisher's File > Open menu are all raster image filetypes greyed out, even those without RAW file type extensions. Since they can be opened by two alternate methods, surely that must qualify as a bug, right?

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, R C-R said:

But it still seems odd that only in Publisher's File > Open menu are all raster image filetypes greyed out, even those without RAW file type extensions. Since they can be opened by two alternate methods, surely that must qualify as a bug, right?

It's either a design decision, or a bug.

If it's a design decision, it's one that makes less sense in my opinion for those users who also own Photo, and thus have the Photo Persona available. But for users who do not have the Photo Persona available, I find it odd that they would want to open an image file in Publisher. It would be more usual to Place an image file in a Publisher document than to Open the image file directly. And in that case I would understand a design decision not to show the image files in the Open dialog.

But yes, there could be a bug in that Publisher should have prevented all methods of Opening an image file directly.

In any case, only the Serif team can tell us how it's supposed to work

[R C-R]

8 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

If it's a design decision, it's one that makes less sense in my opinion for those users who also own Photo, and thus have the Photo Persona available

For me, it makes no sense at all, & not just because Publisher is fully capable of opening raster format files directly. Since StudioLink makes it so quick & simple to switch among Publisher's personas, there often is no need to waste time launching Photo to work on raster image files if Publisher is already running, more RAM is available for Publisher & other apps I might want to run concurrently with it, & I can use Publisher features that are not available in Photo if I want.

It is perhaps a bit unconventional but I have recently started using one workflow where this is useful: creating simple PDF's with raster images in them that are themselves clickable URL, mail, or file hyperlinks. Since I do not want these to be placed or pasted images, it is a PITA that I can't simply open them from the File > Open menu item.