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Can open afpub file, but crashes every time on save


Bahanzai

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Hi,

It seems there are many threads around Affinity Publisher 1.7.3 crashing on save. In my case, I can open my afpub file, but cannot save it, even when I don't make any change to it and use "Save as". I  tried:

  1. Save or Save as = crash
  2. Deleting all pages except first then save or save as= crash on save
  3. Removing all complex layers (graphics with layer fx) then save or save as= crash on save
  4. Deleted all pages, emptying first page, deleting all masters then save or save as = crash on save
  5. Exporting to PDF : it works.
  6. Open said PDF back in Affinity Publisher then saving it as afpub : it works.

So the problem seems to be with something in the afpub file that is no longer present when converted to pdf and re-opened back into Publisher.

I need your help developers please, as the culprit does not seem to be related to the visible content (see trials # 4 and # 6).

Here are the afpub file as well as the Apple crash report.

Plan d'affaires - v0.2.afpub

Apple Crash Report.txt

Edited by Bahanzai
Added precisions and minor typo fixes
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  • Staff

There is a bug where facing pages/master pages and pinned objects if used in a certain way can cause corrupt pinned objects to be in the document that will then cause a crash on save, although I think you've got a slightly different variation of it.

Your crash is because of the symbols from the Designer Persona, if I go to designer persona and delete your symbols the file then saves correctly.

I think this is similar to the issue we know about, but did you do anything "out of the ordinary" when creating these symbols that might help me reproduce this from scratch?

Thanks

Serif Europe Ltd. - www.serif.com

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Thank you so much for the quick and very helpful answer ! 

No I simply designed the symbols in the Designer persona and added the symbols to some tables in the Designer persona (that’s maybe the out of the ordinary bit).

You saved me as this is a critical work for me, I’ll be able to continue and deliver in a timely manner.

Karim

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/25/2019 at 8:45 PM, Jon P said:

There is a bug where facing pages/master pages and pinned objects if used in a certain way can cause corrupt pinned objects to be in the document that will then cause a crash on save, although I think you've got a slightly different variation of it.

Your crash is because of the symbols from the Designer Persona, if I go to designer persona and delete your symbols the file then saves correctly.

I think this is similar to the issue we know about, but did you do anything "out of the ordinary" when creating these symbols that might help me reproduce this from scratch?

Thanks

I have this same issue now, which is incredibly frustrating, as I am as good as done with editing my work to be published. But now I am stuck because I can't save the last minor edits I am making. If the problem is the pinned objects, is there a simple way of fixing this? I tried to turn off all pins but Publisher keeps crashing before I get to the end of my document (138 pages). I think this could be caused by the autosave feature trying to save a recovery file?

Help me out, please. I really need this fixed.

String_of_Pearls_-_KDP_Print_-_v3.4.1.afpub

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Thanks for passing this on to the development team. I really hope it can be fixed. I have spent weeks on this: first learning to use the program then getting everything exactly where I wanted it. That it crashes on the last few minor edits is incredibly frustrating.

As an ex-software developer, I would hope the team can come up with a simple way to revert to the last usable version when a file becomes corrupt. For instance, by not overwriting the previous recovery file until the next one has been validated, the chances of ending up with an unusable file are greatly reduced. Of course, preventing file corruption to happen in the first place is even more important. In my case, I think the corruption has something to do with pins linking to text that also appears in the TOC. 

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  • Staff
Quote

I think the corruption has something to do with pins linking to text that also appears in the TOC. 

It's along this road, we have what we believe are most of the recipes to get documents into this state fixed in the 1.8 beta that is available, but unfortunatley it won't prevent the crash on save with a file that's already in this state.

Serif Europe Ltd. - www.serif.com

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When do you think my file will be fixed? I really want the book to be ready for publishing. I have been working on it so hard for so long... No pressure, of course :-). If it can’t be fixed I can try to go back to a previously saved version but then I would like to know how to prevent the same issue from happening again. I tried the Beta but got the same crash happening, as you say.

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Hi Jon,

Has there been any progress with my file? I have reverted back to the version I saved just before the crashes started to happen. Using that version (in the beta of Publisher) and the PDF I could export from the corrupted file, I have managed to finish the layout and final edit of my book and just got it published on Amazon.

I'm sorry for any unnecessary effort you and your team have spent on my behalf, but I promised my team the book would be published by this week and I couldn't wait any longer.

The good news, of course, is that I haven't had any problems using the current Beta of Publisher and am quite happy with the final results.

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  • 5 months later...

I'm experiencing the same issue as the initial poster, the exact same behavior and so I suspect there is some hidden corrupt elements in my afpub file as well.

I have also noticed another alarming issue when the save fails, it also corrupts all other files you have open in Affinity Publisher. I had another perfectly fine file open as well when the crash happened, and now that file as well can't be saved and exhibits the same behavior. 

It seems to be related to add 1 page in a facing spreads document, that's at least when my woes started (and I do have pinned objects here and there).

Is there anyone from development that can help me to look at my afpub file? Since it is som IP/copyrighted as yet unpublished material I'd rather not share the file openly on the forum. I did attach my apple crash report though.

 

applecrashreport.rtf

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I now have it 100% reproducible from my file as well. From the state the file is in, I can open the file and save as without changing anything, and it will work. But change anything, anything at all, and then do a save and it crashes and then the file is in a non-working state again. It doesn't matter if I change a paragraph style on page 10 or add a text character on page 100, it still triggers the crash. If I change nothing, the document saves.

edit: it is absolutely related to adding 1 single page into a facing spread document. It may not crash right away, but that seems to be a ticking clock just waiting to trigger crashes down the road.  I went back through my backup files, and even though I had taken a backup of a file when and where save was previously possible, suddenly it started crashing as well without changing anything. I went further back in the backup files until I got before I added the 1 single page, and suddenly it works fine. I added a couple of 2 page spreads, and no problem. Continued to work in that document, and no crashes down the line. Adding single pages in the middle of facing spread documents seems to cause complete instability in the file and software.

Edited by HRef
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@HRef: There are no Serif staff members following this old topic, and they are largely busy with discussions in topics related to the current releases of the Affinity products.

As they indicated that they think the problem was fixed in 1.8, it would be better for you to create a new topic in the active Publisher Bugs found on MacOS forum (assuming you're using a Mac), in my opinion.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
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