Loading failed - Unable to load document

[JustARalf]

I assume it’s a bug:

I’ve been working for a rather long time on a vector-heavy file in designer without saving it in the home screen (meaning that I didn’t choose “save” from the “close|rename|duplicate|save” menu). During the days I’ve been working with the file I’ve opened and closed Designer, I’ve opened and closed other projects in Desinger, I’ve restarted the iPad. Until today this particular project always “came back”. While I can still open all other projects, attempting to open this particular one yields a “Loading failed - Unable to load document” error message. Trying to save it now crashes Designer. Duplicate doesn’t do anything, it’s possible however to rename the file. I looked around for the project in Files but can’t find it anywhere.

I am using Designer 1.7.3.1 on an iPad Pro running IOS 13.3

It would be delightful if anyone had an idea how I might avoid repeating about 10 hours of work. Apart from that I have to repeat what someone else wrote in another post about a document not opening any more: it’s an issue of trust - do I want to take the risk of losing hours and hours worth of work?

 

[DM1]

16 hours ago, JustARalf said:

I looked around for the project in Files but can’t find it anywhere.

Not what you want to hear but... If you haven’t used the Save or Save a Copy option then your file exists only in AD's 'sandboxed' memory area. It can’t be accessed by other apps.

It seems it has been corrupted. I suspect your file is a lost cause . Maybe the mods can open it for you?

My number 1 suggestion with Affinity apps on iOS is 'always save your file', and preferably, not in the Affinity folder. After saving, delete it from the project screen and reopen the Saved file using Open from Cloud. Now you will always have an up to date file that you can copy/backup elsewhere.

[JustARalf]

6 hours ago, DM1 said:

Not what you want to hear but... If you haven’t used the Save or Save a Copy option then your file exists only in AD's 'sandboxed' memory area. It can’t be accessed by other apps.

It seems it has been corrupted. I suspect your file is a lost cause . Maybe the mods can open it for you?

My number 1 suggestion with Affinity apps on iOS is 'always save your file', and preferably, not in the Affinity folder. After saving, delete it from the project screen and reopen the Saved file using Open from Cloud. Now you will always have an up to date file that you can copy/backup elsewhere.

Thanks a lot - it indeed isn’t what I wanted to hear but pretty close to what I expected to...
Your tip to safe elsewhere seems to be a pretty good one.

[Sean P]

Hi JustARalf,

Unfortunately DM1 is correct - the file is stored inside the sandbox area and generally isn't accessible outside of the application. With that said there are some applications that can access these areas and allow you to attempt to recover data stored in them (but does require an actual Mac to do). One of these is called iMazing, I've put some steps in the following link on how to attempt to recover the file, however it might/likely be that the desktop is also unable to read the file:

Sorry it isn't better news!