Editing a read-only file doesn’t give enough user feedback

[GarryP]

Windows 10 Home 1909, Photo 1.7.3.481.

I can set an image file to read-only via File Explorer, then open the image in Photo and it shows as read-only in the title bar, all good there.
However, I can make changes to it without getting a message telling me that it is read-only (not a massive problem, but slightly worrying).
But, more importantly, I can use “File → Save” and I don’t get any message telling me that the save wasn’t successful, it just does nothing. It should at least say something like “You can’t save a read-only file”.
Then, if I set the file to be not read-only and save the same image (already loaded as read-only) in Photo again, the changes are saved this time but Photo says that the image is still read-only.
I think we need more information/feedback when using read-only files, not just in Photo but all three applications (I haven’t tested the others).

P.S. I thought I’d add this to the discussion forum instead of the requests forum as I would like to read other peoples’ take on this, just to see what the general feeling is.

[Chris B]

I believe this has changed in the beta—you can edit the image until your heart's content but as soon as you try to save:

[Move Along People]

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[walt.farrell]

3 minutes ago, haakoo said:

Shouldn't the message show when opening instead of saving,may reduce the aggravation of not been able to save while an hours work has gone into it to make edits/adjustments.

You can save your changes, you just can't save that file name in that location, so you need to use Save As and either change the file name or directory.

The only case I can think of that's like what you described is when using the protected Affinity files from the Workbooks or the Samples section of the Welcome Screen. There you can end up making a lot of changes, only to find that File > Save is disabled, and File > Export gives an error message like "sorry, this file can't be exported".

 

[Move Along People]

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[Chris B]

8 minutes ago, haakoo said:

I know Walt, it's more for those users that don't know a file is protected or its location

But wouldn't they just then go and export it as a new image? I get what you're saying but I think we do better than some other apps. Photoshop seems to have the same behaviour as us—doesn't mean we couldn't potentially do better though...

[Mark Ingram]

The new behaviour in the beta is correct - you shouldn't be able to save over the top of a read only file (and certainly not silently fail!), but opening a read only file, editing it, then saving as a new file is completely acceptable.

[GarryP]

I think it might be nice if the user was given a warning when they opened a read-only file – it’s an normally an exception for most people after all so it’s probably best that they know about it early on (looking for [read only] in the title bar isn’t usual, for me at least) – and maybe ask them if they would like to make a copy of the document/file, thus converting it to an “Untitled” document, like they would have when they start a new document.

Edited January 22, 2020 by GarryP

[carl123]

1 hour ago, Mark Ingram said:

The new behaviour in the beta is correct

But why the cryptic (and inaccurate) error message?

Why not just say...

Save failed because the file is "read only"

 

 

[Move Along People]

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[- S -]

I've mentioned it before, however I like how Visual Studio Code handles read-only files—where it gives options to Overwrite, Save As, or close the dialogue box without doing anything.  Whether this would be feasible for Affinity products though, I don't know.  I posted a screenshot previously in the below topic:

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/92113-solved-unable-to-save/&do=findComment&comment=490512

For what it's worth, batch processing read-only files also fail silently—as per the second screenshot in my below post:

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/100267-affinity-photo-batch-processing-feedback/

 

[Chris B]

15 hours ago, carl123 said:

But why the cryptic (and inaccurate) error message?

Why not just say...

Save failed because the file is "read only"

 

 

We spoke about the wording internally. It is not accurate like you pointed out as we aren't creating a file—we are attempting to save the same one!