Sudden crash, file won't open

[CécileL]

I was working on a very large file yesterday and Publisher suddenly closed. Now I can't open the file. I can open other files, but as soon as I open that specific file, Publisher closes in a split second, no warning, no error. I had a multi-month project delivery yesterday, luckily I had exported most of the work already, and for what was missing, I at least put something together from past versions. But I do need to recover the editable file.

I cannot share the file, it's “confidential”, 712MB, 70 pages long, with embedded files.

Before crash, I was copy-pasting 2 picture frame elements, with one tiny (150px) image each, from one page to another.

When I open this file, Publisher just closes without warning, whether there are other files open or not. There's no error afterwards, no “Affinity Publisher stopped responding” or “Report crash”, nothing. If another unsaved file was open at the same time, that one will be recovered upon re-opening Publisher, but not the file in question.

• Where are the auto-saves saved?
• How I can access auto-saves?
• Where are the settings for auto-saving? Couldn't find those in the settings.
• Is there an error log somewhere I can access to at least see what happened?
• How can I avoid having a file just break like this? Having a corrupted file on the day of a very large project delivery not only put in line my sanity, but also my job!

Thanks in advance

V1.8.1
macOS Catalina 10.15.3
MacBook Pro
No external hardware (only an old mouse from the 90s)
running SkyFonts and a few utilities like Toggl (irrelevant?)

[Jon P]

Hi @CécileL,

Apologies it took us a while to get back to you.

The autosaves were not functioning correctly in certain circumstances, the beta has a fix for this and you should now hopefully see the correct recovery behavior if this happens again.

Is this file still crashing on open for you in the latest beta? If so can you upload it here and I'll take a look

Thanks