"Save failed because you do not have permission to create a file in that location"

[5way]

Device: MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)

System: MacOS 10.15.3 (19D76)

Designer version: 1.8.2

Can't save any files, just like the image said.

Already open the FULL DISK ACCESS for Designer.

[Sean P]

Hi 5way,

Have you purchased the application from the Mac App Store? If so, do you use any form of Font Management software at all? Due to Apple's sandboxing restrictions the ability to save can get locked out if you've got many fonts loaded into the application. 

[Jed]

Hi there. I too have the issue trying to save a document in my User folder. Here are my specs.

Mac Pro 2009 (firmware upgraded to 5,1) - dual X5680 CPUs (12-core 3.33GHz) - 36 GB ram 1333 MHz - Sapphire Pulse RX 590 8GB - Boot drive is a Samsung 860 EVO SSD in a OWC Accelsior S SATA II PCIe card - User accounts are on a Fusion Drive made up of a Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB paired with a Western Digital Black Caviar 2TB spinner.

Affinity Designer (now at version 18.3) purchased off Mac App Store (MAS).

Affinity Photo (now at 1.8.3) also purchased off MAS. And I purchased Affinity Publisher direct from your website (not at version 1.8.3).

Can't save anywhere in my User (fusion drive) folder, or on my boot SSD. However, I can save in my User/iCloud/Affinity Designer folder. But that's not where I want to save my files! I have manually reset folder/file permissions, removed then installed all the Affinity apps, cleaned out user, application and system font caches and done a raft of other maintenance scripts using Onyx. NO OTHER applications have issues accessing/saving to my User account folders. 

Need help sorting this. Don't know when the issue began because I don't use this lovely software much, but when I do use it I spend days on projects and need it to work. I get the same result whether I use fonts in the document, and/or just vector graphics. I've read it could be too many fonts are activated - I deactivated all User fonts, cleared the caches, restarted and still get the issue. Affinity Publisher has no issues saving into User folder locations, however Affinity Photo has the same issue as Designer. The apps are all very slow to start up, and I see the fontd process is very busy as I wait for an app to start and open up. 

What is of concern is that while researching this issue, it can be traced back two years - yet the issue is still occurring for some users and I can find no solution for the problem after more than two hours searching. 

Please help - your software is awesome, but this sours the experience considerably for me. 

[Sean P]

Hi Jed,

Have you seen my reply above?

Font Management software often causes the above issue when you have lots of fonts installed, as it is triggering Apple's sandbox security as those files are accessed on launch (that is only found on Mac App Store builds). This is the reason why Publisher isn't causing an issue for you - as it was purchased from our store, it doesn't have the sandboxed restrictions that the Mac App Store releases have.

[Jed]

23 minutes ago, Sean P said:

Hi Jed,

Have you seen my reply above?

Font Management software often causes the above issue when you have lots of fonts installed, as it is triggering Apple's sandbox security as those files are accessed on launch (that is only found on Mac App Store builds). This is the reason why Publisher isn't causing an issue for you - as it was purchased from our store, it doesn't have the sandboxed restrictions that the Mac App Store releases have.

Thanks @Sean P. Can you give some guidance on how many fonts I should have activated then so as not to activate this feature (fault/limitation)? 

And is a better solution for you to convert my Mac App Store purchases into your store purchases so I can get around this? 

[Sean P]

22 minutes ago, Jed said:

Thanks @Sean P. Can you give some guidance on how many fonts I should have activated then so as not to activate this feature (fault/limitation)? 

And is a better solution for you to convert my Mac App Store purchases into your store purchases so I can get around this? 

Hi Jed,
From the numbers I've heard from development the limit is around 5,000 files (obviously the amount of files a font uses is different), so cannot give a 100% accurate value.

As for the solution, I work in QA so this isn't anything I can do. That is something you'll have to speak to Customer Service about.

[Jed]

Thanks for the reply. I've got 3600 fonts activated at present, down from having all 8700 activated, and I'm still getting the error. I've cleared the font cache etc also - still no go. Are there other steps after deactivating fonts that I also need to do, e.g. clear font caches etc?

 

 

[5way]

On 3/24/2020 at 11:25 PM, Sean P said:

Hi 5way,

Have you purchased the application from the Mac App Store? If so, do you use any form of Font Management software at all? Due to Apple's sandboxing restrictions the ability to save can get locked out if you've got many fonts loaded into the application. 

Thanks Sean. Yes I purchased the application from Mac App Store, and I use Rightfont to manage my fonts (Cause I am doing some type design work). Is that possible I move my license to the application downloaded from your own store?

Edited April 15, 2020 by 5way

[Lorne Bigley]

I'd like to pile on. I am getting this same message intermittently. After doing a project, I try to either export or save it, and the message may come up. I have to quit the program and start it back up, and then I can save it, but have to start the project all over from scratch. It has happened 3-4 times in the last month, and had never happened before. I have a MacBook Pro, running the latest OS and the most updated Affinity Photo as of 8/25/2020. I think there may have been something in the recent update that is causing this, but don't know. 

[Jed]

45 minutes ago, Lorne Bigley said:

I'd like to pile on. I am getting this same message intermittently. After doing a project, I try to either export or save it, and the message may come up. I have to quit the program and start it back up, and then I can save it, but have to start the project all over from scratch. It has happened 3-4 times in the last month, and had never happened before. I have a MacBook Pro, running the latest OS and the most updated Affinity Photo as of 8/25/2020. I think there may have been something in the recent update that is causing this, but don't know. 

Did you buy this from the Mac App Store (MAS) or directly from Affinity? As covered above, the MAS version has sandbox limitations arbitrarily set by Apple that does cause the issue you seem to have, however the non-MAS version has no such limitation. 

If you have the MAS version then there is a work around. I purchased and installed RightFont (~$32) and reduced my activated fonts right down to my oft-used and essential ~1200 and I had no further issues. 

[CALDesign]

I have just lost three hours of work because of this problem and although I have been a super-loyal fan of Affinity I really could not now recommend Designer to any professional working to a deadline and a budget. This problem first arose for me about two years ago and has now re-emerged under MacOS Big Sur (Beta). I now cannot save any Designer file anywhere on my hard drive. It's really depressing that Affinity products (that so many of us have tried so hard to support) let us down so fundamentally. You do the work AND YOU CANNOT SAVE IT!!! Please tell us NOW, in words of one syllable, how to fix this at our end or else fix it yourselves in an update SOON... but if you want us to carry on using Designer, FIX IT...

[Jed]

4 hours ago, CALDesign said:

I have just lost three hours of work because of this problem and although I have been a super-loyal fan of Affinity I really could not now recommend Designer to any professional working to a deadline and a budget. This problem first arose for me about two years ago and has now re-emerged under MacOS Big Sur (Beta). I now cannot save any Designer file anywhere on my hard drive. It's really depressing that Affinity products (that so many of us have tried so hard to support) let us down so fundamentally. You do the work AND YOU CANNOT SAVE IT!!! Please tell us NOW, in words of one syllable, how to fix this at our end or else fix it yourselves in an update SOON... but if you want us to carry on using Designer, FIX IT...

As far as I understand it, this is not an Affinity generated issue or poor app development. The problem is that Mac App Store (MAS) apps are subjected to Apple's sandbox provisions. One artefact of sandboxing is that having a huge number of activated fonts causes conflicts, of which you are currently experiencing. 

There are two remedies to this:

1. Purchase the app directly from Affinity (not via the MAS) - the sandboxing restrictions/issues don’t apply. 
2. Use font management software (FontExplorer Pro X, Suitase Fusion, RightFont etc) to deactivate all but your most-needed fonts, and keep this below ~1500. 

I went for the latter, and to be honest it’s not a big issue for me and my workflows. I’m not a full-on creative genius or anything, so I don’t pretend that this isn’t a big issue for you as your milage may differ. 

[CALDesign]

Thank you, but I’ve seen these explanations in the past. My work doesn’t involve any special fonts so the only ones I have are the standard ones supplied with macOS. Affinity surely can’t can’t be expecting me to buy a font manager in order to use Designer. And in any case, Publisher manages without that... and so does every other sand-boxed and paid-for app on my computer. And if Designer only works if you buy it from the publisher, it ought to be withdrawn from the App Store. What we need is a fix. Otherwise the product is totally useless and a waste of €50.

[CALDesign]

Just a quick question... does anyone from Serif read our comments and queries on this forum or is it just read by users? If the latter and Serif in unaware that its products don’t work for some/many of its customers, then the situation is truly serious. My solution for today will be to use a friend’s computer but I suppose I’ll have to go back to Adobe by the end of this week.

[Jed]

I sent an email to affinity@serif.com and heard back from them very quickly. They helped me work through the issue - Gareth was really helpful. Again, as it was explained to me, this is an issue with Apple's sand-boxing. Given that Affinity knows of the issue, one could argue that they should warn users of the MAS limitations with respects to the number and/or location of activated fonts, and instead encourage prospective purchasers to buy their software direct from their website (maybe it's in their EULA - dunno). I'll leave it to those who want to pursue that angle to see what comes of it. 

Page 13 of Extensis's Best Practise Guide found here shares some more information on the issue of fonts and sand-boxing with respect to Microsoft Office 2016 and where fonts ought to be located: i.e. /Library/Fonts/ . This may well also apply to Affinity applications that are bought from the MAS. I was using FontExplorer X Pro (FEXP) and had all of my user added fonts managed in the root folder of my User account, so that probably explains why I had so many issues. I ended up purchasing RightFont, and left my fonts in a sand-boxed approved location ( ~/Library/Fonts/) and haven't had an issue since. I think the solution here for me was that I had my fonts in the proper location, not that FEXP was the issue. I haven't gone back to FEXP to see if it works, and haven't had an issue since with RightFont. 

If you do learn more, please share with the rest of us.

[CALDesign]

Still not a word from Serif... so I suspect they don’t read what we say and this forum is just a play-pen (sand-box?) for us users... Sad, because I had such high hopes that a British software developer would show the way into the future...

[walt.farrell]

9 minutes ago, CALDesign said:

Still not a word from Serif... so I suspect they don’t read what we say and this forum is just a play-pen (sand-box?) for us users... Sad, because I had such high hopes that a British software developer would show the way into the future...

@Sean P responded back in April to the first iteration of this thread. It's possible that he just hasn't had time to get back to the revived part of the thread, as (depending on workload, staff availability, etc.) it can sometimes take a a few days, even a week, before they will get to something.

It can be better, in my opinion. to start a new bug topic rather than replying to an older one. Starting a new one creates a new trouble ticket, which can be picked up by any available staff member, rather than depending on the staffer who was involved several months (or years) earlier noticing the resumption of activity in an old topic.

It is also appropriate to "tag" a staff member who was previously involved in a topic, as I have done here, to help draw their attention to it.

But I can assure you they do read the forums.

[Sean P]

Hi CALDesign,

Sorry for the delay in responding I've unfortunately been extremely busy.

Its interesting that you say its returned after installing the Big Sur beta. Unfortunately the only Macs I currently have access to are not able to install Big Sur. Would it be possible for you to get Designer to spawn this message and then send a copy of your console log from the last minute or so when you got the error? 

I can pass this over to development to see if there is anything they're aware of, what could be causing it in your circumstance and if its related to any new Big Sur features.

[CALDesign]

Thank you, Sean. I have no evidence that it returned after installing Big Sur - it may have been there earlier. Owing to Covid I have only recently been able to work again with my principal client for whom I use Designer a lot. However I have been using Publisher on an almost daily basis ever since you launched it and never had this problem. I don’t use sexy fonts in my work so I only have the standard macOS array + four others used in my client’s house style. It seems I’m not the only user affected this way, but I may be the most vocally irritated by it. In addition to lost work my greatest frustration is that for a long time I have relentless promoted Photo, Designer and (more recently) Publisher here in France and probably won you a great many customers. However, I haven’t seen anyone from Serif trying to help or keeping us informed. It reminds me of the blank silence many of us met at  when MacBook keyboards simply didn’t function for hundreds of thousands of users (2016-2019). Many then said goodbye to Mac. If you want your existing customer base to be your best ambassadors you really need to help us to help you and give us products that WORK and allow us to work! Corny phrase: “You only had one job - let people save their work”. Best - Christopher LONG

[MCsound2]

I am having this same issue. Started the last couple of days and I hadn't installed any new fonts in recent times. 

 

MacBook Pro 15" 2017 Big Sur

Affinity Designer 1.9.3.

 

Any help would be appreciated, I am unable to export a document with a deadline of 1700 today (posting this at 1530!)

[Sean P]

Hi MCsound2,

If you're in desperate need of exporting you could try installing the current 1.10 beta. As its not a sandboxed MAS app it shouldn't suffer from the sandbox issues you're getting.

However please do be sure to use a copy of your file and read the warnings given in the main post to avoid any potential loss of data that might occur from using a beta build.

 

[CALDesign]

1 hour ago, MCsound2 said:

I am having this same issue. Started the last couple of days and I hadn't installed any new fonts in recent times. 

 

MacBook Pro 15" 2017 Big Sur

Affinity Designer 1.9.3.

 

Any help would be appreciated, I am unable to export a document with a deadline of 1700 today (posting this at 1530!)

I feel your pain! I have only the standard fonts issued by  (+ four others) - so it has nothing to do with too many fonts. Brendan from Affinity was very helpful for a while but in the end none of his suggestions made any difference (sending him several Console reports, re-installing, granting new deep level permissions, etc.). So, I cannot rely on Affinity Designer or Affinity Photo, although Affinity Publisher presents no problem. I suspect that it depends on whether you buy you app directly from Affinity or whether you buy it off the  App Store as I did for Designer and Photo. If this is indeed the problem, Affinity should be simply allowing us to re-download the app from them - but this option seems not to interest them. It's so sad that a really excellent suite of apps do not work for many of us and that we have to go back to horrid, expensive Adobe in order to be able to work reliably. I DO HOPE BRENDAN READS THIS (good evening Brendan!). 

[CALDesign]

3 minutes ago, CALDesign said:

I feel your pain! I have only the standard fonts issued by  (+ four others) - so it has nothing to do with too many fonts. Brendan from Affinity was very helpful for a while but in the end none of his suggestions made any difference (sending him several Console reports, re-installing, granting new deep level permissions, etc.). So, I cannot rely on Affinity Designer or Affinity Photo, although Affinity Publisher presents no problem. I suspect that it depends on whether you buy you app directly from Affinity or whether you buy it off the  App Store as I did for Designer and Photo. If this is indeed the problem, Affinity should be simply allowing us to re-download the app from them - but this option seems not to interest them. It's so sad that a really excellent suite of apps do not work for many of us and that we have to go back to horrid, expensive Adobe in order to be able to work reliably. I DO HOPE BRENDAN READS THIS (good evening Brendan!). 

So sorry, not Brendan... GARETH... sorry Gareth... end of a hard day (not using Affinity sad to say...)

[OhGee]

I have just had the same issue with Affinity Photo 1.9.3 and MacBookPro (15 inch, 2019), Big Sur. Have not changed any software in months. Have been working on a project for several days with everything going smoothly. Created a custom preset and went back to another open unnamed file which I could not save. I now can't save anything with Photo, although I can edit the Photo files in Designer and save my work from there. This issue needs to be resolved.

[Dennison]

Having exactly the same issue after switching to new Macbook Pro with Big Sur.

Difficult to understand why Affinity will not simply allow registered buyers/users to download a fresh copy from their website. As others have stated, this is a HUGE step back for the company. Not much point developing great software if you can't save a file and loyal users are being cast adrift by the company.

 

I've been a big fan and encouraged many people to buy the software - but, alas, no more. More than one year and the problem has been allowed to fester. If a user cannot use your product - for whatever reason - then I suggest it's your problem too. Which bit of a user/customer not being able to use the product does Affinity not understand?