Affinity Photo file names change insanely.

[seeknowbrown]

Big problem: I'm an art director, graphic artist, illustrator. I work in layered images with Affinity Photo, having ended my many years using Photoshop. I'm enjoying the new Affinity software, but I am experiencing what seems to be a major flaw with Affinity Photo.

1: If I begin a new project by opening an existing file (let's say, "Blue_10.afphoto"), I often do a "Save As", and in doing so I rename the file (let's say, renamed as "Green_20.afphoto") because the work I am about to do is to be a completely new version based on that original.

2: After completing my new multi-layered image, and saving the final (still as "Green_20.afphoto"),

3: I then save a flattened version of the file, using the same name but with the addition of "flt" (i.e., the flattened file is now called "Green_20_flt.afphoto".

4: Subsequently, and still in Affinity Photo, I export that flattened file as a jpeg, and now the jpeg file exists as "Green_20_flt.jpg".

I now have the three files (two .afphoto files and one .jpg file) on my Mac, and all seems fine, each with the correct name and file type.

5: I noticed the following problem when I uploaded jpeg files to my online Flickr account. The files upload, but the titles are often totally wrong (in this example, possibly the name of the old original defunct file "Blue_10.afphoto". The title is not only totally incorrect, but I now have to double-check each and every image exported from Photo before sending, uploading or delivering to avoid major mistakes or embarrassment if not caught and corrected.

Please tell me there's a fix for this. I have never had such a problem before. Thanks, anyone.

[MikeW]

@seeknowbrown

Does this post pertain to the beta version of Affinity Photo or Publisher??

[seeknowbrown]

No. I purchased the three Affinity apps this past October, and my version 1.8.3. of Photo is said to be the latest version.

[MikeW]

I see it is now moved to the general Desktop questions section.

I asked because this doesn't pertain to Publisher's Beta section--which is where you originally posted.

If this turns out to be a bug, I'm sure it'll be moved to a bug section involving Affinity Photo.

[seeknowbrown]

Thanks. I had no idea. 

[- S -]

5 hours ago, seeknowbrown said:

… I noticed the following problem when I uploaded jpeg files to my online Flickr account. The files upload, but the titles are often totally wrong (in this example, possibly the name of the old original defunct file "Blue_10.afphoto". The title is not only totally incorrect, but I now have to double-check each and every image exported from Photo before sending, uploading or delivering to avoid major mistakes or embarrassment if not caught and corrected.

Please tell me there's a fix for this. I have never had such a problem before. Thanks, anyone.

Unfortunately, that is how it is.  

Affinity Photo automatically writes the filename directly into the 'Title' field in the file metadata – meaning the original filename is stuck as the title in the metadata, even if the file is later renamed.

If you're only dealing with a small number of files, then in your 'Blue_10.afphoto' example you can delete 'Blue_10' from the 'Title' field in the Affinity Photo Metadata panel.  Then when you save the file as 'Green_20.afphoto', the title will be blank.  However, if you are dealing with lots of photos, it's a PITA.

I previously submitted feedback regarding this behaviour, however I wouldn't hold my breath on them changing it.

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/114156-affinity-photo-shouldnt-automatically-write-the-filename-directly-into-the-title-metadata/

 

[Old Bruce]

17 hours ago, seeknowbrown said:

I noticed the following problem when I uploaded jpeg files to my online Flickr account.

I would guess this is on Flickr's end, they are taking the image "Title" field instead of the file's name, I cannot recall if this is something that can be changed with Flickr.

[Pšenda]

On 7/22/2020 at 11:12 PM, seeknowbrown said:

but the titles are often totally wrong (in this example, possibly the name of the old original defunct file "Blue_10.afphoto".

You could be interested in.

 

 

[firstdefence]

17 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

I would guess this is on Flickr's end, they are taking the image "Title" field instead of the file's name, I cannot recall if this is something that can be changed with Flickr.

Regardless of Flickrs choice of title or file name the title really should be changed to reflect the file name, then there really wouldn’t be an issue. This is a serious issue and should have been corrected by now.

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, firstdefence said:

the title really should be changed to reflect the file name

"Document Title" reflect "File Name"? Why?

 

1 hour ago, firstdefence said:

This is a serious issue and should have been corrected by now.

I hope not, that is completely unacceptable.

Rather, it should be fixed that if the Document Title is not defined, the File Name will be inserted there during the export (so that there is at least something there), which is wrong - the File Name does not belong to the Document Title at all, and then only these problems arise (that the previous File Name will remain in the Document Title).

[Dan C]

Hi all,

I have raised this again with our developers and they agree the behaviour does not seem correct - we believe this was introduced accidentally, after the introduction of the Fields Studio in Publisher.

Our devs are investigating this further and looking for a resolution for a future update, I hope this helps

[RNKLN]

If the title should be same as the file name, what is then the reason for having them as separate pieces of metadata?

[thomaso]

11 minutes ago, RNKLN said:

If the title should be same as the file name, what is then the reason for having them as separate pieces of metadata?

Having title & file name as two different metadata entries enables you to use them differently, for instance to order files by name or do a search by title.

But in case of Affinity, which fills the title field automatically without user action or request, it would make more sense either not to carry out such an automatism (= leave 'Title' blank) or at least to use the current, real file name as the title instead of an earlier, initially automatically placed file name.

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, thomaso said:

But in case of Affinity, which fills the title field automatically without user action or request, it would make more sense either not to carry out such an automatism (= leave 'Title' blank) or at least to use the current, real file name as the title instead of an earlier, initially automatically placed file name.

I would prefer that AD never set the title field, at least until such time that it can be set to whatever the user wants.

Ideally this would include being able to set the title field of each exported artboard or slice individually when the entire document is not being exported. I realize that would complicate the implementation & UI substantially but anything less would create problems whenever it is necessary or desirable that each export has its own unique title.

[seeknowbrown]

On 7/23/2020 at 10:28 AM, Old Bruce said:

I would guess this is on Flickr's end, they are taking the image "Title" field instead of the file's name, I cannot recall if this is something that can be changed with Flickr.

Thanks, Old Bruce, but I don't think it's on Flickr's end. I've loaded a few thousand photos and art images onto my Flickr account for at least 10 years, many of which would have been retitled files in the manner I described. I've never once had this occur. Only when I changed to the Affinity apps did this problem begin. 

[FWL]

Hi all,  has a workaround been provided by Affinity to overcome this issue now?  I see this thread was back in 2020?