Internal Affinity File Manager (Persona?) Needed

[Roar]

Relatively new to the Affinity Publisher & Photo system and for the most part liking it, but it is not without its quirks.   Coming from previous experience with Adobe InDesign and Photoshop (never warmed up to Lightroom though!) getting files "placed" into Publisher leaves a lot to be desired!   A reasonably simple file browser internal to the Affinity platform could simplify things dramatically.   I've tried various software for organization: PhotoMechanic (very good but expensive and not justifiable this year in particular), FastRawViewer - FastStone - XnView MP (all three opensource) and keep coming back to Adobe Bridge (now free).   Even the best of these do not integrate with Affinity Publisher's "place" function and relaying on the operating system's finder seems a stop-gap solution at best.

Judging by the years of requests for a DAM, I'm not alone. See: DAM Poll,   Affinity Photo DAM,   File Viewer,   etc.

Although I'm not sure I would use the term "Digital Asset Manager" as that's probably too all-encompassing for what is needed.   A file manager is probably a better description, much like Adobe Bridge, built in to the Affinity platform to facilitate easy opening/placement of images/files in Photo, and/or Publisher.   Maybe as a individual persona.   Being able to sort by and edit metadata would seem a critically needed function.

I'm determined to assembly my next book using Photo & Publisher, forcing myself to learn the differences.   Fortunately, I am somewhat settling comfortably into the system, believe in the Affinity team & Serif's endeavor and would love to see it continue to progress.

Please have a look at what the competition is doing - DxO PhotoLab, Capture One, Adobe, etc.

...and seriously consider this,

Thom