Affinity Templates identified as Malware after changing "open with" default app

[solved]

I created a few templates in AF this morning. I was able to open them in AF new>templates>myCustomFolder> abc.aftemplate and direct from the finder as well.

Since I changed the "open with Affinity Publisher" to "open with Affinity Photo" the templates can not be opened from the Finder anymore. Resulting in strange warning messages from MacOs. The templates can still be opened via AF>new>templates, but I need to open multiple of them in one action to check them for errors. Thats why I opened them in finder directly.

 

[solved]

?

[walt.farrell]

Just a guess: You purchased the applications from the Mac App Store, and the sandboxing functions in MacOS are "protecting" you.

[solved]

41 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Just a guess: You purchased the applications from the Mac App Store, and the sandboxing functions in MacOS are "protecting" you.

Yes I did, but this is some weird overprotecting in this case 🤨. "Affinity Photo created this file..." but now its not safe anymore ??

Does not make sense to me in any way.  It's not the worlds end, but still I like to be able to change the default app to open with on a double click. 

[h_d]

You say you created the templates with "AF". Is that AFfinity Photo, AFfinity Designer or AFfinity Publisher?

You then say you changed the  "Open with Affinity Publisher" to "Open with Affinity Photo". Yet your third screenshot shows an Affinity Designer document icon, and Affinity Designer as the default app.

So it's all a bit confusing. But if I create a template with Affinity Designer, change the default app and then try to open it by double-clicking I get the same dialog as you. I think you'd be better off creating separate templates for each application, and going through the standard File - New Document - Templates route rather than trying to change default apps.

 

 

[solved]

I see, sorry for the confusion...

 

The whole procedure was the following:

I created lots of templates in Affinity Designer for use with Designer. Then I created lots of templates in Affinity Photo to use in Photo. Both end with .aftemplate.

Then I took a template generated with Affinity Designer and changed it to open with Designer instead of the default set Publisher. I also checked the option to open all files with the .aftemplate ending with Designer. 

Since I need to create lots of templates, It is easier to open a batch of templates direct from the finder to check them for mistakes I may made during creation. Therefore I took the ones created in Photo and changed from open with Designer to open with Photo, this time without the change for all files option. Now the templates changed to Photo won't open from finder anymore and generate those messages. I only changed templates generated in Photo to open with Photo. 

The Templates work when open via File>New...>Templates. 

Second reason for this workflow is that Affinity still displays custom template file folders in a random order...

So when dealing with lots of different templates I need to do that in the finder until Affinity has a fix for this issue. 

Sure, I can set all all of the Templates back to open with Designer, and open them via right click and select the desired application. But when handling large numbers of files, it helps to see if its a template I made for Designer, or for Photo and open with a double click for convenience. 

 

[walt.farrell]

32 minutes ago, ed lazer said:

It is easier to open a batch of templates direct from the finder to check them for mistakes I may made during creation.

On Windows, I would simply:

1. Use File > Open from the application, then
2. Select multiple files, then
3. Click Open.

If the Mac version allows similar functionality, you might try that rather than opening them from Finder.

[Old Bruce]

2 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

If the Mac version allows similar functionality, you might try that rather than opening them from Finder.

Does.

[solved]

2 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

On Windows, I would simply:

1. Use File > Open from the application, then
2. Select multiple files, then
3. Click Open.

If the Mac version allows similar functionality, you might try that rather than opening them from Finder.

...it does, but it's unhandy in this workflow. I simply select the templates, rightclick and choose desired application in the finder. Anyway, like i said, it's not the worlds end, just wondered about the concerning messages since the file was created by an authorised affinity app. 

[walt.farrell]

16 minutes ago, ed lazer said:

since the file was created by an authorised affinity app. 

But it was created by a different sandboxed app than the one you're trying to use, and that's probably the issue.

I agree with you that MacOS may be being over-protective, but that seems like something you'd need to discuss with Mac Support.

[R C-R]

This is really weird! All my *.aftemplate files, regardless of the app I used to make them, if double-clicked in Finder default to opening in Affinity Publisher Beta, & are badged with the APub beta app logo!

If I change any of them to open with any other Affinity app (beta or retail) for some of them I get the 'unidentified developer' warning like in the first post, for others it works as expected, although the badge never changes from the APub beta one.

I am not at all sure what causes the difference, but it may have something to do with which app was used to make the aftemplate file originally.

I think this should be reported as a bug.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

I think this should be reported as a bug.

Just to be clear: Reported to whom?

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

I am not at all sure what causes the difference, but it may have something to do with which app was used to make the aftemplate file originally.

It would make sense that the warning would only occur for templates made by one of the MAS apps, and not for templates made by an Affinity Store (or beta) app.

[R C-R]

41 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

It would make sense that the warning would only occur for templates made by one of the MAS apps, and not for templates made by an Affinity Store (or beta) app.

That might make sense but it is not what I am seeing. For one thing, why do all of them default to the APub Beta when double-clicked? And why do some accept the change to Photo or Designer (even if made with one of those apps) & others not?