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Affinity applications settings backup


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Hi,

Is there any article that explains how to backup Affinity applications settings and add-ons ?

I need to locate the paths that keep all the add ons and preferences that I need to restore the application on a new system to avoid download all the add-ons and setting up Affinity Store.

Thanks.

 

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) running MacOS Catalina version 10.15.7

Processor:  2.5 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7  / Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics:  NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB &.Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

Affinity Photo 1.9.3   / Affinity Designer 1.9.3  / Affinity Publisher 1.9.3

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16 minutes ago, credesign said:

need to locate the paths

 

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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Hi walt.farrell,

Thanks for your reply, It point me the right direction but I saw many other folders in ~/Library/Containers/

Thanks a lot.

 

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) running MacOS Catalina version 10.15.7

Processor:  2.5 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7  / Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics:  NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB &.Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

Affinity Photo 1.9.3   / Affinity Designer 1.9.3  / Affinity Publisher 1.9.3

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You're welcome.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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3 hours ago, credesign said:

I saw many other folders in ~/Library/Containers/

You'll need to drill down a lot further to get to the settings folder. This is the path on my Mac (for Affinity Photo, purchased from the Apple App Store):

1284637957_Screenshot2021-05-03at17_52_03.thumb.png.408267998204f1935f4647c05768eb61.png

 

One quick way to get to the correct folder is to copy the path from the page linked in @walt.farrell's post. As an example, for Affinity Photo purchased from the Apple App Store and running Big Sur, the path is ~/Library/Containers/Affinity Photo/Data/Library/Application Support/user/. In Finder click the Go Menu and choose Go to Folder:

962287428_Screenshot2021-05-03at17_58_36.png.aaa269e104ac135ce40f6744bb5b6a59.png

In the dialog box, paste in the path copied from the Serif support page:

51211702_Screenshot2021-05-03at17_58_52.png.8a9404e38d566c6a818fe8b23c7242c2.png

And click Go. This takes you straight to the settings folder without having to burrow through multiple columns in Finder.

On the new system, you'll need to install and run Affinity Photo at least once (and possibly confirm your Serif registration if you have one) and then quit to ensure that the equivalent folder has been created. You can then duplicate the files in the original folder across to the equivalent folder on the new box. 

You'll need to repeat this process for all your Affinity applications. 

(If you're setting up a new Mac with identical settings to an old one, first boot of the new Mac should give you the opportunity to run Migration Assistant, which will transfer user settings, apps, internet accounts, the lot. But is is sss...llll...ooo....wwww, especially as these days it generally runs over wifi rather than a wired connection.)

Affinity Photo 2.0.3,  Affinity Designer 2.0.3, Affinity Publisher 2.0.3, Mac OSX 13, 2018 MacBook Pro 15" Intel.

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1 hour ago, h_d said:

One quick way to get to the correct folder is to copy the path from the page linked in @walt.farrell's post.

If like me you think you may want to access these folders frequently, once you navigate to the correct folder, you van make an alias for each of them & add them to a folder, which you can place on the Finder sidebar or on the Dock. I named the folder "Affinity PREFS." I have aliases to all six apps (beta & retail) in it:

619863408_AffinityPrefs.jpg.240966503ca81ddf4f55f07f45b8e214.jpg

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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Thank you all.

I am surprised that Affinity does not have a updated page with all these urls that we need to restore the applications package after a clean OS install or to a package backup.

So everything that we need to restore are on those paths, correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks a lot.

 

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) running MacOS Catalina version 10.15.7

Processor:  2.5 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7  / Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics:  NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB &.Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

Affinity Photo 1.9.3   / Affinity Designer 1.9.3  / Affinity Publisher 1.9.3

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3 minutes ago, credesign said:

I am surprised that Affinity does not have a updated page

All the info is in the link originally posted by @walt.farrell

4 minutes ago, credesign said:

So everything that we need to restore are on those paths,

Those paths contain preference (.propcol) files and other data. The applications themselves are in those folders. These are the files in my folder for Affinity Photo:

1399081238_Screenshot2021-05-04at10_20_00.thumb.png.9804d1ed65f8f208340a65ab25008bd0.png

The names are generally self-explanatory. Object styles, raster brushes, assets, tools, tone maps... I could not say for sure if everything you need is in that folder. For example I can't see a specific file for LUT presets - but they may well be in adjustments.propcol. Are you worried about losing anything in particular?

To restore a purchase of the application itself, you'd need to log in to the store that you bought it from (Affinity, Apple App Store or Windows Store) using your original user login and download the apps from there.

One thing to note: If you use the Affinity Photo editing extensions in Apple Photos, their preference files are in separate folders. Likewise if you have been using any beta versions of the apps or photo editing extensions.

 

Affinity Photo 2.0.3,  Affinity Designer 2.0.3, Affinity Publisher 2.0.3, Mac OSX 13, 2018 MacBook Pro 15" Intel.

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2 hours ago, h_d said:

For example I can't see a specific file for LUT presets - but they may well be in adjustments.propcol. 

Yes, they are. Because LUTs are adjustments, and the adjustments.propcol file contains all the adjustment presets.

 

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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Sorry @h_d but I do not see all all folders listed under ~/Library/Containers/ in that file shared by @walt.farrell.

So the list is not updated.

Thanks.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) running MacOS Catalina version 10.15.7

Processor:  2.5 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7  / Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics:  NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB &.Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

Affinity Photo 1.9.3   / Affinity Designer 1.9.3  / Affinity Publisher 1.9.3

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11 minutes ago, credesign said:

~/Library/Containers/

Just to check, and apologies if I'm telling you something you already know - are you aware that the ~ symbol in this path is a macOS/Unix convention/shortcut for specifying the user's home folder? 

So if your system user name is credesign, and your hard disk has the default name Macintosh HD, then the full path to the Affinity Photo user settings would be:

Macintosh HD/Users/credesign/Library/Containers/Affinity Photo/Data/Library/Application Support/user/

There are other Library folders at Macintosh HD/Library/ and at Macintosh HD/System/Library/. These are not the Library folders you are looking for.

The user's home Library folder is not displayed by default in macOS. There are instructions here to reveal it in Catalina. The procedure is the same for Big Sur.

Affinity Photo 2.0.3,  Affinity Designer 2.0.3, Affinity Publisher 2.0.3, Mac OSX 13, 2018 MacBook Pro 15" Intel.

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@h_d Thanks but I just want to say, in my home user account I have more application containers under ~/Library/Containers/ than those listed in the article.

That's why I say it is not complete, Affinity users do need another article with clear and complete paths to backup and restore.

Thanks

 

ls ~/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.*
/Users/user/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.affinitydesigner:
Container.plist	Data

/Users/user/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.affinityphoto:
Container.plist	Data

/Users/user/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.affinityphoto.AffinityExtension:
Container.plist	Data

/Users/user/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.affinityphoto.DevelopExtension:
Container.plist	Data

/Users/user/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.affinityphoto.HazeRemovalExtension:
Container.plist	Data

/Users/user/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.affinityphoto.LiquifyExtension:
Container.plist	Data

/Users/user/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.affinityphoto.MiniatureExtension:
Container.plist	Data

/Users/user/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.affinityphoto.MonochromeExtension:
Container.plist	Data

/Users/user/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.affinityphoto.RetouchingExtension:
Container.plist	Data

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) running MacOS Catalina version 10.15.7

Processor:  2.5 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7  / Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics:  NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB &.Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

Affinity Photo 1.9.3   / Affinity Designer 1.9.3  / Affinity Publisher 1.9.3

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Most of those are the Apple Photos extensions (Develop Extension, Edit in Affinity Photo Extension, Affinity Haze Removal etc) which are separate from the main Affinity apps and are only accessible via the editing suite in Apple Photos (not Affinity Photo). That's presumably why they're not listed in the article. 

1661022897_Screenshot2021-05-04at14_20_16.png.72923d5452f8f702c8190eb2b093e0b6.png

They aren't affected by any resets to the main Affinity apps.

If you don't use Apple Photos you'll never have seen them in action, although they get installed by default, and they don't really have any associated settings or preferences so I don't think you'd be losing much if you didn't back them up. I should just go for the files in the paths down from the Data/ folders for Affinity Photo itself, and Affinity Designer.

 

 

 

 

Affinity Photo 2.0.3,  Affinity Designer 2.0.3, Affinity Publisher 2.0.3, Mac OSX 13, 2018 MacBook Pro 15" Intel.

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Well I am surprised that Apple Photos Extensions are set under com.seriflabs.affinityphoto. container.

I think I read somewhere that under those folders just Seriflabs could add data but I was wrong.

Thanks for clarifying.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) running MacOS Catalina version 10.15.7

Processor:  2.5 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7  / Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics:  NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB &.Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

Affinity Photo 1.9.3   / Affinity Designer 1.9.3  / Affinity Publisher 1.9.3

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5 minutes ago, credesign said:

Well I am surprised that Apple Photos Extensions are set under com.seriflabs.affinityphoto. container.

At least on my iMac running Catalina, each is separate. iOW, com.seriflabs.affinityphoto.AffinityExtension is not contained by com.seriflabs.affinityphoto.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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