"Save failed because the file could not be written to" message appearing every time I try to save.

[clincolnsquare]

Hi,

 

As the title states, every time I try to save a "Save failed because the file could not be written to" message pops up. I have tried to copy and paste the content of the file I am working in to a new file, but the issue persists. I have also uninstalled and reinstalled the program with no success. I am running the most up to date version of the software. Any advise would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @clincolnsquare
It might help you to get some answers if you tell us:
1. Which Affinity application you are using, and which version.
2. Which Operating System you are using, and which version.
3. What sort of storage device you are trying to save to (local hard drive and type, NAS and type, cloud storage and provider, etc.)
And also give us a screen-grab showing the permissions of the folder you are trying to save to and the permissions of the folders leading to that folder.

[Ron P.]

This issue seems to puzzle a lot of people, even the Developers...

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=save+failed+site%3Aforum.affinity.serif.com&ia=web

[clincolnsquare]

@GarryP I am using Affinity Designer 1.9.3. I am running the software on a Macbook Pro (16-inch, 2019) with MacOS Big Sur 11.1| 2.6 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7| 16 GB 2667 MHz DDR4 | AMD Radeon Pro 5300M 4 GB 

I tried initially saving to Google Drive, but when that failed I attempted to save to my desktop, documents, and download folders. These attempts prompted the same response: "Save failed because the file could not be written to."

All permissions to all of the folders I have tried to save to are consistent with the image below. 

In Google Drive, I am the owner of the folder I am trying to save the file to, as well as the owner of all parent folders.

[GarryP]

Thanks for the extra info’.
I can’t help personally as I don’t know enough about OS X but I’m sure that someone else will have the requisite experience.
All I can say is that saving to your desktop should always be possible as it’s ‘your’ desktop and you should – by default – have read/write permissions at all times (unless something has gone horribly wrong).

Please note that it is currently not recommended that you use cloud storage with the Affinity applications because of various technical reasons which I won’t go into here (you can find that information elsewhere in these forums if you are interested).

Hopefully someone ‘in the know’ will see this and be able to help.

[TexanInParis]

I can't save anywhere in iCloud or directly to my hard drive on my Mac.  The file gets created, but it has zero bytes.  I saw another thread where a large number of Fonts in a version purchased from the App Store might be a problem (I bought it there so I could use my Apple Card), but I found only 250 or so fonts installed.  I'm using Affinity Photo 1.9.3 on macOS Big Sur (11.3.1).  I'm able to save to iCloud from the app on my iPad Pro, but not the full version installed on my Mac.

[Lee D]

@clincolnsquare & @TexanInParis

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums  

This is the issue we're aware of that affects the Mac App Store versions of our Affinity apps. it's worth checking the console as the FAQ suggests to see if this is the cause. Another way to test is to download and install the latest beta of your app on your system at the same time as they aren't sandboxed.

When it comes to saving always try saving locally, once saved you can then move the file to a different drive or cloud storage. Part of the reason for this is that if you load/save to an external or cloud storage the link/connection to the file could be dropped. Reasons for this includes external drives entering a different power mode and for cloud it may be when re-syncing occurs.

These are hard for us to reproduce for our developers to investigate further to hopefully get a better idea of what the cause may be. We've had reports that creating a new admin user account can sometimes resolve the issue or by just not having many files open in the app when trying to save.

[Jonopen]

(Affinity Designer 1.9.2.1035), Windows 10

Just for info, I've also been getting this issue when saving particularly large (250MB) files. My workaround is to 'save as' adding a suffix to the file name, then when that one wont save, 'save as' again, and overwrite the original file. Bit annoying but at least it does save.

[TexanInParis]

@Lee D I've tried saving to a folder on my hard drive with the same result.  I tried your link to the Beta version, but all that does is take me to the forum.  I'd be happy to try the Beta software if I could find it.  (BTW, I'm a former Microsoft MVP, so I'm well-versed in dealing with Beta versions.)

I might try @Jonopen's suggestion to try to overwrite the "blank" file it does create.  My file is 2.8GB and growing, so it might also be a size issue.  In the meantime, I'm chugging along in my project on my iPad Pro with few issues.  

 

UPDATE: I found the Beta download by digging deeper in the Beta forum.  Will post there if I see the same problem.

Edited May 9, 2021 by TexanInParis
New info

[Dazmondo77]

Not sure wether this is of help? 

This happened to me on Friday while tweaking a page to one of the children's books I've been working on which was originally started in 1.7 and opened in MAS Designer 1.9.3 and saving to an internal drive and the desktop - it seemed to overwrite the original, 3 artboard, 2.19 gb .afdesign file and gave the 'failed to write' message (the file was now showing as zero k so nothing to open when attempting) the document was still fully functional so I tried creating and saving an empty document to the exact same spec to the desktop then copy pasted all items from the first artboard, of the three artboard document, to the desktop = failed to write message again when saving, so looks as though something had become corrupt within the original .afdesign file - the only thing I changed was the time on a school tower clock face which was an embedded file. I remember a message I quickly dismissed (idiot) that said something along the lines as the link to the embedded file is broke? then that's when I had the save problem.

Luckily I have pretty good backup procedure in place so managed to repeat the edit and save without issue??

 

[TexanInParis]

@Dazmondo77 @Lee D

I switched to the 1.9.4 Beta, and I'm not having any problems.  I am discovering that some layer on layer stacking I was doing on my iPad Pro (I'm building frames for a video showing the stages of a project under construction) was just a bit "off".  I'm going through the 40 layers I've built so far and am having no problem with Save to the file on iCloud so far.  Keeping fingers crossed!

[Dazmondo77]

1 hour ago, TexanInParis said:

I switched to the 1.9.4 Beta, and I'm not having any problems.

Maybe a MAS problem? - not good ------ 🤞

[TexanInParis]

@Dazmondo77

MAS?  As in Multi-Agent System?

No, I suspect because the original version I downloaded from the App Store is sandboxed, it's broken.  The Beta isn't sandboxed, so it works.  Now if Serif accepted Apple Card, I wouldn't have had a problem.

[aadesh.mistry]

Have we found a fix to this problem? This is getting really frustrating. 

[TexanInParis]

9 minutes ago, aadesh.mistry said:

Have we found a fix to this problem? This is getting really frustrating. 

@aadesh.mistryNope.  Only solution is to install the beta software that isn't sandboxed.  No word from Affinity about fixing the App Store version - or even if they can.

[aadesh.mistry]

The problem is the beta version asks for license key which I do not have because I bought it from the App Store

[TexanInParis]

3 hours ago, aadesh.mistry said:

The problem is the beta version asks for license key which I do not have because I bought it from the App Store

@aadesh.mistry Don't know what to tell you.  The beta installed and works fine with no license key for me.  Where did you get the beta download?  I found it in the beta forum here.  

 

[walt.farrell]

4 hours ago, aadesh.mistry said:

The problem is the beta version asks for license key which I do not have because I bought it from the App Store

The beta should work even if you purchased the retail version from the App Store, as long as you have the App Store version properly installed in the usual place the Store puts it.

 

[TexanInParis]

UPDATE: Just received an email notice that Affinity Photo 1.10 is now available.  I opened the "beta" version 1.9.4, and sure enough, it offered to download the update.  The software still says "Beta", but I assume I can continue to use the updated version with no problem.  I don't see an option to "Check for Updates" in the 1.9.4 version I downloaded from the Apple App Store, and I don't see any update offered yet.  If and when I finally do get the update from Apple, I'll see if it's still "sandboxed" and can't save files.  I'll report back here what I find out.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, TexanInParis said:

I opened the "beta" version 1.9.4, and sure enough, it offered to download the update.  The software still says "Beta", but I assume I can continue to use the updated version with no problem.

If you opened a beta version, then you got a beta update. You would need to open the retail version to get the retail update, or download it manually (only if you purchased from Serif).

The 1.10 beta version may be the same as the 1.10 retail version. On Windows, at least, the Build numbers are the same, but I don't know about Mac.

The Mac App Store updates are sometimes a bit delayed, depending on where you are in the world.

[TexanInParis]

4 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

If you opened a beta version, then you got a beta update. You would need to open the retail version to get the retail update, or download it manually (only if you purchased from Serif).

The 1.10 beta version may be the same as the 1.10 retail version. On Windows, at least, the Build numbers are the same, but I don't know about Mac.

The Mac App Store updates are sometimes a bit delayed, depending on where you are in the world.

The updated "Beta" version says it's Version 1.10.0.251.  As noted earlier, I'll post an update if and when I finally get the update from the Apple App Store.  If the updated version ends up not being "sandboxed" anymore, I'll use that instead of the Beta.

[walt.farrell]

35 minutes ago, TexanInParis said:

If the updated version ends up not being "sandboxed" anymore, I'll use that instead of the Beta.

Everything from the Mac App Store is sandboxed.

[TexanInParis]

10 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Everything from the Mac App Store is sandboxed.

Well, I have no clue what might have changed, but I suddenly seem to be able to create and save new files anywhere using the Affinity Photo app from the Apple App Store!  Just for the heck of it, I decided to test editing one of my existing projects with the "regular" copy of the app.  It let me edit and save fine.  So, I thought maybe it's still broken if I try to create a new .afphoto file.  Nope, that works, too! 

I do know that there have been several updates to MacOS since I first complained about this.  Maybe Apple fixed it.