Autosave

[Eddy-2]

There doesn't seem to be anything in the Help file about autosave. Typing autosave or auto save gets no results.

I've tracked down an autosave folder in the following location...

C:\Users\........\AppData\Roaming\Affinity\Designer\1.0 (Beta)\autosave

How do I open one of the files in there?

[Eddy-2]

Apologies - problem solved.

It would be handy though to have something in the Help file.

[Pšenda]

It would be handy, if you could provide some information about your issue and how to resolve it - it might be useful for some users.

[Eddy-2]

50 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

It would be handy, if you could provide some information about your issue and how to resolve it - it might be useful for some users.

The original problem was that I'd closed a drawing inadvertently without saving it and was trying to recover it.

My second problem was that when I double clicked on one of the autosave files, I hadn't realised that the default programme for opening it wasn't set to Designer. Changing the default programme to Designer allows me to open autosaved files with a double click.

I was unsuccessful in retrieving the file since it requires it to be saved in the first place - something I hadn't done.

[Mrrrky]

On 8/13/2021 at 5:30 PM, Eddy-2 said:

The original problem was that I'd closed a drawing inadvertently without saving it and was trying to recover it.

My second problem was that when I double clicked on one of the autosave files, I hadn't realised that the default programme for opening it wasn't set to Designer. Changing the default programme to Designer allows me to open autosaved files with a double click.

I was unsuccessful in retrieving the file since it requires it to be saved in the first place - something I hadn't done.

Dude, you saved me 6 hours of work! Stupid me for not saving manually.
 

[walt.farrell]

On 8/13/2021 at 11:30 AM, Eddy-2 said:

My second problem was that when I double clicked on one of the autosave files, I hadn't realised that the default programme for opening it wasn't set to Designer. Changing the default programme to Designer allows me to open autosaved files with a double click.

Generally one doesn't Open those files manually. The application will prompt to open them when you restart it after a crash, either:

• when you start the application, if you were working on files that had never been saved and given a name; or
• when you specifically re-Open a named/saved file you were working on during the crash.

[Eddy-2]

Thanks Walt.

Although a slow process, I'm still learning.

That said and since 'autosave' is a recognised term which many people understand, I think there needs to be reference to it when entered as a search term in the Help file.

[Mrrrky]

22 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Generally one doesn't Open those files manually. The application will prompt to open them when you restart it after a crash, either:

• when you start the application, if you were working on files that had never been saved and given a name; or
• when you specifically re-Open a named/saved file you were working on during the crash.

Usually when AP crashes it automatically open autosaved file when you start the program again, but this time for me that is not the case. I am editing a photo that is using a lot of my GPU memory, so when it crashes, I think my graphic card is the problem, AP is not opening that file automatically I have to do it manually as Eddy have said. Does anyone know how to lower my GPU usage? I have never had a problem like this, I will try to flatten some of my cca 30 layers, but does anyone have a suggestion?

[Pšenda]

12 minutes ago, Eddy-2 said:

That said and since 'autosave' is a recognised term which many people understand

Autosave is a well-known term, but it means something different than Affinity does, see help.

Unlike the classic Autosave command, where a complete copy of a working file is saved, Affinity saves only the difference/incremental set of newly performed operations (the description is only illustrative), so to restore it always requires the original saved file to which unsaved information will complete.

[Eddy-2]

22 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

Unlike the classic Autosave command, where a complete copy of a working file is saved, Affinity saves only the difference/incremental set of newly performed operations (the description is only illustrative), so to restore it always requires the original saved file to which unsaved information will complete.

Thanks, point taken.

Just a reference to 'file recovery' in a Help file search for autosave would be useful.

[Pšenda]

7 hours ago, Eddy-2 said:

Just a reference to 'file recovery' in a Help file search for autosave would be useful.

Try search via Google:

https://www.google.com/search?q=file+recovery+site:affinity.help

[Eddy-2]

4 hours ago, Pšenda said:

Try search via Google:

https://www.google.com/search?q=file+recovery+site:affinity.help

 

[walt.farrell]

14 minutes ago, Eddy-2 said:

 

Because Google (or another web search engine) may show you results that the built-in search won't find.

It can be a guessing game to find the right term, and then a bit of a dice-toss whether that particular term is indexed for searching in the built-in Help (or even in the online Help). But a web search engine may find what you're looking for even if the built-in search won't.

In this particular case, Google won't show you autosave either, and its results for file recovery don't give you anything better than the built-in Help provide, as far as I can see.

[Pšenda]

11 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

and its results for file recovery don't give you anything better than the built-in Help provide, as far as I can see.

???

[walt.farrell]

3 hours ago, Pšenda said:

???

The built-in search in Help gives that one directly. No need for a web search.

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

The built-in search in Help gives that one directly. No need for a web search.

???

23 hours ago, Eddy-2 said:

Just a reference to 'file recovery' in a Help file search for autosave would be useful.

So it will definitely not provide me with anything relevant (unlike Google).

[walt.farrell]

26 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

So it will definitely not provide me with anything relevant (unlike Google).

Your screenshot is from the online help, I think. Try the built-in Help, as I mentioned. (I'm away from my PC or I'd provide a screenshot.)

[Pšenda]

25 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Your screenshot is from the online help, I think. Try the built-in Help, as I mentioned. (I'm away from my PC or I'd provide a screenshot.)

If a search in the online or build-in help gives different results (useful tweak), then it is even better and safer to use a Google search, which always gives relevant results 🙂

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, Pšenda said:

If a search in the online or build-in help gives different results (useful tweak), then it is even better and safer to use a Google search, which always gives relevant results 🙂

For me, a search on "file recovery" in both the online & built-in help show me the AD Preferences help topic as the only hit specific to AD. A Google search shows the same hit if I include the 'site:affinity.help' qualifier but that requires more typing (& that I remember & enter correctly the site reference).

So overall, for this particular search, the Google one is a bit more difficult & error-prone to use.

Either way, the help topic is not particularly helpful since it does not explain much about how the file recovery option actually works.

[Pšenda]

13 hours ago, R C-R said:

For me, a search on "file recovery" in both the online & built-in help show me the AD

Unfortunately not for me - as is clear from my contribution.

 

13 hours ago, R C-R said:

but that requires more typing (& that I remember & enter correctly the site reference).

 

13 hours ago, R C-R said:

is a bit more difficult & error-prone to use.

Really? Don't use History and Bookmarks in your browser?

 

P. S. In some cases, when it is not entirely clear in which of the Helps the search should be performed, you must repeat the search in all three. A Google search and the "site:affinity.help" command searches all three Helps at once, so it can significantly save time and testing the search (modification of the search term) in individual Helps (this applies to both the online and the built-in variant).

Edited August 21, 2021 by Pšenda

[R C-R]

16 hours ago, Pšenda said:

Really? Don't use History and Bookmarks in your browser?

Yes, I do but there are only so many things I can bookmark before the list gets too long to be of much use.

[Pšenda]

6 hours ago, R C-R said:

Yes, I do but there are only so many things I can bookmark before the list gets too long to be of much use.

Therefore, there are also folders and subfolders.

[R C-R]

14 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

Therefore, there are also folders and subfolders.

Same thing: there are only so many folders I can add before the whole thing gets too large to be very useful.

FWIW, I already have 10 bookmark folders devoted to Affinity stuff, & more subfolders in them than I want to count.