Dialogue box size in AfPub

[boorowaboy]

I have asked this question several time and have had useful replies however none have been able to solve the problem. The attached image shows the three Affinity programs and the much small dialogue box in AfPub.

The .png of dialogue box 20220118 is the same version of AfPub as it appears on my second computer. Here it reacts exactly as it should. I can enlarge or reduce the size of the window and the arrows on the corners do exactly as required.

As a test I copied this version back to my main computer and renamed the 'faulty' version using my admin password. The means it would not open. I then opened the copied version and opened an existing file, then selected; place image. The same size three line dialogue box opened.

I think this must mean that the control of the dialogue box is in some part of the Apple system, but what, where?

If I uninstall AfPub will I rid myself of this 'cursed' option?

Any more suggestions very welcome

[GarryP]

Is this the same question that you have previously asked in these forums, or is it only similar to the other question?

[boorowaboy]

Same question but no solutions offered have corrected this proble. I thought I would try to see if any suggestions were offered befored I tried to completely delete PfPub.

[GarryP]

Sorry to sound awkward but have I got this right:
You asked a question to a group of people but didn’t get the answer you wanted, so you then asked the same question to the same group of people in the belief that you would get an answer which couldn’t be given to the original (same) question?

[Pšenda]

3 hours ago, boorowaboy said:

I thought I would try to see if any suggestions were offered befored I tried to completely delete PfPub.

Did you try this?

Unfortunately, you did not respond to my suggestion.

[MikeTO]

Here are the suggestions offered by others last time. Are you unable to resize the dialog box?

 

[boorowaboy]

8 hours ago, Pšenda said:

Did you try this? Yes I tried that three times to no avail.

Unfortunately, you did not respond to my suggestion.

 

[thomaso]

19 hours ago, boorowaboy said:

I think this must mean that the control of the dialogue box is in some part of the Apple system, but what, where?

We can suppose it is related to the macOS finder and its window options, so also a setting concerning the sidebar of finder windows does affect this Affinity dialog. – I'd recommend to boot your mac in Safe Mode (press Shift before you switch it on + hold the key until after the start sound). Safe Mode might be able to fix this as it  fixes some finder issues, like for instance if the trash seems not to empty, icons appear wrong or if the font data base confuse the system, et al.

@FWIW: I noticed a similar issue recently after decreasing the "place" dialog window's height as mentioned in one of the OP's other threads:

 

[boorowaboy]

2 minutes ago, thomaso said:

We can suppose it is related to the macOS finder and its window options, so also a setting concerning the sidebar of finder windows does affect this Affinity dialog. – I'd recommend to boot your mac in Safe Mode (press Shift before you switch it on + hold the key until after the start sound). Safe Mode might be able to fix this as it  fixes some finder issues, like for instance if the trash seems not to empty, icons appear wrong or if the font data base confuse the system, et al.

@FWIW: I noticed a similar issue recently after decreasing the "place" dialog window's height as mentioned in one of the OP's other threads:

 

OK That sounds like a likely solution. We are just starting the day here in Covid land so I will try your suggestion in a couple of hours.

Thanks

[thomaso]

Well, good luck. If the mac is booted in Safe Mode open APub for a short test (it may slightly appear as if being mad, that's okay and because of Safe Mode with its minimal system resources). Then use the "Place" command to check the dialog window height & the ability to change it. Even changing its width might help on the way to fix it.

[boorowaboy]

2 hours ago, thomaso said:

Well, good luck. If the mac is booted in Safe Mode open APub for a short test (it may slightly appear as if being mad, that's okay and because of Safe Mode with its minimal system resources). Then use the "Place" command to check the dialog window height & the ability to change it. Even changing its width might help on the way to fix it.

I have just tried the restart in safe mode and nothing was resolved. The other interesting item, see pic, only AfPhoto appears in Application support and I can't find any reference to Publisher in part of the Library. Is that telling me anything?

[thomaso]

• The "missing" library folders:

1. Go to System preferences > Start Volume + show a screenshot of this window to let us see the possible boot volumes and macOS versions.
2. In which store did you purchase your 3 Affinity apps: Serif or Apple or mixed?
3. Do you find the "missing" APub and/or AD user library in ~/Library/Containers/… ?

4. To search for the "missing" folder with macOS: Search in a Finder window for "preferences.dat" as file name + add the options "System Files" + "include". If "System Files" is not listed yet select the last menu item (e.g. "Others") + tick in the following list the checkbox at "System Files" as additional search criterion. Run the search. You should get at least 3 files "preferences.dat", one for each Affinity app. Use them to locate the "missing" folders.

5. If you found "preferences.dat" for APub: move the folder to the desktop. Launch Apub + choose "Place". This is not identical with an application reset (see 8.)

• Some more ideas for APub:

6. What if you switch in APub's to "Separated Mode" + choose "Place"?

7. What if you login on your mac as a different user + launch APub + choose "Place"?

8. Application reset: select APub in the Finder > Application window. Hold the Control key and choose from the popup menu "Open". In the following dialog press the button "Select All". Launch APub + choose "Place". (Note: If you want to save your custom APub settings copy first the folder of 5. to another location.)

[boorowaboy]

Hi Tomaso You set a good range of tasks I will go through them.

1 There are four pics with the details you requested.

2 I bought the set of three from Serif and Affinity shop

3 I found Publisher , pic 3 attached, and Designer but not Photo

4 I couldn't find anything or rather the search did not produce any results see 4 pic

5 and so I couldn't complete 5

6 Separated mode same result

7 I couldn't think how to log in as another user and still access my programs like Publisher so not done.

8 I could open and select all but couldn't figure out how and where to place.

I don't have any custom settings yet so nothing to loose buy deleting or changing. I hope this may be of assistance.

nb I tried finding pref.dat on the other computer which works perfectly and no information was found even though it also has the same three programs.

Adrian

[thomaso]

2 hours ago, boorowaboy said:

8 I could open and select all but couldn't figure out how and where to place.

There is nothing to be placed somewhere. – With all selected just press "Clear" and APub will launch. Then, if you choose "Place" and the dialog window height is still at this minimum don't just screenshot the window but rather try to change its height / width and tell if that works.

Since you don't need to save any custom user settings do this reset first. If it would work to fix your issue, it would be the easiest & fastest way. – If it does not solve, continue below …

1 hour ago, boorowaboy said:

2 I bought the set of three from Serif and Affinity shop

Is this a typo – or were indeed all 3 apps purchased from the Serif website but none of them in the Apple store?

1 hour ago, boorowaboy said:

3 I found Publisher , pic 3 attached, and Designer but not Photo

Can you open this APub folder in a Finder window with list view + upload a screenshot?
(I currently assume the content of this APub folder is the equivalent to the library folder of APhoto in your "Application Support")

1 hour ago, boorowaboy said:

4 I couldn't find anything or rather the search did not produce any results see 4 pic

If you detected the user library folders of APub / AD in the Container folder then you don't need to search for them any more.
If not: You misunderstood the search. "System File" was meant as a search criterion, not as keyword to search for.

https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/mac-help/mh15155/10.14/mac/10.13

It would rather look like this:

 

[boorowaboy]

Hi Tomaso  Thanks for being patient with my lack of knowledge of the inner working of Macs. I have been using macs since they first appeared however now I work on my own so I have limited contact with the latest inner workings. I usually hope for the best. Canberra used to have five mac shops and I knew all the support staff now there is just the Apple shop and they don't want to know about what designers require or about any item which isn't in their store.

2 I bought all three programs as a package from Affinity Shop @affinity.store

3 Attached is a pic of the opened com. serif lab window

4 Sorry I still don't understand the search criteria. The link to the Apple store says 'can't be found' I can't get a selection like yours. I have exactly the same window but none of those options appear.

8 I tried again with point 8 but once the new Publisher opened I couldn't find where to 'place'.

 

adrian

 

 

[thomaso]

• With "place" I meant the Affinity function to place resources, either via the Image Place Tool or via the menu File > Place. My impression was that you opened the corrupted dialog window this way. If you used another method then use this. So, after successfully resetting APub try if the reset helps to solve the issue.

• The following link should work better, it is the Apple help page about setting search criteria. Alternatively you can do a search on the Apple website.
https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/mac-help/mh15155/10.13/mac/10.13
–  But for now it seems you found already the preferences.dat (the last file in your screenshot) and thus the Affinity user library folder.

• The existence of the folder com.seriflabs.affinitypublisher appears confusing to me. Since you have bought all 3 Affinity apps in the Serif store I would expect all 3 apps using the same location for their user library files – but on your mac AP obviously uses ~/Library/Application Support whereas APub and AD appear to use ~/Library/Containers. My Affinity apps, also from the Serif store, have their user library all placed in "Application Support" and none in "Containers", on both macOS "Sierra" and "Mojave".

I wonder if the use of two different folders in ~/Library/  for your Affinity user library data would be related to your macOS 10.13 High Sierra, maybe a forum user with the same macOS can confirm this?

I am not familiar with the file structure in Containers > Data, most of its items seem to be related to macOS, not to Affinity, which seems to be common for this folder type in other apps, too. So, I am now unfortunately rather guessing only: You could try to move the entire folder com.seriflabs.affinitypublisher to your desktop and launch APub. Alternatively you could move only those files which are obviously related to Affinity to your desktop and launch Affinity. That would be the folder com.seriflabs.affinitypublisher.savedState and the file preferences.dat, and possibly a folder inside com.seriflabs.affinitypublisher > Data > Library > Application Support, if it contains a folder named with "affinity". The screenshot does not show the various user settings/preferences and brushes/assets, which are stored in a bunch of single files of type .propcol or .dat. So, these could be in the mentioned folder of your screenshot. If you find them, move their parent folder to the desktop, too.

[boorowaboy]

Hi Again

Ok I have sorted what was meant by pref.dat etc. As you can see nothing like your pic comes up. I also did the same search on my other computer (Audrey) and attached is a similar result although the files are unnamed for some reason. I will check the other items later today

[thomaso]

5 minutes ago, boorowaboy said:

As you can see nothing like your pic comes up.

I think it does: they both show several preferences.dat files, which probably belong to Affinity. With them you can identify their according Affinity app user library folders. You can see the path of a selected search result at the bottom of this finder window, if the path does not show up currently press cmd-opt-p.

But, as mentioned, you already found your APub user library in "Containers".

[boorowaboy]

Ok Sorry I am so slow at this. Below are the results, AfPub and Photo are there but not Designer.

What should I do now I have found these files?

[thomaso]

8 minutes ago, boorowaboy said:

AfPub and Photo are there but not Designer.

Earlier you said you found APub and Designer :

17 hours ago, boorowaboy said:

I found Publisher , pic 3 attached, and Designer but not Photo

Didn't you say / show that Photo was in ~Library/Application Support?

Continue as described before. The goal is to identify the user library folder of APub + to rename or move it, to force APub to create a new, "virgin" folder, in the sake to get rid of the issue.

Or, may be easier meanwhile since you don't have relevant custom preferences, just delete all APub related application + library folders/files and reinstall the app.

[boorowaboy]

Hi Again   I have just checked the prefs on Audrey's computer and it is interesting. There are five and two for Publisher and two for Designer. One for Photo. What does all this mean? Should I completely uninstall AfPub and Designer and start again?

adrian

[boorowaboy]

1 minute ago, thomaso said:

Earlier you said you found APub and Designer :

Didn't you say / show that Photo was in ~Library/Application Support?

Continue as described before. The goal is to identify the user library folder of APub + to rename or move it, to force APub to create a new, "virgin" folder, in the sake to get rid of the issue.

Or, may be easier meanwhile since you don't have relevant custom preferences, just delete all APub related application + library folders/files and reinstall the app.

I just sent my update just before yours arrived.

I might follow your second suggestion. How do I completely uninstall AfPub? And probably Designer even though it seems to work.

adrian

[thomaso]

3 hours ago, boorowaboy said:

I have been using macs since they first appeared however

1 minute ago, boorowaboy said:

How do I completely uninstall AfPub?

The ways to uninstall applications did not change over decades.

The easiest might be the AppCleaner.app https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/

Or do search for keywords "affinity" and "serif" to detect possibly related items.

[boorowaboy]

Ok Thomaso

Next time we are in Cologne I will shout you a good German beer.

I downloaded AppCleaner, deleted AfPub, reinstalled it from my account and the blighted dialogue box now operates as it should. Thanks

Adrian