Autosave - always losing work of last 5-10 minutes if forgot to save

[_Andras_]

Hi Team,

I have finally decided to report this bug as it makes me redo a lot of work all the time. I am now obsessively hitting save before leaving the app and during work, but still it looks like I forget it sometimes as I frequently see that the last changes I had done on the document are lost. Very annoying.

I have version 1.10.19 on iPad, I store stuff on iCloud, and it happens with all my docs.

Please make autosave work correctly, I have never experienced this with other software.

 

Thanks,

Andras

[stokerg]

Hi @_Andras_,

Which model iPad are you using and which version of IOS is it running?

So far i've not been able to replicate changes not being saved.  If you have an .afdesign file this always happens with, could you please attached it?

[_Andras_]

Hi @stokerg,

I use an iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (3rd generation) with iOS 15.2.1. It is not related to any special document, it happens with all my docs. I only have a few as I just started using this app a few months ago. Can it be some issue with iCloud sync? It just happened to me again, although I swear I saved the doc before closing the app. I use Affinity Designer only from my iPad, and I just use iCloud to be safe if anything would happen to the iPad.

[_Andras_]

Hi @stokerg

I have created a new document and I have the same issue. Here is how to reproduce it.

- import and open the attached AutosaveTest2.afdesign doc on iPad (I named it 2 because I did multiple tests)

- draw a new rectangle within the rectangle

- click artboards

- choose selection and create a new artboard from selection

- move the new rectangle layer to the new artboard using layers

- select the new artboard and move it to an arbitrary position

- rename the artboard

- zoom in/out or move the canvas (this is not really needed, just the artboard name wont update without it on the canvas)

- save

- wait until finished

- close the app (with force closing)

- reopen app

- observe that anything we done above is missing (I have tried this with 2 new documents, same steps, same result)

Note: I never force close the app myself, but the iPad does when it runs out of memory. And that is when I have the above issue. Which now seems to be some problem not with autosave, but save itself.

 

AutosaveTest2.afdesign

Edited February 11, 2022 by _Andras_

[stokerg]

Hi @_Andras_,

Thanks for your file.

I've tried this on a 3rd gen 12.9 inch iPad and can't replicate it with your file or a new one.  I also tried on my M1 iPad Pro and again couldn't replicate it.

As i can't replicate the issue, it makes it very difficult to log this with the Dev team.  If you could provide a screen recording showing the changes not being saved, that will be a big help and will enable me to show it to the QA team who may have an idea of what is happening    You can easily record your screen on iPad by following the instrucations on this link: https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/ipad08a40f3b/ipados 

 

[_Andras_]

Hi @stokerg,

Ok, I will try to do a screen recording later this day.

Thanks for looking into it.

[_Andras_]

Hi @stokerg,

I have managed to record the video, I tried to make the steps as clear as possible, and at the and you can clearly see that the edited document lost the last changes, the yellow rectangle is missing despite the fact that it was saved a few seconds before.

- Also, you can see that minor bug with the artboard name not updating on the canvas until I zoom in a bit.

- Plus I found that the version number displayed during app startup (1.10.3) is different from the one that is displayed in settings (1.10.19)

I could replicate the issue on the second try, one thing that I did differently in the first try is that there I exited the document and went back to the main screen before force closing the app. It can be a clue, not sure though. But nonetheless the video clearly shows that the document was saved and then at reopen the last changes are missing.

Thanks,

Andras

 

[Paul Mudditt]

On older iPads with limited RAM best to set autosave interval to minimum value 30 seconds. The reason is nothing to do with Serif and everything to do with how multitasking works on iPadOS and how iPadOS handles memory. Affinity uses lots of RAM so when you switch to another app that also needs RAM iPadOS terminates Affinity's use of that RAM hence data can be lost when task switching. You may find it also helps to close any other apps you are not using as they may be holding onto RAM that Affinity needs. On newer iPads, like the M1 iPad Pro that I have just migrated to it does not occur because it has more RAM. But on my 9.7" iPad Pro this happened very often.

[_Andras_]

I understand how iPad OS handles memory and evicts programs when more memory is needed. But as it turned out and as the video demonstrates, it is not an autosave issue, but a save issue. Me force closing the app in the video is what you described above (simulating as if the OS would have killed the app). As you can see in the video, I had done a manual save and even waited a few seconds before force closing the app, but the content loss still happened. My guess is that the app performs saving locally and later it syncs the changes to iCloud, however if the app is closed before the sync, it loses the changes as it just uses the iCloud version after reopening the app. But that is just a guess, I do not know how it is implemented. The video shows everything, despite of manually doing the save, the app loses the changes on next run. It is something I had run into frequently so it is clearly a bug - and a serious one because it results in content loss.

[DM1]

19 hours ago, _Andras_ said:

My guess is that the app performs saving locally and later it syncs the changes to iCloud, however

Try setting the save location to iPad instead of iCloud and see if the same sequence still results in data loss. It may confirm your suspicions.

[_Andras_]

I think I have done enough already. Based on the video the Dev team should be able to replicate the issue and find out the cause. I do not want to spend more time with this.

Hi @stokerg, I think now you have everything you need to pass this issue to the Dev team. I am not sure how to change the title of this discussion, but this is clearly not an autosave rather a save issue that results in content loss.

Thanks,

Andras

[DM1]

On 2/18/2022 at 9:01 PM, _Andras_ said:

Hi @stokerg, I think now you have everything you need to pass this issue to the Dev team. I am not sure how to change the title of this discussion, but this is clearly not an autosave rather a save issue that results in content loss.

@stokergIn testing this, I t seems that any time the app is force closed (ie closed without returning to the Home Screen), the link between the sandbox file and the saved afdesign file is broken. The file shown on the project screen reflects the last occasion the app returned to project screen, not the version saved in default save folder using work screen Document Save menu. I’m saving locally and have not tested to see what further adverse effects may occur when saving to cloud. 
 

Buggy Save behaviour as follows:

1. open photo 
2 add a coloured rectangle. 
3 return to project screen, rename project and save project. You see the coloured rectangle in project screen icon.
4 open the project, change colour of rectangle, tap Document menu Save (spinning wheel and saving), tap the return to project screen. The project icon shows new colour in rectangle. 
5 open the project, change the colour of the rectangle and tap Document menu Save (spinning wheel and saving). Now, without returning to project screen, close the app by swiping away. 
6 open the app. The project icon no longer reflects the latest colour. Last saved edits gone!!
7 Don’t despair, close the project and use open/import to reload the 'saved' file. The saved edits are there, but you no longer have a link to the file (no save option in Document Save menu). 
8 return to project screen and see you now have another new project icon showing the correct coloured rectangle from last (lost edit), and the old project icon showing an earlier version. Tap Save on the new icon to restore link and restore the Document Save menu.

Summary: Manual Saves are not being lost when force closing the app, but the sandbox version of the file has not been updated by manually saving (it only updates when returning to the project screen). If the return to project screen is interrupted the link to the latest version of the saved file is lost and the project screen icon reflects an earlier version. The saved version however is still accessible in the default save folder.

Hope this helps devs resolve saving issues.🙂