"Failed to open file - File type not supported"

[ralphwhiteaker]

Am getting a “Failed to open file – the file type is not supported” error when trying to open  existing files with either .afdesign, .afphoto, and even .jpg extensions.  Have tried closing and reopening Designer and Photo, re-booting, checked for updates, and moving files to a different cloud account and even to my desktop.  Also created a new file in Designer, saved, closed and tried to re-open but with same error message.  I am using a Macbook Air.  I use Designer regularly and Photo occasionally without problem.  I also have and use Affinity Publisher and get the same error when trying to import or place an Affinity or .jpg file.

This error just started in the last 2-4 days.  

I purchased Affinity Designer several years ago, and Affinity Photo and Publisher more recently.  Username is [EDIT] personal data removed [EDIT].  I am unable to find my Product Key(s), including from your website, and your Order History does not list my purchases.

[EDIT] personal data removed [EDIT]

[MEB]

Hello @ralphwhiteaker,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Do you remember from where you bought the Affinity apps? If you bought them through the Mac App Store, you can only (re) install them using the Mac App Store app on your Mac. They do not appear on your account on our website/order history because you didn't buy them directly from us. Can you confirm this please? Otherwise we will check out what's going on with the data (name, e-mail) you provided which I have hidden from public but it's still available to us. Thank you.

Regarding the error, what macOS version are you running? Have you tried to reset the apps? Press and hold control while starting the app until a Clear user data dialog appears, keep the first three checkboxes ticked only (otherwise you may delete custom brushes, actions, assets etc you may have added to the app) then press Clear. Does it make any difference?

[ralphwhiteaker]

Men - I'm sorry, I was in the wrong window and did not see your reply. My apologies.  Are we still good to work on this?  I don't know what your hours are and if maybe we need to pick this up in the morning. Please tell me what works for you.  Ralph

[ralphwhiteaker]

I did purchase through the Apple store.  MacOS Monterey 12.3.  I tried checking for updates and these are current.  I looked to see if I still had the original installation files, but do not see them anywhere.  I usually save everything so do not know what happened to them.  

I tried the reset as you suggested and that did not help--same error.  Ralph

[schk]

I have th same issue. I saved a file yesterday and can't open it today. Has anything changed from yesterday? How can I open the file? I have everything there

[ralphwhiteaker]

I'm waiting for this conversation with the help person to pick up again this morning.  In the meantime though one thought I have is the possibility of some Affinity configuration file or driver file, common to and shared by all 3 apps, being corrupted.  That might explain why Design, Photo, and Publisher all have the same problem--unable to recognize and therefore open graphic files, including their own native formats.  

[MEB]

Hi @ralphwhiteaker,
Thanks for confirming you have purchased in the Apple Store. Do you have many fonts installed on your system? Please go through this FAQ and see if fixes the issue for you.

[ralphwhiteaker]

I used your response about Fonts to check my system, and it appears that the number of fonts is not an issue, nor do I see any of the error messages you asked about. (I hope this reaches you!  I am a bit confused by the way this chat system works--each response opens a new window.

[ralphwhiteaker]

I went through the FAQ as suggested and did not find any of these as possible problems.

[MEB]

Hi @ralphwhiteaker;
Sorry the delay getting back to you. I didn't work this past Friday. From your description it seems you are hitting the sandbox limitations imposed by the Mac App Store. Can you confirm that you also tried the solution proposed in this post specifically (set Recent Items to None)?

Then please also check if the apps have permissions to access Apple Photos, files and folders and Full disk access in the Security & Privacy section of the System preferences as well as if you running any app that may be blocking Affinity Photo like antivirus and similar tools as my colleague suggested here.

If you still experience this issue please run the Activity Monitor, select the Affinity icon/app where you are having issues, them click the "I" info icon in the main toolbar, switch to the Open Files and Ports tab and copy everything that appears in the field below to a text document. Please attach the text document to your reply here. Thank you.

[Nashid Chroma]

Hi I'm having the exact same issue. I've tried following all your steps, and the steps outlined in the links you've mentioned with no success. I feel like I've done everything but I can't place any image files into my documents still.

[Dan C]

Hi @Nashid Chroma,

Welcome to the Affinity Forums

Sorry to hear you're having trouble!

Can you please confirm for me, what file format are you trying to place into your Affinity document?

Are you able to provide a sample file here that fails to Place for you?

Many thanks in advance.

[walt.farrell]

It would help to know your OS, and the location of the files that you're trying to Place, @Nashid Chroma.

[Nashid Chroma]

Hi! Literally all file types are yielding the error. JPGs and Ai were what I was trying to use - but my brother right beside me was able to place them on his publisher (also on OS). I'm running Monterey 12.3.1 (21E258) which seems to be the most up to date version. My Publisher is also up to date. I've attached the error message, but I cannot seem to upload two files to attach the actual file... In any case - this error is happening to literally everything and it started about 5 days ago.

 

[walt.farrell]

22 minutes ago, Nashid Chroma said:

this error is happening to literally everything and it started about 5 days ago.

Where (what folder/directory) are the files located in?

What did you do about 5 days ago? For example, perhaps you set up DropBox or another cloud service to monitor that folder, and perhaps you told it to conserve space by moving the files off of your computer to the cloud, unless you reference them?

[Dan C]

Thanks for your screenshot provided! It certainly sounds as though this is a system specific issue, possibly caused by your macOS Security settings.

If you open System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Full Disk Access - is Affinity Publisher listed here?

If not, under the same Privacy tab, in the Files and Folders section, does Affinity Publisher appear? (and if so, which folders does it have access to?)

Many thanks once again

[Nashid Chroma]

The files are both on my desktop and on dropbox. Nothing of note happened 5 days ago, it seemed to happen suddenly... I was able to place images from dropbox and my desktop with no issues before this.

Thanks for the tip Dan. Publisher wasn't on Full Disk Access, so I've added it. It was in Files and Folders though. Even with these changes, I'm still encountering the error...

[Dan C]

No problem at all, thank you for trying this for me and I'm sorry to hear that hasn't helped.

Is your Desktop folder synced with Dropbox? We've seen issues with opening files from 'cloud synced' locations previously when the file/folder hasn't been fully or correctly synced to the cloud service.

Do you have folders on your system that aren't being backed up? If you copy a file to this location and try opening from here, do the results change?

1 hour ago, Nashid Chroma said:

but my brother right beside me was able to place them on his publisher (also on OS)

I assume your brother is also using a similar Dropbox setup? Do you have any updates for Dropbox pending, by chance?

[Nashid Chroma]

It's okay! Yes Dropbox is completely up to date. I don't think its an issue with the cloud server because I'm unable to place screenshots that are saved directly to my desktop for example.

[walt.farrell]

I would suggest trying with a folder that Dropbox is not monitoring. Or configure Dropbox to keep everything fully in your system and see what happens.

[Nashid Chroma]

As I mentioned, the issue is also occurring with local files unfortunately.

[Nashid Chroma]

Sorry I dont think I follow.. I'm new to using a Mac

[Nashid Chroma]

Update - It seems to be working with local files now

[Nashid Chroma]

I'm not sure if I'm doing something incorrectly because this is the message I get:

 

ls: Complex-Screenshot.png: No such file or directory

Complex-Screenshot.png: cannot open `Complex-Screenshot.png' (No such file or directory)

nashidchowdhury@Nashids-MacBook-Pro Desktop %

[ACM]

I am desperate to get help -- have been working for over a month on a file that suddenly won't let me open. I hadn't been doing anything unusual to it and was almost finished, when I tried to save my changes and a notice told me I "didn't have permission".

Now when I try to open the file I get the following message:

"Failed to open file

/Users/annmahan/Desktop/2022 NZ Trip.afpub

The file type is not supported."

I shut down my computer (MacBook Pro 15-inch, 2018, OS 10.14.6) and started it back up again, but get the same message. I tried duplicating the file but get the same message. I thought I had backed it up but can't find that file. Does Affinity Publisher have any folder with autosave backups? I can't find any. I can't lose all that work -- please help me!!!

2022 NZ Trip.afpub