Upgraded Mac to 12.3 Monterey - cannot Save or Save As from any of the three - can export only

[WestSacGreenDesignGP]

I cannot save or save as from any of the three Affinity apps, having updated my OS to OS 12.3 - it’s only Affinity apps hit like this.

 

Interestingly, although I cannot save (or control directory spanning within the save dialogue, where the cancel button is live, but the save is greyed out) I can export, and I can save a package.

 

It’s *not* a permissions issue, and I have manually given the apps full disk access permission in my attempts to resolve the issue to no effect.

 

Note: the only way to get back out of this dialogue is to click the Escape key on the keyboard - the input “focus” stays stuck on the text-entry name field in the save dialogue - to the extent that it will not recognise trackpad input to click the cancel button, or the greyed-out save button.

 

MBP 16” last Intel generation.

 

Attached see an image of the greyed-out save button etc.

[Giansauna]

I'm having the very same problem! macOS Monterey 12.3 on an MacBook Pro 16'' 2019 (latest Intel). It affects all three Affinitiy applications. I use the latest versions from AppStore. Save button in the dialogue box is flickering sometimes but It becomes never activated - it stays greyed out. Selecting folders on the left side is not possible (no reaction), neither.

Edit: The problem occurs only on my Intel-machine. On M1 it works as it should.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Giansauna

[Dan C]

Hi @WestSacGreenDesignGP & @Giansauna,

I'm sorry to hear you're both having trouble (and welcome to the Affinity Forums Giansauna ).

I'd like to test to see if this issue occurs within a new user account on your Mac, as this isn't an issue I've seen being reported previously.

Can you please create a new user account on your mac, then login and install one of the Affinity apps here - do you find you are able to Save as expected, or does the same issue occur please? 

Many thanks in advance!

[WestSacGreenDesignGP]

Hi folks - I got a comment posted by Moderator MEB (which I now don't see) which included a link to an FAQ article - my issue was just resolved using the second item listed in that article:

"...If you do not have a Font Manager installed or do not have an excessive amount of fonts installed within macOS, please try going to the Apple menu 🍏  > System Preferences > General > Recent Items to None and try our app again..."

This solved the issue completely and I'm able to save and save as entirely normally now.

Here's the FAQs link MEB provided:

This DOES point out that somewhere in the core Affinity code there's a non-fault-tolerant system which is looking for or at data provided by or to the OS on recent saves, and cannot handle either lag or lack of data. It's clear this is not true of other apps - I use a wide range of 3D generalist tools, CADD tools and other graphics tools, and sadly only Affinity showed this issue.

I AM glad it has a simple workaround.

Thanks to all the mods involved in this one!

Edited March 25, 2022 by WestSacGreenDesignGP
typo correction

[Dan C]

Many thanks for letting me know, I'm glad to hear this resolved your issue - I believe the post was hidden as MEB was unsure if this FAQ was related, due to the lack of error message on your system, but good catch, @MEB!

7 minutes ago, WestSacGreenDesignGP said:

This DOES point out that somewhere in the core Affinity code there's a non-fault-tolerant system which is looking for or at data provided by or to the OS on recent saves, and cannot handle either lag or lack of data. It's clear this is not true of other apps - I use a wide range of 3D generalist tools, CADD tools and other graphics tools, and sadly only Affinity showed this issue.

This issue stems from Sandboxing in the Mac App Store - essentially applications downloaded through the Mac App Store are only allowed to access a certain number of files on your machine before macOS blocks the app from reading or writing any more files. On certain systems with hundreds of fonts, colour profiles etc, Affinity can soon hit this limit causing the issue you saw. Removing this 'Recents' list from interacting with the Affinity app can drastically reduce the number of files being access by the application, allowing you to save once again.

I cannot be certain, but I suspect the other applications you are referring to either were downloaded outside of the Mac App Store, or simply do not require access to as many files as Affinity and therefore are not hitting this limit.

I hope this clears things up

[Giansauna]

This workaround solved the problem for me, too. Great to know about this! 😀