I cannot drag and drop a jpg or png into Affinity Photo V2

[filoplume]

Nope.  Not supported in V2 Windows 10 (latest version from Windows Update).  I just tried a couple other jpgs.  And a png.

Works with AD V2  and APub V2.  Not Affinity Photo V2!

[filoplume]

This is working now!  I didn't do a thing.  Earlier I was getting a circle with a line through it.  All I did was to exit Photo V2 and then restart it.  But I did open up V1 first just to check.

Hmm....

[Chris B]

Odd. I wonder if perhaps you had a certain tool selected or dialog (maybe off-screen) that was preventing this from working? If it happens again can you make note of what tool you have selected and reply to this thread?

[ARTurek]

Hi filoplume

It's not necessarily the app's fault.
You may have accidentally run AF v2 as administrator. In this case, drag and drop will not work. You can check it with any application on windows.

[Aftershaft]

5 hours ago, ARTurek said:

Hi filoplume

It's not necessarily the app's fault.
You may have accidentally run AF v2 as administrator. In this case, drag and drop will not work. You can check it with any application on windows.

Never thought of that!  I probably was testing something.

Thanks!

[Thorsten Zimmermann]

I can confirm this behavior. I can't drag and drop any images into v2 Testversions. Neither from Total commander nor from regular Windows Explorer.

This applies to all Applications. Photo v2, Designer v2, Publisher v2.

No Program is running as Admin.

Windows 10 64bit Professional

[Thorsten Zimmermann]

I think I solved it:

It appears to be the filename length.

Files with a filename longer than 256 Chars cannot be dragged and dropped into the v2 Suite, nor can they be opened via Ctrl+O open dialogue.

If you adjust the filename to be shorter than 256 Chars, then files can be drag'n'dropped and also open fine via Ctrl+O.

Of course it would be nice to get this fixes, as those files have long filenames for a reason and truncating the descriptive Filename isn't really an acceptable workaround.

[PaulEC]

38 minutes ago, Thorsten Zimmermann said:

I think I solved it:

It appears to be the filename length.

Files with a filename longer than 256 Chars cannot be dragged and dropped into the v2 Suite, nor can they be opened via Ctrl+O open dialogue.

If you adjust the filename to be shorter than 256 Chars, then files can be drag'n'dropped and also open fine via Ctrl+O.

Of course it would be nice to get this fixes, as those files have long filenames for a reason and truncating the descriptive Filename isn't really an acceptable workaround.

Problems with the length of a file name are down to Windows constraints and are not unique to Affinity. Although 256/260 characters is a good, rough estimate of the maximum length that can be used, this does vary depending on how/where and in what app you are using it. For example: files that work fine on your PC may cause errors if you try to burn them to a CD/DVD (Yes, a few of us still do that!) It's also important to remember that it isn't just a long file name that can cause problems, the total length of the file path is critical. So, if you have a long file name to start with, then try to save it to a well buried folder, you may well have problems. (Actually the rules regarding the length, and permitted characters, of a file name get much more complicated that this, these are just the basics!)

There isn't really a "fix" for this, it's just how Windows works. (Although, with newer versions of Windows, I believe there are "hacks" you can use to enable longer file names.) If you want to have long "descriptive" file names, that's up to you. But, for me, a file name is simply there to uniquely identify the file, it isn't intended to list the entire contents, and every detail, of the file! (Way back you were stuck with short file names that could only consist of eight characters plus three for the file type, so be grateful for modern long files names; don't confuse naming a file with writing a novel!)

[Thorsten Zimmermann]

no other program seems to have a problem loading these files.

just the affinity v2 suite.

that's all I'm saying.

So saying "that's a windows thing", just doesn't sound correct, when no other 'Windows Application' seems to have a problem loading these exact files.

[Thorsten Zimmermann]

2 hours ago, PaulEC said:

don't confuse naming a file with writing a novel!

the files are auto named by Stable Diffusion according to their prompts - you invested a lot of mind reading into your lengthy answer.

mind reading isn't a basis on which tackling tech-issues seems a worthwhile endeavor.

v2 can't deal with >256 chars filenames. full stop. I said from the get go that a discussion about how and why and why not the filenames are lengthy is not leading towards a technical solution. yes, filenames can be altered, they can be lengthened, shortened, renamed, recomposed, translated, turned into a rhyme, turned into numerics, uppercases, lowercases. why are we having this discussion, I already said it's stupid.

v2 needs a fix to handle these filenames, since much inferior "windows" applications do not seem to have an issue with them, there's no argument to be made why the awesome Affinity v2 Suite should be the incapable standout.

Edited November 18, 2022 by Thorsten Zimmermann
typo

[PaulEC]

My apologies, I had no intention of starting an "argument!"! The simple fact is that restrictions to file and path naming and length is controlled by the operating system! There may, for all I know, be other restrictions in individual software, including Affinity! However, I am sure you will find that (unless you try hacking the Windows registry) using file names longer than 256/260 characters will cause some problems!

Please feel free to ignore any other posts I may make in these forums, as I can assure you I have no wish to argue with or offend anyone by offering unwanted help or advice.

[myclay]

 

On 11/18/2022 at 3:48 PM, PaulEC said:

There may, for all I know, be other restrictions in individual software, including Affinity! However, I am sure you will find that (unless you try hacking the Windows registry) using file names longer than 256/260 characters will cause some problems!

This is an interesting take and might be true in many cases.
When you want to program with for example python, the official installer recommends  and gives the option of disabling the 256char limit. Disabling that limit is done to prevent problems and having much easier debugging (finding errors) capabilities.