Publisher not updating linked PDFs when externaly modified, document corrupted if saved without updating it.

[Daniel Gibert]

Hi. Publisher is not updating the external PDFs or Designer. files after being modified. The settings are correctly set to do so.

Also, it does not show the "Update" option on the Resource manager.

The external files are set to "Linked"

The worst thing, is that if you save the publisher document without updating the image, you cannot reopen it again, receiving a message that the file contains characteristics from a former version of Publisher ???????

Procedure:

• Create a figure in Designer 2 and export as PDF (X1A)
• Import the figure to Publisher (Linked)
• Modify the figure on Designer and export again replacing.
• The figure never gets updated on Publisher, nor the option to manually update appears.
• Save the document without updating the linked image. It fails at reopening it.

I tried with PNG and JPG and it detects the changes perfectly.

Tried in a second Mac, and it fails to update too (Although it says that the image has changed, just not updating the preview) and crash trying to reload the image. Seriously something is wrong with placed vector files or the preview interpreter.

Publisher becomes totally unusable to me, as I can't risk to damage any of the works I have in progress, all of them using imported PDFs and linked Designer files. Literally, I can't work with Publisher 2 just now. It is an incredible risk, which could cost me thousands on damaged and undelivered works. I'll remain in v1 at this moment.

Added info:

Tested with 2 computers, one with files in external SSD and other with internal drive, both fails. Both with Ventura 13.0.1

Attached you have an example of a document corrupted.

broken file.afpub

[MikeTO]

Hi, I see the problem with your Publisher file - I can't open it either - but I can't duplicate this with a from scratch document, it just worked as expected. When I updated the linked pdf Publisher alerted me and updated it automatically.

Just to confirm because I know some people didn't manually copy their settings over from v1 and thus things are working a bit differently for them, you do have "Automatically update linked resources when modified externally" checked in Preferences > General, right? I don't see how having that unchecked would cause the problem you're having though.

[Daniel Gibert]

2 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

Just to confirm because I know some people didn't manually copy their settings over from v1 and thus things are working a bit differently for them, you do have "Automatically update linked resources when modified externally" checked in Preferences > General, right? I don't see how having that unchecked would cause the problem you're having though.

Yep. The setting is active (And even tried to deactivate/restart/reactivate it/restart again, No result. We didn't used v1 settings, preferred to set new ones by hand.

Gonna try to deactivate 3rd party apps and extensions to see if there is an issue with other software interfering. I'll let you know as I study it.

 

[Daniel Gibert]

20 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

Just to confirm because I know some people didn't manually copy their settings over from v1 and thus things are working a bit differently for them, you do have "Automatically update linked resources when modified externally" checked in Preferences > General, right? I don't see how having that unchecked would cause the problem you're having though.

Hi. I have encountered the cause. Publisher is having problems with files linked/saved on/from external storage. It works perfect on internal disk, but fails to update/reload/save with files in an external ssd

The external is APFS formatted, connected through USB C.

Unlucky for us, this not solve our issue, because we work all from external disk (And v1 had no issues at all with it) and we are not able to store the work internally. But at least we know why it happens. I have read in the forums that Publisher has a logged issue in Ventura with FAT formatted units. I think that the issue could be updated to include APFS too..

Hope this is info of good use to solve it, and that there is a solution soon. Working with v1 until then (Cry in silence)

 

[Daniel Gibert]

Well. Hello there. I have been able to reproduce the issue with great detail and specific steps so developers can too.

• Make a publisher document and save it to external drive.
• Crete a designer figure and export to PDF on the external drive
• Place the PDF on the Publisher document and save
• Modify the figure in Designer and export again, replacing the initial PDF
• In publisher, PDF does not update, and does not show update option in resource manager (Publisher totally ignores the PDF had been modified)
• Move the placed PDF around the publisher document, or make any other change, and save (So it is saved without updating the pdf preview)
• Reopen the publisher document: You get error that it is saved with a more recent version of Publisher (Which does not make any sense at all). File has been ruined and not able to recover.

If you repeat this steps on local drive, there is no problem at all. The fail is generated when you move the linked image and save with it not updated.

Issue verified in:

Mac Mini m1 - 16gb - Ventura 13.0.1 - external USB C SSD (Direct connection) APFS

Macbook Air m1 - 8gb - Ventura 13.0.1 - external USB C SSD (Direct connection) APFS

iMac late 2013 - 24 gb - Catalina 10.15.7 - external USB 3 SSD (Direct connection) APFS

So this issue is not related to Ventura incompatibility but to drive compatibility. In all three cases the steps has been reproduced with identical results.

 

[Daniel Gibert]

More info to refine the issue:

• PDF - Don't detect change - Don't update preview - Don't allow update in resource manager
• EPS - Don't detect change - Don't update preview - Don't allow update in resource manager
• AFDESIGN - Don't detect change - Don't update preview - Don't allow update in resource manager
• JPG - Detect change - Don't update preview - Don't allow update in resource manager
• GIF - Detect change - Don't update preview - Don't allow update in resource manager
• PNG - Detect change - Don't update preview - Don't allow update in resource manager
• TIFF - Detect change - Don't update preview - Don't allow update in resource manager

In resume. If the linked file is vector based, the modification is not noticed at all. If the file is raster based, Publisher know and says that the file has been modified, but does not update the preview and does not let you manually update.

Issue is now much more frustrating, because is not only PDF linked images that are not working from/on external drives, which we could somhow avoid. Now is that we cannot link anything without risk of loosing the work (And we are not gonna change whole studio workflow, sync system and backup system because of it, of course)

[fanagalo]

I have the same problem with file updates in the resource manager.

[Daniel Gibert]

More advances in the possible resolution of the issue

After much more experimenting, the culprit has been cornered!

IT IS THE (insert swear word here) DROPBOX

It is Dropbox that it is causing the issues with the files. Saving and linking files from a Dropbox folder in an external disk causes all the issues. Linking from the same drive outside a dropbox folder works perfectly.

It occurs that in all my computers, we save the work to Dropbox in an external drive. This is why the issue is happening.

It is an incompatibility with Dropbox. One that does not happen on v1, but it is present on v2. I know that Dropbox integration has been added to v2 (And I have it active) so there is obviously something wrong with it.

So i'll rewrite the steps to reproduce it:

• Make a publisher document and save it to Dropbox in an external drive.
• Crete a designer figure and export to PDF on Dropbox on a external drive.
• Place the PDF on the Publisher document and save
• Modify the figure in Designer and export again, replacing the initial PDF
• In publisher, PDF does not update, and does not show update option in resource manager (Publisher totally ignores the PDF had been modified)
• Move the placed PDF around the publisher document, or make any other change, and save (So it is saved without updating the pdf preview)
• Reopen the publisher document: You get an error that it is saved with a more recent version of Publisher (Which does not make any sense at all). File has been ruined and can't be recovered.

Repeat the process in the same external drive but outside of Dropbox and it works fine.

At this time I don't have any device with Dropbox over internal disk to check. All my setups are over external drive. Can anyone check it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Daniel Gibert]

More test: issue checked with Dropbox over drives formatted differently. It happens over APFS and HFS+ drives.

[Pauls]

WIth my Internal dropbox setup the initial update is not spotted (bug). I do get a prompt when reopening the file that the resource has changed, I'll now attempt to recreate what you are seeing the external drive may well be a factor

[Daniel Gibert]

Just now, Pauls said:

With my Internal dropbox setup the initial update is not spotted (bug). I do get a prompt when reopening the file that the resource has changed, I'll now attempt to recreate what you are seeing the external drive may well be a factor

I'm pretty sure that the issue is about Dropbox being in external drive. For some reason, Publisher gets no notification of the changes on linked files. The most outrageous thing is that it works perfectly on v1, so i doubt it is Dropbox the issue.

My mission is to be that kind of user :-P

[Pauls]

I've not recreated the fault can you confirm the locale affinity and the OS are in and the exact model of external drive please

[Daniel Gibert]

52 minutes ago, Pauls said:

I've not recreated the fault can you confirm the locale affinity and the OS are in and the exact model of external drive please

Yes of course:

• Mac Mini m1 - 16gb RAM - Ventura 13.0.1 - external (Direct connection) APFS - Samsung T5 1tb USB-C SSD
• Macbook Air m1 - 8gb RAM - Ventura 13.0.1 - external (Direct connection) APFS - Samsung T7 1tb USB-C SSD (Also tested on a Philips 16gb USB-2 pendrive)
• iMac late 2013 - 24 gb RAM - Catalina 10.15.7 - external (Direct connection) APFS - Samsung T7 1tb USB-3 SSD
• iMac late 2017 - 24 gb RAM - Monterey 12.6 - external (Direct connection) MacOS HFS+ with registry - San Disk Extreme 500gb USC-3

As you can see, we can reproduce the issue in four computers, with up to four different external disk, with 2 type of cable and 2 different formats.

In all of them, the issue happens when linking from External drive Dropbox. The corruption happens usually on the second save of the file (Sometimes in the first save) So it is not an isolated issue.

Affinity versión is v2 in all devices. System and Affinity suites working from internal disk.

Also, remember that this happens only within Dropbox folders. If we test on the same drives outside of dropbox, it works fine. And Affinity v1 has no issues at all.

Let us know if you need more info, or a screen videocapture or a remote session. We are very open to help, as we need Publisher new features a lot.

And thanks for your attention.

[Pauls]

A screen capture would be good

[Daniel Gibert]

2 hours ago, Pauls said:

A screen capture would be good

 At your command.

I have made the same test in all four macs with the same result. It is always saving the files to Dropbox in external drive. Hope you can find it useful.

[Pauls]

Not been able to recreate this so far - I always get a toast message when reopening the Publisher file whereas you do not. What actual file system are your external drive(s) configured as ?

[Daniel Gibert]

6 minutes ago, Pauls said:

Not been able to recreate this so far - I always get a toast message when reopening the Publisher file whereas you do not. What actual file system are your external drive(s) configured as ?

We have registered the issue with units in APSF and HFS+

[Daniel Gibert]

Well. First Beta of Publisher.

The issue persist, but now the behavior has changed.

Now, if you save-close without altering the non updated linked file, it updates correctly at reopening the document.

If you save-close after moving or altering the non updated linked file, the document get corrupted no more, but the linked file is just deleted.

An advance, because you don't lose the Publisher document anymore, but still linked files don't update and Resource Manager still don't detect file changes. And therefore, Publisher still not usable for us. (Imagine reopening the document to find a lot of images missing… yes, better than a corrupted file but…)

It is now super-clear that it is something on the App coding (That does not happens on v1) because nothing more has changed but the Beta on our systems.

I posted this on the Beta forum too. Looking for future improvements on next beta releases (pleaseeeee)

[Pauls]

Would it be possible to get a system report for one of the machines with a drive connected ? You can PM it to me directly

[Daniel Gibert]

6 minutes ago, Pauls said:

Would it be possible to get a system report for one of the machines with a drive connected ? You can PM it to me directly

Just send you a PM with it. Thanks!

[yukonPete]

On M1 Pro 14", dropbox on internal drive, updating doesn't work on a jpg from Google Earth. My workaround is to simply replace the image with itself. Clunky, but....

[yukonPete]

And let me add, that I was restarting computer to clear up a system thing and by mistake told publisher not to save a version since I knew that it hadn't been open without saving changes and I got the can't open because it's using older feature error. Ouch. Poor to have such a data-destroying bug still active.

[Daniel Gibert]

6 hours ago, yukonPete said:

And let me add, that I was restarting computer to clear up a system thing and by mistake told publisher not to save a version since I knew that it hadn't been open without saving changes and I got the can't open because it's using older feature error. Ouch. Poor to have such a data-destroying bug still active.

I would not mind (much) if it only failed to update linked images, but the "old feature error" is such an absurd bug that it is impossible to accept it. On the last beta at least it just delete the linked image, instead of corrupting the document. Just this prevents me to use publisher for production work until it is fixed. Still using v1 against my will.

[yukonPete]

Just to say, that I had to close then reopen before it would update an affinity link. Tedious spending more time fighting than doing. I accept that programmers need input, but think that this should be a beta version rather than a production version.

[Andy_R]

I found this thread because I'm having this problem (linked files not updating, Publisher v2, Mac). Reading through I realised that it is the Dropbox thing - all my work is saved to a Dropbox folder on the internal drive. 

Tested by packaging the job to a folder outside of Dropbox, made an edit to a linked Designer file, Publisher updated straight away. 

Did the same test again on the original files in Dropbox - no updates.

My workaround so far has been to just 'replace' the file with itself, but now I've seen how seemlessly it is supposed to work I'd quite like it if it could be fixed to work within Dropbox.