Browser/Viewer for Affinity files (Photo and Designer)?

[JoJu]

I did a forum search, but the only results are the very old requests for a DAM or at least a browser showing the content of Affinity files. Be it Designer or Photo - does anybody knows how to get an overview over my Affinity files? As well on Windows 10 as on Mac OS Ventura? I'd like to recommend my employer to skip the Adobe Suite subscriptions, but without a browser (like lousy Bridge, just a bit better 😌) we'd be doomed. I really do not understand what's so complicated to let us users wait for more than 4 years now. 😔

[walt.farrell]

You can search the forum for DAM and find many discussions about what people use and recommend.

Here's one (of those many) that mentions a few:

I like XnViewMP. Free (for individual use), and shows thumbnails for the 3 main Affinity file formats (but you will need to set Tools > Settings > General > Show all graphic formats).

[R C-R]

4 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

I like XnViewMP. Free (for individual use), and shows thumbnails for the 3 main Affinity file formats (but you will need to set Tools > Settings > General > Show all graphic formats).

For me, it shows thumbnails for AD & AP but not APub. Maybe it is different for Macs vs. Windows?

[RichardMH]

abeMeda/NeoFinder works with Affinity files and can run V2 programs with a right click.

[walt.farrell]

17 minutes ago, R C-R said:

For me, it shows thumbnails for AD & AP but not APub. Maybe it is different for Macs vs. Windows?

Must be Mac vs Windows. You might want to contact the developers.

[JoJu]

Thank you all for your replies. In the meantime I was searching the forum a bit more. Finder or Explorer can also show thumbnails and XnView is only free for private users. So, at home I can use Finder but in the office ... well, I was used to Bridge which at least can give colour tags and has some other tricks, it's also free to use - but can't show AP, AD or AP files. Naturally as Adobe surely doesn't want to make Affinity users too happy. So, Affinity DAM apparently is dead before it came to life?

[R C-R]

3 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Must be Mac vs Windows. You might want to contact the developers.

Hmmm. What settings did you use to get the thumbnails visible in all 3 apps? I can never remember what the setting is or where in preferences it lives.

[walt.farrell]

11 hours ago, R C-R said:

Hmmm. What settings did you use to get the thumbnails visible in all 3 apps? I can never remember what the setting is or where in preferences it lives.

As I said above: Tools > Settings > General > Show all graphic formats

[JoJu]

3 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

As I said above: Tools > Settings > General > Show all graphic formats

It just doesn't work. At least not in version 2.49.3 (May 2020) which is available in the company I'm working in. I'm trying to convince our IT to skip Adobe suites and buy Affinity instead. But Bridge is at least showing Adobe formats. XnView classic is very limited. As shown in the screenshot, I can't see the contents of too much files and the preview of an AFDesign file just shows the hex code. 

Edit: Sorry, my bad: I rechecked your path of settings. I thought I need to check all file types. But there's a checkbox "Use all available formats" (translated for German) waiting to be checked.

Edited November 30, 2022 by JoJu
misunderstood post

[R C-R]

3 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

As I said above: Tools > Settings > General > Show all graphic formats

I do not have a Tools category in the preferences for XnViewMP on my Mac. I have a Tools menu item, but it has no settings item. I am using XnView MP MacOSX Version 1.3.1 64bits (Oct 11 2022).

It must be different foe Macs, so if someone with a Mac knows where this preference setting is I would appreciate it if they would let me know where to find it.

[walt.farrell]

40 minutes ago, JoJu said:

At least not in version 2.49.3 (May 2020) which is available in the company I'm working in.

Perhaps convince your company they should update to a more recent version?

In don't know aboout XnView classic, but XnViewMP has a release at least 2 years more recent than the one you're using.

[JoJu]

The windows version has a gear wheel icon for the settings. I don't use XnView on my Mac, the layout is windowishlike horrible and I have enough browsers. But here on Windows it's very helpful. And doens't look worse than most other applications. 😁

[JoJu]

3 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Perhaps convince your company they should update to a more recent version?

In don't know aboout XnView classic, but XnViewMP has a release at least 2 years more recent than the one you're using.

I really want to convince them. But the first reply is not too promising and worse, apparently its' not even under company license which I find awful. None of the decisionmakers works for free...

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, R C-R said:

I do not have a Tools category in the preferences for XnViewMP on my Mac. I have a Tools menu item, but it has no settings item. I am using XnView MP MacOSX Version 1.3.1 64bits (Oct 11 2022).

It must be different foe Macs, so if someone with a Mac knows where this preference setting is I would appreciate it if they would let me know where to find it.

FWIW, on my Mac I finally found "Show all graphic formats" in Settings > General > General tab, but it is checked & while I get thumbnails for AD & AP I still do not for APub files. 🙁

[voom]

I like https://eagle.cool very much; while it is not free, it is quite versatile as a DAM and priced very reasonably (buy once). One thing to consider, though: it does not browser the folders on the device, instead it puts everything into its own database. On the other hand, this way one can only put the assets needed into eagle and backup all assets from one source. I see thumbnails for all three Affinity apps on Windows.