Default location for Save As (and Export)

[kadez84]

I don't understand developers and why they are deaf to the community's voice. They made a great program and destroyed it with little things. If someone is working on multiple projects, they organize them into separate folders. All the other apps I'm working on save to the location where the file is located. I always forget Affinity works differently and I have to manually stack what this program broke in my file organization. This is idiotic because if someone wants a permanent location they can save the file there. If someone needs a separate location for each project, affinity is not able to do so.

Edited September 1, 2022 by kadez84

[DesertDenizen]

It's a constant source of frustration. I end up doing a scavenger hunt trying to figure out where it was exported or saved to. Here's the way another app that I frequently use rather elegantly handles where things are saved to.

[criffel]

I had my hopes when I saw the announcement the other day for v2, but we are dissapointed yet again. It was the first thing I checked once I purchased it. While it doesnt change my buying decision, I will just never understand why they cant give us the option to have the export settings linked to the file instead of the last settings that were used. Even Canva.com realizes this is an important feature and the give you a checkbox to save the export settings in the export workflow.  

[robinp]

On 11/9/2022 at 6:03 PM, criffel said:

I had my hopes when I saw the announcement the other day for v2, but we are dissapointed yet again. It was the first thing I checked once I purchased it. While it doesnt change my buying decision, I will just never understand why they cant give us the option to have the export settings linked to the file instead of the last settings that were used. Even Canva.com realizes this is an important feature and the give you a checkbox to save the export settings in the export workflow.  

I came here to check before buying v2. I honestly cannot believe they haven’t fixed this. Astonishing. 

[p10n]

On 11/9/2022 at 7:03 PM, criffel said:

... While it doesnt change my buying decision...

I, too, was so hoping for that nuissance getting removed at last. Looks like the key might be within criffel's statement – we are still buying it, so Affinity does not care.

Adding features is helpful in advertising, while removing annoyances is not. (It would need a genius texter to create an advert based on "In V2 we have now fixed an everyday efficiency-killing stupidity that we have been ignorant about the recent 5 years"...)

[Graymare]

Well, I'm not buying another version until at least some of these problems are fixed.  And it looks like none of them have been.

FFS, it shouldn't take six years to get a program to give users the option of defaulting to the original file location for saving!

[Oliver twist]

I am very disappointing this issue is not fixed in v2, I don't see any use case this behavior may be useful, I don't know any app working like this (probably there is but it is not a "common" behavior) and it makes me waste a lot of time... 

[paulie.reklama]

bump

[fdelaneau]

I must say that this doesn't affect me so much but it is driving my sister crazy.

She has a lot of clients and is constantly jumping between them so this is a constant source of mistakes for her.

At this point this should be a priority, especially as this is the behavior from Adobe’s applications, this would greatly help newcomers 😇

[Geratius]

Still waiting for fix. Very annoying to search files in last location

[Andy Mo]

I support this and would like to add my frustration with not having an option to have the default Save As / Export folder be the source of the opened file.  It is a very common user experience that is reflected in many many applications (eg.  every Microsoft product)

This is a SIMPLE feature request.  An option in the Preferences and some simple code.

It would only be 1 Story Point (for you Agile / SAFe devs out there)

[v_kyr]

44 minutes ago, Andy Mo said:

I support this and would like to add my frustration with not having an option to have the default Save As / Export folder be the source of the opened file.  It is a very common user experience that is reflected in many many applications (eg.  every Microsoft product)

This is a SIMPLE feature request.  An option in the Preferences and some simple code.

Basically the apps do remember their latest used file path locations, which can be also seen in their internal prefs setting storage ...

...
"com.seriflabs.opensave.panel.startupdir" = "file:/Users/vkyr/Downloads";
"com.seriflabs.package.panel.startupdir" = "file:///Users/vkyr/Downloads/";
"com.seriflabs.export.panel.startupdir" = "/Users/vkyr/Downloads";
...

... but those settings are probably only updated/written out persistent when the apps do close and thus are only recognized/taken into account, when the apps are restarted next time. - Meaning here, if changing storage location paths etc. on the fly when the apps are already running, these on the fly changes might not be written out immediately and taken so into account then.

 

[frindley]

2 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

Basically the apps do remember their latest used file path locations, which can be also seen in their internal prefs setting storage ...

But this is the problem!

When you open an existing document and then go to save as (e.g. to create an updated version of it), instead of automatically taking you to the folder in which that existing document lives – which is what users expect and would like because it's both logical and what other Mac apps do – the app offers you the latest used file path (i.e. the location in which you most recently saved a document, any document), which might be for some entirely different project. 

Or to put it another way:

I'm working on Project A and I save it to Folder A. All good.

Then I go to Folder B and open Project B. Work on it a bit; want to save it as Project B_v2. At which point Affinity automatically offers the location as Folder A because that's where I most recently saved something, anything. And if I'm not paying attention, which can happen, I end up saving Project B in Folder A and then wondering why I can't find it next time I need to work on it or share it.

The logical thing to do would be to offer the location as folder B because that's where the Project B file came from. 
 

[paulie.reklama]

16 minutes ago, frindley said:

But this is the problem!

When you open an existing document and then go to save as (e.g. to create an updated version of it), instead of automatically taking you to the folder in which that existing document lives – which is what users expect and would like because it's both logical and what other Mac apps do – the app offers you the latest used file path (i.e. the location in which you most recently saved a document, any document), which might be for some entirely different project. 

Or to put it another way:

I'm working on Project A and I save it to Folder A. All good.

Then I go to Folder B and open Project B. Work on it a bit; want to save it as Project B_v2. At which point Affinity automatically offers the location as Folder A because that's where I most recently saved something, anything. And if I'm not paying attention, which can happen, I end up saving Project B in Folder A and then wondering why I can't find it next time I need to work on it or share it.

The logical thing to do would be to offer the location as folder B because that's where the Project B file came from. 
 

YES, I totally agree.

[v_kyr]

5 hours ago, frindley said:

... The logical thing to do would be to offer the location as folder B because that's where the Project B file came from. 
 

It then lacks an on the fly change/update of these resources key/value pairs hold actually in memory then. Otherwise it would always present you the last actual used/accessed directory in app during runtime too here. - They have to check and fix this.

[blackletter]

Yes, when you work on different projects or keep certain file types in certain sub folders it would make life easier if files could be saved to the SAME folder. I vote for it too.

[p10n]

Imo this could be resolved easily to make most people happy - see my old post

 

[Marcus_Dobler]

1 hour ago, p10n said:

Imo this could be resolved easily to make most people happy - see my old post

 

I've tried Default Folder X, I do not like it! 

[WoodPeck]

1 hour ago, p10n said:

Imo this could be resolved easily to make most people happy - see my old post

 

As mentioned before on your older posts - you don't understand the problem.  Either that or you are simply trying to promote folder X - a piece of software that relies on a clunky solution of reading the scren output to draw a GUI window around other app windows. Horrid.

[p10n]

1 hour ago, WoodPeck said:

As mentioned before on your older posts - you don't understand the problem.  Either that or you are simply trying to promote folder X - a piece of software that relies on a clunky solution of reading the scren output to draw a GUI window around other app windows. Horrid.

Uhm, I have been suffering from the problem as well, so I guess I understand it. 🙂

I am NOT happy promoting DefaultFolderX, but it is the only (and yes, indeed very clunky!) solution that I have found so far. (Note (as it seems like you missed this): In the settings, there is this one little option "in Save dialogs, use the current folder of the file" (translated from German) – you need to enable it, this is the relief for the problem.)

[AllSaints]

Hello, all. Just adding my support for this request. Would be great to have control.  Otherwise love the product (mainly use Publisher), but updating the SAVE AS would help tremendously.

[Andy_R]

I'd like this fixed as well please. Why saving to the same folder you opened the file in isn't the default is beyond me. I can't believe this thread started in 2016 and this issue hasn't been fixed. I only started using Affinity regularly since v2 came out - I bought v1 but never really used it enough. It's the little annoyances like this that will make me not want to keep using it.

[paulie.reklama]

Can I ask the administrator to move this thread to the V2 section?

[erkerkerk]

Like others, I earnestly can't believe this basic user experience issue hasn't been addressed in seven-plus years. Are we in the wrong place to get feedback to Affinity? It doesn't seem like anyone is listening.

I'm using the trial version right now, hoping for a Photoshop replacement, but this lack of attention to the community is concerning enough to me that I may just ask my job to buy me a CS license.

[damir]

erkerkerk, ask for CS licence, if this is for your work forget about Affinity, they just don't care about anybody.