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How to create a shortcut to Affinity Photo 2 on desktop in Windows 10?


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@wasker

According to the official info, MSIX doesn't provide this as an option, but you can pin the apps to either the Start Menu or the Taskbar.
There is also the secret Shell:AppsFolder location in Explorer that allows you to right-click or drag the icon to your Desktop for a shortcut as a workaround if you need it. 

To get to that Appsfolder location, you have to press Windows+R to open the Windows Run dialog. type the Shell:AppsFolder in, press enter and the folder is open.
search for the Affinity Program right click and then Create shortcut.
Shell:AppsFolder Windows 10/11

image.png

 

Sketchbook (with Affinity Suite usage) | timurariman.com | artstation store

Windows 11 Pro - 23H2 | Ryzen 5800X3D | RTX 3090 - 24GB | 128GB |
Main SSD with 1TB | SSD 4TB | PCIe SSD 256GB (configured as Scratch disk) |

 

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1 hour ago, wasker said:

the app is not used by me frequently to pin it to the Start/taskbar, which is why the desktop icon was so handy.

I just click Start and then begin typing the application name.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
    Laptop 2: Windows 11 Pro 24H2,  16GB memory, Snapdragon(R) X Elite - X1E80100 - Qualcomm(R) Oryon(TM) 12 Core CPU 4.01 GHz, Qualcomm(R) Adreno(TM) X1-85 GPU
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 18.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sequoia 15.0.1

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1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

I just click Start and then begin typing the application name.

I do want to see the icon though. Desktop is where I put stuff that I don't use too often, but still use First response was right on the money.

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On 1/9/2023 at 10:37 AM, myclay said:

@wasker

According to the official info, MSIX doesn't provide this as an option, but you can pin the apps to either the Start Menu or the Taskbar.
There is also the secret Shell:AppsFolder location in Explorer that allows you to right-click or drag the icon to your Desktop for a shortcut as a workaround if you need it. 

To get to that Appsfolder location, you have to press Windows+R to open the Windows Run dialog. type the Shell:AppsFolder in, press enter and the folder is open.
search for the Affinity Program right click and then Create shortcut.
Shell:AppsFolder Windows 10/11

image.png

 

This resulting shortcut on desktop in Win10 does nothing when I drag and drop a TIF from a folder on Win Explorer to it. I have worked this way for years including on Adobe and can't seem to change my muscle memory. When oh when will we get a non Windows App to install this program with? Any more ideas how to get a fully functioning desktop short cut for Affinity2?

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16 minutes ago, Richard Bledsoe said:

This resulting shortcut on desktop in Win10 does nothing when I drag and drop a TIF from a folder on Win Explorer to it. I have worked this way for years including on Adobe and can't seem to change my muscle memory. When oh when will we get a non Windows App to install this program with? Any more ideas how to get a fully functioning desktop short cut for Affinity2?

I found an answer! I downloaded the aflaunch zip available on this forum web site and extracted it on desktop, then right clicked the file and directed it to create a shortcut. Dragged it to desktop and I can now drag and drop to open Tif files in Affinity2 straight from folders on Windows explorer. This does not mean I like having Affinity as a Microsoft app though.

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To create a shortcut (link in this case) of a MSIX apps on your desktop, you can open the "Start menu", manually find the app in the "All apps" section (do not use the search) then drag and drop the icon on the desktop. At least it work on W11, but drag and drop a files on the icon will not open it.

Untitled.jpg

Edited by Vhenzor
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  • 8 months later...

Wow. This is pure insanity. I hate the new world. I absolutely F**king hate it. One of the things I loved about Affinity was that they weren't simply blindly accepting the new trend of every single thing being a cloud service. But yet, they seem to have blindly given in to other stupid trends. Why oh WHY would you make this a microsoft store style app? I WANT TO OWN MY APPS NOT HAVE THEM LIVE IN A FREAKING CLOUD LIKE THIS

What freaking PLANET am I living on where I have to LOOK UP HOW TO ADD A DESKTOP SHORTCUT FOR THE APP!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!!

I don't want to live any more.

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  1. Launch the app.
  2. Ctrl+Shift+Escape (or ctrl-alt-delete if you're old school)
  3. Expand the processes of the app
  4. Right click the application process
  5. "Open File Location"

That file can be made into a shortcut on desktop (or if you're like me, on your 3rd party app launcher)

 

f*** whoever made this decision. f*** windows store apps.

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9 hours ago, TelFiRE said:

I WANT TO OWN MY APPS NOT HAVE THEM LIVE IN A FREAKING CLOUD LIKE THIS

They're not in the cloud. They're just isolated (for safety/security) in a hidden folder.

And they're not Windows Store apps, but UWP apps, though in many ways they are similar.

If you really don't like them, uninstall them and download the EXE-based installers, instead, as described in the FAQ.

 

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
    Laptop 2: Windows 11 Pro 24H2,  16GB memory, Snapdragon(R) X Elite - X1E80100 - Qualcomm(R) Oryon(TM) 12 Core CPU 4.01 GHz, Qualcomm(R) Adreno(TM) X1-85 GPU
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 18.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sequoia 15.0.1

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