Issue with disappearing figures from original file when deleting <Embedded> [Modified] items from taskbar when working

[Hammonje]

Use AD2 for scientific publishing, creation of EPS and PDF files for manuscript submissions. I'm no graphic designer or artist by any means and we use this as an alternative to Adobe Illustrator. What a relief to get Creative Cloud off my computer. Running Windows 10 and 11. Issue happens with both. 

Issue is when working on artboard, place a file, often working on the sub-items after selection to <embedded> [Modified] in upper taskbar. It makes the item larger and isolates it which is advantageous. When I later delete the <embedded> [Modified] item from the taskbar it removes item from original file which is still open. Its not gone from the original file, I can just no longer see it. Often if I save and re-open it is there. What am I doing wrong and how can I fix this issue as it hinders what I am doing? Thank you and please ask questions if I am unclear or have misidentified items in software.  

[walt.farrell]

39 minutes ago, Hammonje said:

When I later delete the <embedded> [Modified] item from the taskbar

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums.

Just to clarify: I presume that by "delete ... from the taskbar" you mean that you closed the document tab?

If so, that should not affect the contents of the parent file. So I don't know what's happening. Perhaps someone else will know what's going on.

[Hammonje]

19 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums.

Just to clarify: I presume that by "delete ... from the taskbar" you mean that you closed the document tab?

If so, that should not affect the contents of the parent file. So I don't know what's happening. Perhaps someone else will know what's going on.

Yes, exactly. Closing the document tab deletes the content from the parent file. Again, the piece is still there, but can no longer visualize it. Have attached an example of figure I am working on. Each piece is a separate PDF placed on artboard of particular dimension for publication. Thank you.

Figure 1.pdf

[Hammonje]

One work around found is to save file in proprietary .afdesign format prior to closing of document tab. Still sometimes when working with dozens of versions I forget to do so and lose work. Be nice to figure out a method that does not involve loss of visualization or a means of having it show back up. The software still sees the section, it is merely just white or color of artboard, which in my case is always default.

[NathanC]

Hey @Hammonje welcome to the forums & apologies for the late reply,

This isn't something I've been able to replicate on W10, is this specific to .PDF and .EPS only if your workaround is to save as .afdesign?

If the embedded layer is just invisible (with the layer still present) after modifying the embedded file, could you confirm if disabling Hardware Acceleration under Edit > Preferences > Performance and then restarting the app has any impact?

If it still persists, could you try changing the 'Renderer' Option to 'WARP' in the performance settings and then restarting the app again?

[A person]

I'm having this exact problem. If I double-click on a PDF layer and it opens in a separate tab, sometimes, later all content will randomly disappear from that layer. It is unrecoverable using "Undo". This is a data loss bug and it's possible to lose hours of work. 2024.11.20 11.42 WT Non-Tumor MEA GiGA1 vs. Vehicle LFP Prevention full figure.afdesignHere's a file where it just happened. As you can see, the layer "2022.08.01 WT Non-Tumor MEA GiGA1 vs. Vehicle, slice 1, ZMG-DMSO_NSxFile_LFP_excerpt_ch_69,71,84_min_1501-1800_edited.pdf" is empty because I just edited it in a separate tab. Thank you so much. I'm using Designer 2.5.5 on macOS 15.1.