Affinity Photo 2 for Windows - (2.0.4)

[Patrick Connor]

We are pleased to announce an update for the Windows release of Affinity Photo 2, version 2.0.4

This build is available as a (sandboxed) MSIX application installer and as an (unsandboxed) MSI/EXE traditional installer.
Please see this FAQ thread for instructions on how to access the unsandboxed MSI/EXE version.

The changes in Affinity Photo 2 for Windows 2.0.4 (those made since the last release Affinity Photo 2 for Windows 2.0.3) are as follows:

Fixes & Improvements:  (since the last release 2.0.3)

• Develop Persona: Enabling White Balance on non RAW files crashes Affinity Photo or was not functioning correctly. [AFP-5803]
• Fixed tint value in CR3 files[AFP-4617]
• Improved timezone handling in Metadata panel
• StudioLink incompatible with licensing used for businesses.
• Fixed non-ASCII characters not being accepted in license usernames
• Fix New Document sometimes showing Letter* instead of A4
• Cannot set stroke width if units not set to points. [AFD-6276]
• Saving files may reduce file size in some circumstances (example was a 2gb file with no embedded data)
• Some image resources are being replaced by others from the same document when copy/paste was used to insert them. [AFB-7053]
• Assorted stability fixes
• Help and Localisation updates.
• Assorted other Licensing and Registration improvements

To get notified when any new releases are made please follow the latest releases thread by clicking here

UPDATING TO THIS VERSION (which is free for all V2 users)

The software version can be seen on the splash screen and the About dialog (in Help > About Affinity Photo).

If you’ve purchased from the Affinity Store — each time you start the Affinity Store software it will check for updates and offer any available update. The latest update will install over the top of any earlier version, with no need to uninstall. You can download the latest installer by logging into the affinity store here and find the order in your account and use the "Download" button in there. Alternatively, this new release (and previous versions of Affinity Photo for Windows) can be downloaded from this link. (that installer is NOT for Windows Store purchases and needs a product key).

If you’ve purchased from the Microsoft Store — Microsoft Store updates are done automatically by the operating system (each time you start the application). If this does not happen for you, open the Windows Store app and click the three dots in the top right corner of the app and then go to Downloads and Updates. Click Get Updates. This should hopefully force the update to show.

[Patrick Connor]

All Readers

This thread is solely for commenting on this announcement.

Please do not post bugs or problems that you find when using this version of the software in this thread, instead make a new thread in the V2 Bugs on Windows section and questions about usage go in the Desktop Questions forum.

[debraspicher]

Thank you for the stroke width fixes. Very much appreciated, Serif.

[Fist of the mighty Bob]

Thanks for the update and making it available as .exe installer.

[athom]

Thank you for the MSI installers.

Installing Photo, Designer and Publisher 2.0.4 on Win10 as my first time v2 upgrade appears to have gone smoothly and successfully!

 

[ezez]

Thanks for the MSI / .exe versions - not a "hackerman" kind of user, simply want to have nice and warm feeling of knowing that my exe files are located in old school folders - I caved in during the last day of the sale and purchased all the v2 apps, was having doubts as IMO the MSIX thing is a real pain and NOT a good idea - but now this makes it pretty sure that I'm going to keep these apps! Thanks! 👍

Edited January 30, 2023 by ezez

[Pšenda]

For the sake of interest - if I run V2.0.0, I will only be prompted to update to version 2.0.3.

After clicking on Install and downloading for a while, these two messages pop up:

After clicking on Install, "something" is downloaded and installed again, and these two messages pop up again.
The second message disappears after a while, the Welcome screen is displayed, and only the Crash report question remains.
A bit messy and non-standard update process.

Edited February 3, 2023 by Pšenda

[jussi]

@Pšenda same here, but after update to 2.0.4 everything runs fine. interesting though, this happened on Photo and Publisher only, Designer was updated without any strange messages

[v_kyr]

19 hours ago, Pšenda said:

For the sake of interest - if I run V2.0.0, I will only be prompted to update to version 2.0.3.

Probably it first just looks after the next step wise version after V.2.0.0 here, so incrementing after 2.0.0 and so sees first just that there is 2.0.3, thus doesn't immediately check for the latest version number (2.0.4) up from 2.0.0 on.

[nezumi]

On 1/30/2023 at 3:03 PM, ezez said:

Thanks for the MSI / .exe versions - not a "hackerman" kind of user, simply want to have nice and warm feeling of knowing that my exe files are located in old school folders - I caved in during the last day of the sale and purchased all the v2 apps, was having doubts as IMO the MSIX thing is a real pain and NOT a good idea - but now this makes it pretty sure that I'm going to keep these apps! Thanks! 👍

I was exactly the same but I have to tell you - except for psychological effect there is absolutely nothing wrong with MSIX. Initially there was a problem with 3rd party programs connecting to Photo but it was solved with tiny file provided by devs. Since then I could not say a difference in having it one way or another. It works all the same.

[ezez]

"there is absolutely nothing wrong with MSIX"

Well I wouldn't say that. I tried to first install msix versions. When I rebooted my computer, designer and photo icons I had added to desktop had changed their images to default icon image, I tried to recreate those a few times, same thing happened. Nothing like that has so far happened with exe versions.

And I did read about those "solutions" those were the reason I almost decided not to upgrade. Those were not IMO proper solutions, more like band-aid.

Also, I don't like the idea that MY software is controlled too tightly by OS. If I have to get into install directory for any reason, it should be relatively easy. I know how to get to app install directory, but I wouldn't say it is easy. There is already a file manager in Windows, but MS decided that one can't simply use that to get into app directory directly.

[PaulEC]

Just my personal experience: I first installed the MSIX versions, they installed and worked OK. When the MSI versions were available, I installed these instead. (No particular reason, other than a "gut feeling" that I prefer traditional software to Microsoft app. versions. - Plus it's easier to drop a file on the desktop icon to open it!) In practice there seems to be virtually no difference between the two versions, apart from how they are installed and (again, just a "gut feeling",) that the MSI version runs fractionally faster than the MSIX version. There are, as I understand it, bigger differences if you're bothered about sandboxing or need to install on a corporate network etc, but for an average user like myself, both versions seem to install and work equally well.

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, PaulEC said:

but for an average user like myself, both versions seem to install and work equally well.

Updates are simpler with MSIX, but they're no worse with MSI/EXE than they were with V1.

And installation is slightly simpler, as you can install all 3 concurrently with MSIX, rather than needing to run them separately with MSI/EXE.

[neville]

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

And installation is slightly simpler, as you can install all 3 concurrently with MSIX

Can you explain this in more detail please. I still had to run 3 separate MSIX installers to install all 3 applications. And each time a new version comes out, I have to let each of the 3 apps update themselves individually. What am I missing? What installer/auto-updater can I run that takes care of all 3 concurrently?

[walt.farrell]

44 minutes ago, neville said:

Can you explain this in more detail please. I still had to run 3 separate MSIX installers to install all 3 applications. And each time a new version comes out, I have to let each of the 3 apps update themselves individually. What am I missing? What installer/auto-updater can I run that takes care of all 3 concurrently?

Yes, to install all 3 you need to run 3 MSIX files. But you can run them concurrently. With MSI/EXE you must run them separately, which takes at least 3 times longer than installing the MSIX. Perhaps more than 3 times, as the MSIX seem to install faster for me3.

Yes, you have to let each update individually. However. each will auto-update (download, install, restart) automatically. With MSI/EXE you must download manually, and install manually. With MISX you just say "install" and it all happens withoiut further interaction from you.

 

[Greg T]

On 2/5/2023 at 9:56 AM, walt.farrell said:

Yes, to install all 3 you need to run 3 MSIX files. But you can run them concurrently. With MSI/EXE you must run them separately, which takes at least 3 times longer than installing the MSIX. Perhaps more than 3 times, as the MSIX seem to install faster for me3.

Yes, you have to let each update individually. However. each will auto-update (download, install, restart) automatically. With MSI/EXE you must download manually, and install manually. With MISX you just say "install" and it all happens withoiut further interaction from you.

 

I've got MSIX installed... in publisher, I click Install and it just hangs forever.

If I download the complete MSIX package, will it update itself with that ??

 

[walt.farrell]

7 minutes ago, Greg T said:

If I download the complete MSIX package, will it update itself with that ??

If you download the MSIX file yourself, and make sure Publisher is not running, you should be able to run the MSIX file and update your existing Publisher installation.

[david alex]

I appreciate the MSI installers.

My initial v2 upgrade installation of Picture, Designer, and Publisher 2.0.4 on Windows 10 seems to have gone well and effectively..