Publisher2 iCloud App Library folder not syncing properly

[kimthejo]

 

 

Summery of bug: 

When iCloud is turned on in settings and the App Library folder is created it only syncs to iOS and iPadOS devices. The App Library file does not appear on iCloud.com (when signed in to the same account of course) or show up on other Macs. 

What I would expect:

That the App Library that is created would show up on all devices and on iCloud.com.

Problems that this leads to:

That if you use two or more Macs every computer will create an additional App Library folder that the other Macs can't see or access. However, on an iOS or iPad device there will be multiple App Library folders, one for each Mac.

My work around is to create a normal folder instead but I´m not sure if the App Library folder has some kind of advantage. And I assume this must be very confusing for many users.

How I reproduced the bug:

I have reproduced this bug on three different Macs signed into the same iCloud account. I reinstalled all affinity apps, photo designer and publisher on all computers after which I still get the same problem with ONLY publisher not photo or designer. I have no other problems with iCloud and have more than a TB free storage. I use the latest version of all the affinity2 apps.

My machines are an intel iMac 2017 running latest Ventura and a MacBook Air m1 (2020) running latest Ventura and an older MacBook Pro (2014) running an up to date big sur.

1. I install the app from the app store on all computers.

2. I activate the apps.

3. I enable iCloud sync in settings.

4. I save a random document to create the App Library folder. 

5. It looks like the folder gets synced to iCloud. Yet, if I check on iCloud.com it's not there, and it does not sync to any other Mac. 

6. However it does show up and sync as expected on my iPad and iPhone in iCloud in the files app. So the folder must be on iCloud servers somewhere, it just doesn't work like any other App Library folder. (Photo and designer works fine and sync and show up with ALL devices and iCloud.com.)

7. If I test save another file to iCloud on another Mac it will create an additional App Library folder. So if I check on my iPad there are one for each Mac where I save a file to iCloud for the first time. 

8. I tried to remove all the app library folders from all devices, remove all affinity apps, reinstall, reboot, switch on and off iCloud sync... Same problem.

The attached photo:

Not much I can add with photos, just attached an image of my only solution after simply deleting the malfunctioning App Library folder and creating a normal folder. It works but I get the impression that this is not how it's meant to work. There should be a working App Library folder for all the affinity apps.

[Callum]

Hi KimtheJo,

There are a few known issues with iCloud app libraries that are unfortunately out of our control and are more bugs with the system itself. We have found that in most instances like this the issue eventually sorts itself out over time you should find an Affinity Publisher app library folder appears eventually. We have found in the past that sometimes restarting the Mac can make folders appear etc.

Thanks
C

[Bryan Rieger]

I actually have all of the Affinity app folders in the 'On my iPad' location, but none of them in iCloud. I've never had any Affinity App Library folders on my iCloud Drive.

[kimthejo]

On 3/9/2023 at 4:04 PM, Callum said:

Hi KimtheJo,

There are a few known issues with iCloud app libraries that are unfortunately out of our control and are more bugs with the system itself. We have found that in most instances like this the issue eventually sorts itself out over time you should find an Affinity Publisher app library folder appears eventually. We have found in the past that sometimes restarting the Mac can make folders appear etc.

Thanks
C

Hi Callum

Thanks for response and suggestions. Rebooting or reinstallation did not work unfortunately.

There might be bugs in iCloud that cause problems for developers, but I´m pretty sure this is a publisher specific problem. I find it impossible to replicate the bug with designer or photo (or any other app that creates app libraries in the iCloud root folder.). Maybe the App Library feature is just implemented wrong by mistake somehow. 

I have not tried with other iCloud accounts though, so it could be a bug that is specific for my account with some kind of server level bug.

Anyway, hope it gets logged fixed at some point.

On 3/9/2023 at 5:02 PM, BryanR said:

I actually have all of the Affinity app folders in the 'On my iPad' location, but none of them in iCloud. I've never had any Affinity App Library folders on my iCloud Drive.

The App Library folders creates by themselves if you first enable iCloud sync for publisher in iCloud system settings, and then save a file. And in this case the problem only becomes a problem if you want to access that folder on another Mac via your iCloud account. Then that folder does not appear on other MacOS devices. However, it does show up on iOS and iPadOS devices like expected. This is the problem.

The workaround is simply to create normal folders in iCloud and save to them instead. But it's annoying that the APP wants to create a nice folder (App Library folder) with fancy app icon in iCloud that doesn't work... The whole point with iCloud is after all that it should sync with all different devices.

[Bryan Rieger]

2 hours ago, kimthejo said:

The App Library folders creates by themselves if you first enable iCloud sync for publisher in iCloud system settings, and then save a file.

Yeah, this doesn’t work for me. I even disabled, restarted, enabled, restarted, saved a file, and nothing. I simply have no Affinity library folders being created in my iCloud Drive.

iA Writer, MindNode, Linea, Pages, Keynote, Numbers, Pixaki, Pixelmator, BBEdit, etc have no problem creating, and re-creating their library folders on iCloud.

[kimthejo]

7 hours ago, BryanR said:

Yeah, this doesn’t work for me. I even disabled, restarted, enabled, restarted, saved a file, and nothing. I simply have no Affinity library folders being created in my iCloud Drive.

iA Writer, MindNode, Linea, Pages, Keynote, Numbers, Pixaki, Pixelmator, BBEdit, etc have no problem creating, and re-creating their library folders on iCloud.

Aha now I see what you mean Bryan, I also tried from the beginning after removing the app and the folder, and like you said on iPad the App Library folder is not created in iCloud at all. It only appears on Mac for me, not on iPad. 

[Bryan Rieger]

1 hour ago, kimthejo said:

Aha now I see what you mean Bryan, I also tried from the beginning after removing the app and the folder, and like you said on iPad the App Library folder is not created in iCloud at all. It only appears on Mac for me, not on iPad. 

Aha, thank you @kimthejo. I've finally been able to create those folders from my MaBook Pro. Hopefully Serif can make them appear if someone is primarily using the iPad apps.