File save folder location

[jkrm]

This may seem trivial, but it drivest me nuts. When I go to save or export in Affinity Photo, the default save folder seems to be the one I last saved a file to, not the folder that the file I am working on was loaded from. This often results in having to dig through my folder hierarchy for the right one, or worse, accidentally saving to the wrong folder and needing to search for it later. If I save a file and then do an export, once again I need to go searching for the correct folder. Is there a preference that can change this?  It seems to me that most software doesn’t work this way - files get saved to the folder from which they were opened.

[Dan C]

Hi @jkrm,

Thanks for your post, unfortunately there's no option to change this behaviour in Affinity currently, my apologies.

This has been requested previously as an improvement for a future version, I'll be sure to add your 'vote' to this feature now.

I hope this clears things up!

[jkrm]

Thanks for letting me know. Yes, please add my vote. As I said, it seems trivial, but it's a real annoyance!

[Granddaddy]

Just for background @jkrm, people have been requesting this simple and necessary feature for about 9 years. Affinity has never indicated any intention of ever fixing this deficiency that so complicates Affinity workflow. It's one of the many usability issues that makes Affinity so painful to use. You either learn to put up with it or use another product.

For a couple of requests from an earlier decade, see

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/3788-remember-last-locations-for-export-and-open-separately/

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/16670-smarter-save-location/

As @MEBsaid in 2015:
There is NOT a vote system in place.  Adding +1 to those topics will NOT affect their priority nor imply their implementation. That’s mostly dependent on time and development goals and constraints. 
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/10410-common-feature-requests-index/

 

[Dan C]

16 hours ago, Granddaddy said:

As @MEBsaid in 2015:
There is NOT a vote system in place.  Adding +1 to those topics will NOT affect their priority nor imply their implementation

This is true of the Affinity Forums, but not entirely true for our internal development logs.
Part of this is still correct, in that an increased number of user votes does not necessarily mean the feature is more likely to be implemented, but we are now tallying user votes internally for certain features.

Equally, the internal development requests did not exist back in 2015, as a lot has changed with our processes in 8 years.

[AllSaints]

Please count me in. I happened to find a similar post from six years ago while browsing the forum yesterday and was puzzled why this hasn't been addressed through the years. It would be a tremendous help to get this feature added. Thanks. 

Edited March 16, 2023 by AllSaints

[laurent32]

You can count me too !

[henryg]

And me. It's a PITA as is.

[RossA]

Add me as well please.   I have posted about this issue in the past.

Every time an update comes out I check to see if this has been fixed.

Just to demonstrate how ridiculous the situation is; Yesterday I added a plug-in to the Filters and the next time I went to export a file Affinity Photo directed it the the data  folder on the hard drive where I store macros, plug-ins etc. as below.

[John Rostron]

+1

Include me in as well.

John

 

[Anthony S.]

+1

 

The feature is a must. I will not upgrade until this is fixed.

[Mango]

This drives me nucking futts too. +10000

[davidww]

+1 

Bonkers behaviour - so annoying - every single time

[ChristineH]

I also vote for this to be corrected.

Saving to the "last saved" folder, with no option to change it in Settings, is an antiquated procedure.

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, ChristineH said:

I also vote for this to be corrected.

As @GarryP mentioned here, the Questions forum in not a good place for 'voting' for such things. Please try the forum indicated there.

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

the Questions forum in not a good place for 'voting' for such things.

Serif has already stated, that it will take into account the requirements listed here when developing its applications, but in no case will it follow voting. So no forum is intended for "voting", and that is because it does not guarantee any objectivity and representativeness for all users.

[Bit Disappointed]

In this particular case Serif must consider attempted votes, screams in anger, screams in pain and more from several threads over the years.

[Sharon Villines]

Same here. This drives me nuts over and over every time I use the program. It's the one thing that seems so out of character and this is not an issue with any of my other Mac programs. I've tried some add ons that supposedly would allow me to save to specific folders but it required that I make a designation for all my programs. Meaning it complexified everything everywhere else. This has to be fixed. It's deal breaker.

[Lukee]

+1, April 2024, still not implemented

[admiraljuice]

+1 (in case I hadn't already commented on this here...). 

My workaround on Mac is I always have the folder I'm working in open, so when I go to Save and it inevitably brings up a location for some other project, I just drag my folder from Finder into the Save dialog to change the location. 

I forget sometimes, though, and then I have to initiate a Save As just to see where it saved so I can then go grab it and move it to the correct location.

I've never used software that behaves this way...  It's so weird, and seems like such an easy thing to fix, since every other software I've ever used brings you to the directory you opened the current file from.

[hokic]

Thank you for this topic, same opinion here. Not a deal breaker for me, but definitely damages user experience. 

[Sharon Villines]

Maybe we need to organize a protest. It's hard to believe that such an irritating problem can't be easily fixed. In 40 years of using a computer on my desk, I have had no other software that has this problem. 

[CreativeNode]

I assume users in this thread are using V2 of Photo? I still have V1, and hope to purchase V2 as soon as the budget says it's time. But I see this issue as a very real limitation in that consideration. Every extra click = time and frustration. For my aging and sometimes chaotic brain, I seriously need an issue like this prioritized, small as it may seem to others. 

This has been such a serious issue for me, that I searched for a work-around. I used to use a program that let me edit startup programs, even delaying the start of some by X seconds, and it also kept a neat, easily accessible list of recent files and locations in a separate menu item. That program was seen by my system as dangerous, so I trashed it. But, the attached PDF file may help those with WINDOWS 10 get their "Recent Places" back. It's from a website and the page title is "Getting 'Recent Places' in the File Explorer & Open/Save Dialog in Windows 10". I hope someone finds it helpful. 

Windows-recent-folders-trick.pdf

[jkrm]

As the guy who started this thread, it's dismaying to see that it has been over a year and nothing has changed. I was going to re-post this in the forum for feedback and suggestions, but then I found this thread beginning all the way back to 2016: 

So I fear that it is just hopeless. They just are not listening.

[R C-R]

17 minutes ago, jkrm said:

So I fear that it is just hopeless. They just are not listening.

They are listening in the sense that (as stated above) they are 'tallying' up the 'votes' made for various features in the feedback forum (so not here in Questions), but this is just one of a great many features users have been asking to be included or improved, & this one apparently isn't seen as having as high priority as a bunch of others that (again, apparently) users have been 'voting' for in that forum.