What exactly do the Clear User Data options clear?

[R C-R]

Is there a detailed list anywhere of what gets reset when the various options to clear user data are used? Some seem obvious, others not so much.

 

Related, what if any are the differences between using the startup clear options & the similarly named ones in the Preferences > Miscellaneous panel?

 

Also, which user preferences, if any, are stored in plist files that could be examined or copied to restore them if clearing them does not improve anything, & where are they stored?

 

The reason I ask is the often suggested solution of clearing everything to fix some issue requires tediously resetting a lot of items.

[R C-R]

Nothing? Am I the only one interested in this?  :(

[Madame]

No, I would like to know too. :)

[barninga]

+1

[edwardsson]

+1

[Asha]

I've been wanting to know also. I asked in a couple threads, but didn't get replies. My main question was whether custom brushes and swatches get wiped out when the program is reset.

[R C-R]

If memory serves, custom brushes and swatches do get wiped out with the "Select All" option, but I'm not sure which of the checkboxes do that. There is a "Reset Brushes" checkbox, which may be what kills the custom brushes, but I have no idea what kills the swatches.

 

For what it is worth, there is a "Reset Macro Library" checkbox, which I guess won't do anything until the Macro persona goes live, but who knows?

[Madame]

I just realised that I lost all my brushes and shortcuts. :(
I'm really interested to know what boxes I need/don't need to tick to reset the app. Any good advise? 

[Leigh]

I hope this helps

 

The majority of the settings found in the Clear User Data window can be found in: 

 

For Mac:

/Users/{your username}/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.affinityphoto/Data/Library/Application Support/user/

 

For Windows:

C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Affinity\Photo\1.0\user\

 

Clear User Defaults

This will clear any custom settings made within the Preferences panel. It will also reset any changes made to the Toolbar, Tools and Context Toolbar back to their default settings. This option is also available in Preferences > Misc > Reset User Defaults.

 

Don’t Restore Windows and Documents

This is normally used to stop the app from trying to restore a previous document that closed unexpectedly.

 

Reset Studio

This resets all panels in the Studio back to their default positions. This is the same as View > Studio > Reset

 

Reset Object Styles

This will delete any custom styles added to the Styles Panel. This option is also available in Preferences > Misc > Reset Object Styles

 

These settings are stored in objectstyles.propcol and can also be exported from Styles Panel.

 

Reset File Exports

This will delete any custom File Export presets made in File > Export and the Export Persona.

 

These settings are stored in: file_export_options.dat (  If you have no custom presets this file will not exist )

 

Reset Snapping Options Presets

This will delete any custom presets made within Snapping.

 

These settings are stored in: snapping_options.dat (  If you have no custom presets this file will not exist )

 

Reset Fills

This will delete any Application Palettes you've added to the Swatches Panel. It will also delete any colours added to the default palettes such as Grey, Colours & Gradients. This option is also available in Preferences > Misc > Reset Fills.

 

These settings are stored in fills.propcol and can be exported from the Swatches Panel

 

Reset Brushes

This will delete any brushes imported into the app and will reset all brushes within the app back to their default settings. This option is also available in Preferences > Misc > Reset Brushes.

 

These settings are stored in raster_brushes.propcol and can be exported from the Brushes Panel

 

Reset Font Replacements

This will delete font replacements specified when opening files that contain fonts that are not installed. Replacement fonts are automatically selected the next time you open a file missing the same font.

 

These settings are stored in: font_map.dat (  If you have no font replacements this file will not exist )

 

Please note: This is different from Preferences > Misc > Reset Fonts. This option forces Affinity to Reload/Repopulate fonts listed in the app. This can be useful when using 3rd Party apps to load fonts.

 

Reset Adjustments

This will delete any custom presets found in the Adjustment Panel. These are created from Adjustments layers. 

 

These settings are stored in: adjustments.propcol

 

Reset Macro Library

This will delete custom Macros.

 

These settings are stored in: macros.propcol

 

Reset Develop Presets

This will delete any custom presets saved in the Basic, Lens, Details, Tones and Overlays Panels in the Develop Persona.

 

These settings are stored in: develop.propcol

 

Reset Crop Tool Presets

This will delete any custom presets saved within the Crop Tool.

 

These settings are stored in: croppresets.propcol

 

Reset Keyboard Shortcuts

This will delete any custom keyboard shortcuts. You will need to export these by going to Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts > Save before resetting.

[R C-R]

Leigh, I can't thank you enough for this! It is really helpful.  :D

 

In particular, knowing the paths to the various propcol files & what they store will come in very handy for those times when I reset something I do not want to lose. I have experimented a bit restoring a few of them from Time Machine backups. So far, that works very well as an "undo" & lets me see fairly easily if an older version is what caused a problem.

[Gear maker]

Leigh, this is excellent info for us "details" people.  Thank you.

[Leigh]

No worries. Happy to help :)