Affinity Designer does not load my files anymore

[Chris B]

The new user account is just a temporary workaround to see if it is a permissions issue or not. If you run into the issue on the new user account then there's something we need to look at further. It's just to help us diagnose what's going on.

[davidlower8]

@Chris B Ok I set up a test user and the files all opened instantly. However, logging back into my normal account I opened the files and they all opened as well (albeit quite a bit slower). I tested this a few days ago and the files were definitely not opening. I should mentioned I did just update my Mac today with the latest update (a small patch I believe). So either the update to the Mac has triggered something or logging in and out to a new user triggered something. On the new user account I obviously had to download Affinity and it asked me to confirm registration. I doubt that would have been a thing.

I will keep an eye on this and see if a new update breaks that files. But this is the FIRST time in months I have been able to open a file after a Mac update.

[Chris B]

Thanks for trying. Keep an eye on it, as you said and we can look at other avenues if this persists.

[Nopemann]

I have encountered what appears to be the same issue.

After a macOS update some affinity designer files stopped working, making the app just load continuously. The files are working in affinity publisher, on affinity designer on an iPad and on a fresh account. Opening the files on a fresh account does not solve the problem on my main account, and the files are still inaccessible from designer. I found out a workaround: apparently the issue is caused by files that were originally in iCloud and were embedded. Opening the resource manager, either on the fresh user or affinity pub, and making every embedded file (that was originally on iCloud) linked, and moving it to a local folder, and then embedding everything again solves the problem.

[davidlower8]

@Nopemann Thank you so much for this feedback. That has been very valuable. @Chris B Hopefully you can see the above comment and maybe that will help solve this bug from your end.

As to the solution it is an interesting one. I'm pretty sure I have zero embedded documents in all of the files that crash with this bug. I could be wrong and I will certainly check. But as a whole I don't use embeds for this kind of reason. Anyway thank you again for the feedback.

EDIT: So I had a look and it turns out all 'images' were embedded which would make sense. I normally copy SVGs from the embed file straight into my document (so there is no embedding). Anyway relinking the images will need to be the case. Either way this bug doesn't seem to be affecting me any more but I don't know what I have done to change it in the last 2 weeks.

[Chris B]

Thanks for the info Nopemann and welcome to the forums.

I will put some time aside to run this theory through some testing. I will confess to never using iCloud (I tend to use Dropbox when I need to) as I generally work locally or occasionally drag some files from our network.

[davidlower8]

So this bug is back and boy is this SUPER annoying. I can't open any old files. I can't even open them in Publisher now so the above solution I can't even test. Come on Affinity. @Nopemann has given you a solid lead as to the origins of this issue. Currently this whole software suite is unusable and it's getting to the point I can't use it for client work for fear of losing progress. It's super frustrating as I have a very tight client deadline and I can't open the file.

[Chris B]

So I tried this when Nopemann provided a recipe - I could not reproduce it.

I've just tried again this morning for a good 30 mins doing all sorts of combinations of loading, saving etc. from iCloud and I still cannot reproduce.

I think a video recording of your workflow where you create a file, save it, attempt to open it and get the message might give us some clues. Other than that, I don't know what else I can suggest, sadly. It's certainly not from lack of trying. 

 

[davidlower8]

The key issue to this problem is when you update Mac iOS. For some reason certain updates trigger this issue. If a file opens after an update it is highly doubtful you will be able to reproduce this issue. For example I used a file a week ago. I updated the Mac for a small update and when I tried to open the same file it refused to open. 
 

So for your testing purposes on your end I’d suggest making a blank file with numerous images and icons (all pulled from iCloud folders). Save the file in iCloud and then update your Mac. It mean using an older version, not necessarily reverting back to major release but rather previous small updates.

 

I'm willing to help but I need direction on how to do this or what you need. I’ll try and make a video explaining my folder overview.

[Chris B]

I think just a brief run-through of your folder structure and the process of opening a file from its location will help. I can work on doing the other bits.

[liven22]

On 12/1/2023 at 6:45 AM, davidlower8 said:

So this bug is back and boy is this SUPER annoying. I can't open any old files. I can't even open them in Publisher now so the above solution I can't even test. Come on Affinity. @Nopemann has given you a solid lead as to the origins of this issue. Currently this whole software suite is unusable and it's getting to the point I can't use it for client work for fear of losing progress. It's super frustrating as I have a very tight client deadline and I can't open the file.

I am also having the same issue I cannot open older files. It says it is loading but it never loads. This is very very frustrating as I need to get a project done!

[DavidH2]

Same here. I have swaths of work (my projects and many clients) that won't open since updating to Affinity 2. Desinger just hangs on 'Loading document'. I'm going to have to abandon the platform and return to Adobe…something I hoped I'd never have to do, bah!

UPDATE: I've just got Designer to load my client's project…by using Photo!

METHOD: I loaded my Designer file into Photo (which surprisingly worked), deleted as many graphics and artboards as I could get away with, saved it, and then reloaded the project back into Designer. Worked!

My project might be missing a few 'useful' files, but at least the bulk of my project is there.

Edited December 12, 2023 by DavidH2

[davidlower8]

@liven22 & @DavidH2 Unfortunately, I have flagged this multiple times and even shown the staff that many other users have this issue. Still they don't seem to think it is a big enough issue to warrant a deep investigation. I am also considering moving over to Figma, which I was hoping to avoid. If I can't use this software what options do I have? I'm gutted to be honest.

Interestingly, I noticed yesterday that one file I am currently working on won't open again (even without a Mac update). However, if I opened it with Affinity already open using File > Open Recent - it opened. If I quit and tried again it wouldn't open. But if I opened Affinity by right clicking on the file and then Open With Affinity - it worked. It wasn't always consistent. But I was desperate at this point. I generally leave Affinity open all the time now for fear of never being able to open a file again.

For debugging purposes this bug occurs even when I haven't upgraded the Mac. My file is saved in iCloud, created in iCloud and has never moved from iCloud. All assets I bring into Affinity (logos, images, icons etc) are all from my downloads folder which is also on iCloud. So the whole system works within iCloud. So I'm not overly convinced this is an iCloud issue or even a Mac update issue. But I am not sure.

[Chris B]

22 hours ago, davidlower8 said:

Still they don't seem to think it is a big enough issue to warrant a deep investigation.

This is not true. I have spent hours trying to reproduce this (as have staff in other departments). It's an unfortunate case of 'we just cannot reproduce it'. Developers have a very difficult time fixing something that cannot be reproduced. 

See this known issue post:

It may be something that Apple needs to help us resolve.

[davidlower8]

@Chris B Although I can't comment on what has been done behind the scenes or indeed what discussions are taking place. I can only go on the feedback from these forums. For me this isn't just a silly bug that is annoying at best. It is a software breaking bug. The software literally cannot be used. For me that should be of the upmost importance to fix. No one has reached out to me to try and problem solve this. The only discussions I've had is when I have complained and then it is a case of 'well we can't reproduce it'. The fact that 3 people have created an account specifically to post on this thread in the last weeks speaks volumes. You can guarantee the number of people that have this issue, but haven't posted anything is way higher.

Don't get me wrong, I want this software to succeed. I love Affinity. In fact I was one of the first purchases of the original Affinity. I purchased it on day one of launch and have been with you through the entire journey. But this is a SOFTWARE breaking bug and it a very clear I am not the only one. I do sympathise, as a developer myself, it is very difficult to narrow down bugs. But a bug of this severity, I would be on the phone to the client, or whoever, and be asking them a thousand questions until I could narrow down the possibilities.

Regarding the thread you posted: That is nice to see. This shows you are aware and trying to do something about it. Until you pointed it again I wasn't aware of it. My two cents though is that I don't believe it has anything to do with Sonoma. I posted this thread back in April way before Sonoma came out. Additionally, I am not overly convinced it is anything to do with iCloud either. In my previous comment I mentioned I was opening a document it different ways. This document was created, saved, and all assets used - within the whole iCloud ecosystem. On some occasions the document opened and on others it didn't - it seemed completely random. I've had documents completely outside of iCloud also not open. Regarding this particular document it is highly likely the assets used came from an iCloud source. But remember you sent me a document saved on your machine, the only way I could open it. Well those documents have sat in a folder outside of iCloud. One of them after months of inactivity now doesn't open. 

This is a bitch of a bug. 

 

[Chris B]

I hear what you are saying. You do indeed make a fair point about this being reported before Sonoma and it's probably coincidental we are seeing more reports about this since Sonoma was released.

After a further discussion, we'd like you to try something:

Under Apple > System Settings > Privacy & Security > Files and Folders > expand each app and please disable 'iCloud Drive' for each app. This will not prevent you from saving to or loading from iCloud. This may prevent the seemingly infinite loading message you are getting.

[davidlower8]

@Chris B Ok I will do this and report back.

In the mean time, and this is a serious offer, if you want to send a dev down to me and use my computer to debug, I'd be over the moon. I live 3.5 hours away, admittedly quite a car drive. But I will at least host the individual and feed them (for free naturally). You can even take my computer away with you if needs be.

 

[Brandon Edling]

I had this very same issue and disabling iCloud Drive in Privacy & Security worked for me. My files were were/are stored on Dropbox, but moving them to my Desktop didn't seem to matter.

At least they open now!

[davidlower8]

I can also report that disabling iCloud Drive in settings seems to be working for the moment. I haven't had any issues open files.

[Chris B]

That's good news (for now). I will see if there's something we need to do going forward.