Close Affinity, but not closed in dock

[newbie2]

Good afternoon, excuse me if the answer to this is obvious.

 

Just purchased Affinity.  Noticed that when I "close" program, then it still remains open in dock.  When I click on in dock, or when I open after quitting, then it lists all photos that I have worked on.  

 

Have already exported these photos.  Can I get rid of this list please?

[R C-R]

Closing workspace windows in Affinity (& many other apps) does not "close" the app itself, so it will remain open until you quit it.

 

Likewise, many apps will show a list of recently opened documents when you click on their dock icons, among them TextEdit, Quicktime Player, Preview, the Affinity apps, TextWrangler, & Sketchup.

 

There may be some way to clear the lists, but this is handled by the OS, not the app, so I do not know what it might be.

[Busenitz]

I also have a problem with this (though it is probably the user)

On the other apps that only minimize the app upon closure (instead of full quit) when I click on the icon again, it will give me an option of what to start, new file, etc.

With AD, if I close (using red button) then the app icon shows it is still running.  If I click on the icon though, I get nothing.  I have to right-click to get a list of recent files, and open one of those.  Then I close that file and start a new one.

Is there a simpler method I'm missing?

[newbie2]

Thank you this explains what is happening and that I am not on my own.

 

Would really appreciate advice on how to clear this list. 

[markw]

I hope I've understood the questions being asked here as there seems to have been a couple of different points raised.

1: To clear the list of recent files, In the app go to File > Open Recent and at the bottom of the list choose Clear.

2: To fully quit an Affinity app:
Choose Quit from the toolbar menu, or press cmd+Q or left click and hold on the Dock icon and choose Quit or right click on the Dock icon and choose Quit.
Clicking the red dot, top left of a window, will only ever close the window it won’t shutdown the app.

3: To start a new document after closing the last document window;
go to File > New or use key shortcut cmd+N

[R C-R]

Busenitz:

 

Minimizing an app or an app window (using the yellow window button or for apps that support it the Command + M shortcut)  is different from closing a window with the red button or quitting an app. Some apps will quit automatically when you close their last or only window but others won't, typically those like Safari, Preview, Affinity, & many others that support multiple document windows.

 

So the first thing to understand is an app can be running ("open") even if it has no open windows or no visible ones. You can tell which apps are running from the (tiny, often hard to see) dot below its Dock icon, although in recent OS X versions that indicator can be turned off in System Preferences > Dock.

 

When an app has been minimized or hidden, it is still running, & clicking on its Dock icon will unhide it. That will show any windows it has open, but if there are no open ones, the only indicator you may see is its name in the menu bar, just to the right of the Apple menu item, & the menu bar items change to the ones for that app. Some apps will also reveal their toolbars & palettes (if they were open when the app was minimized), others like Affinity may not, depending on if there was an open document window when hidden.

 

This is probably what has happened when you "get nothing" -- what you get is the app's name & menus in the menu bar, but nothing else until you open a document window or create a new one. This is not unique to Affinity -- many apps behave in the same way.

 

The popup list in the Dock is just a convenience feature provided by OS X. You can either right-click or just click & hold on the icon to pop up the list. What it shows will vary from app to app. Even if the app isn't running, the list may show recently opened items, & this may not be the same as the File > Open Recent list, nor will it always be cleared by selecting the File > Open Recent > Clear Menu item. 

[R C-R]

Thank you this explains what is happening and that I am not on my own.

 

Would really appreciate advice on how to clear this list. 

Another thing that may not be obvious about this is all the documents on the Dock list may not be open or using any system resources -- in fact, some of them may have been deleted so they can't be opened even if you select them.

 

Why this is I have no idea, but it is something managed by OS X so you will have to ask Apple about that.

[Busenitz]

Thanks, R C-R.  I've been on Mac nearly two years, but still learning.  Didn't realize I could do start a new file while the app window was hidden.  (So obvious once it's pointed out to me.)  I did realize that it hadn't closed, but didn't know how to get to files except the recent list.  

THANKS a lot!!!

[R C-R]

"... but didn't know how to get to files except the recent list."

 

There are several ways provided by OS X to find files. One of the most basic is with Finder windows. You don't even need to be running an Affinity app or have it visible. Just click on the Finder icon in the dock to open a Finder window, then (for example) use the sidebar to go to your Pictures folder & browse through its folders for graphics files you want to open with Affinity (or any other app that can open the file's format).

 

If you right-click on a file in a Finder window, a contextual menu pops up, & one of the choices is "Open with..." That will list all the apps that can open the file, so you can use that to open JPEGs, TIFFs, PDF's, & such in Affinity, even if on your system they would normally open with another app.

 

You can also use "smart folders," which are really just saved searches. So for example you could open a Finder window, type "afphoto" in the search box at the top of the window, & from the drop down menu that appears, choose "Affinity Photo Document" in the kind section. Make sure "This Mac" is highlighted in the "Search" section & that will show you every AP document on your Mac in one window. To make it really useful, click "Save" in the Search section, save it somewhere with a descriptive name, & check the "Add to Sidebar" option.

 

You can then just open a Finder window, click it in the Sidebar, & immediately see all your AP docs. It also works with any standard File > Open dialog, so you can use it with Affinity's open file command.

[NinoVSoriano]

Hmm I had that same problem until I fiddled around with the settings on my Mac. You can select what you want a specific application to do once it is opened. Such as, "open" or "new" and what not. I found these option under properties. If you have a Mac this would work, as for PC, not sure.

 

When you say it wont close in dock do you mean there is a glowing white dot below the application or is Affinity just not going away?

If the application was * manually * placed in the dock, it wont go away until you manually remove it. Once you manually remove it from the dock if shouldn't stay there once the application is closed again.

There are some application that are not related to Affinity that once opened will also open affinity. Specific Formats that are compatible with Affinity.. On occasions photos or library may trigger Affinity to open as well. Even if the application is not open, because of these secondary compatible applications, Affinity still may be running without you knowing.

To fully quit Affinity, generally I go to the Affinity name next to my apple logo in the top left corner and select "quit Affinity. If you have not already manually placed Affinity in your dock and if you see a little white glowing dot next to the application, then it hasn't been fully closed. Once the application has been removed from the dock it has been successfully closed. ( this is only if you don't normally have Affinity In your dock ) If you manually placed it there it will always appear to be there.

You can select all these setting on and off under properties of the application.
Sometimes if I have a document from Affinity on my dock, such as a saved document, it will automatically keep Affinity open. Any thing that has compatibility will keep it open and to fully close it I generally close all compatible application and then click "Quit Affinity".

[Busenitz]

R C-R

Thanks for the info.  The saved search was new to me, and very helpful.  Being a diehard Windows fan from 3.1, switching to Mac was a huge step.  So glad AD / AP came along about the same time!!  Still lots to learn!

[semsemch]

On 2/28/2016 at 4:13 PM, markw said:

I hope I've understood the questions being asked here as there seems to have been a couple of different points raised.

1: To clear the list of recent files, In the app go to File > Open Recent and at the bottom of the list choose Clear.

2: To fully quit an Affinity app:
Choose Quit from the toolbar menu, or press cmd+Q or left click and hold on the Dock icon and choose Quit or right click on the Dock icon and choose Quit.
Clicking the red dot, top left of a window, will only ever close the window it won’t shutdown the app.

3: To start a new document after closing the last document window;
go to File > New or use key shortcut cmd+N

this was very helpful, thank you!