Crashing / failing to open document / Access to the document was lost

[Brent Pedersen]

Most of the crashing happens when trying to place new files. Sometimes I can Save as... and give it a new name, other times it says the file is corrupt and I have to restore an older version. Sometimes that vision opens but then says it can't be read.

Are there settings I should be using? I'm not using iCloud anymore. I turned off Metal. 

When I lose the file and have to restore off of backup I don't have the confidence that it won't happen again. 

Is this a known issue. I've been battling this since upgrading to 2.04 from 1.x 

Rookie mistake to upgrade when everything was stable. And now I can't go back. 

Please help.

[Lee D]

@Brent Pedersen If the app is crashing, can you follow the steps in this FAQ article to get the crash reports to upload so they may be checked. When it comes to placing files are they locally stored and being inserted linked or embedded?

[Brent Pedersen]

Thank you for responding! I appreciate your help. I only see a .ips file not a .crash file. Is this what you want?

Most of the files are linked. I've attached file. I run the files from my HD not a ext drive.

Affinity Publisher 2-2023-05-15-193729.ips Prime Companion 5.2.8.afpub

[Brent Pedersen]

I restored the file from a backup and could open it but then got those messages about access to the file was lost while loading and it became corrupt again. 

It's really shaken my faith in using it but I don't have another option. 

Is there a repair utility? settings I should change? I'm desperate. 

[Brent Pedersen]

I can open this file but it crashes when importing graphics or resizing them

 

In the past, if I left the file along for a day and came back it would work, and then I'd import graphics and it would go south again. 

 

I have iCloud drive on but I open from the HD

Prime Companion 5.2.7.afpub

[Brent Pedersen]

Are there permissions or something I should have on/different?

 

I have both version 1.0 and 2.0 on my computer. Is that a problem?

 

 

[MikeTO]

19 minutes ago, Brent Pedersen said:

I have iCloud drive on but I open from the HD

I believe you're actually using iCloud because you're saving to your Documents folder with iCloud turned on. Unless you've reconfigured iCloud, your Documents folder is stored on iCloud.

The bug with Affinity and iCloud has something to do with the iCloud paths. Affinity doesn't have the local path to your file, if you have iCloud turned on Affinity is accessing your files with something like $HOME/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs and not with a normal path.

You can solve your problem by moving the document file AND all of its linked resources to your drive outside of iCloud. For example, if your setup is Macintosh HD/Users/Brent/, then you could create a folder in /Brent and put the document and its resources there. I believe your problem will go away if you do this.

I tested this thoroughly because I didn't quite believe what Serif was telling me 🙂 but they were right, when I moved my files outside of iCloud the problem went away.

I'd really like the problems with iCloud and Metal fixed, IMO they're the two worst bugs in the apps, but at least we can work around both issues by saving outside of iCloud and turning Metal off. Also ensure you turn off both Metal options in all 3 apps. You have to turn off Enable Metal and switch Display from Metal to OpenGL.

Good luck

[Brent Pedersen]

I called Apple and verified that my affinity file/assets are stored on my HD and not solely in the cloud. 

 

[MikeTO]

5 hours ago, Brent Pedersen said:

I called Apple and verified that my affinity file/assets are stored on my HD and not solely in the cloud. 

Hi Brent, yes, they're stored on your HD and not solely in the cloud, Apple is telling you what I was trying to say. But regardless, Affinity has an issue with any folder which is synced to iCloud. It doesn't matter that the folder is also on your drive. Even if you turn off your internet access Affinity will have an issue with a folder that is configured to sync to iCloud. The issue isn't the fact that there's a cloud involved, it's with the path to the file.

Serif QA tried to tell me this but I doubted them, thinking I knew better. 🙂 But I validated what they told me. I had a repeatable scenario that would trigger one of the issues. If the document and/or the linked resources are on a folder synced to iCloud, I could trigger the issue 100% of the time. If the document AND the linked resources are on a folder not synced to iCloud I could never trigger the issue.

So please try this. Create a folder at the root of your user director. Move your document and all of the linked resources there. (If you copy your linked resources instead of moving them, you must rename the existing folder to something else, perhaps folder-backup, because otherwise Affinity will open the original linked resources and not the copied version which will defeat the point.) Try and work for a day with the document and linked resources in this new folder and all should be fine.

As for me, I know how to trigger the issues and how to avoid them, so after figuring all this out I moved my document and resources back to iCloud because I like the convenience. I do still stumble across the issue from time to time but I make many backups and have never lost more than a few minutes of work.

Good luck

[Brent Pedersen]

MikeTO

Now it won't let me save the file (see screenshot of the message). I am running to v. 2.1

I believe I have it set up as you described (access the files locally and not through the cloud). I renamed my asset folder on my HD to force Publisher to make a fresh link to the files. I

I shared read/write permissions for all user (so why can't it be written to?).

Any ideas?

[Brent Pedersen]

I believe my settings show iCloud isn't synching Afflinity files

[Brent Pedersen]

But I can do a Save As.. and it will save. 

[Old Bruce]

1 minute ago, Brent Pedersen said:

I believe my settings show iCloud isn't synching Afflinity files

I don't use the clouds so take this with a large grain of salt. I think that just means you won't have an automatically made Publisher Folder created in the cloud. If you have the cloud set up to sync with folders on your computer all the files in that folder will be stored in the cloud. Regardless of which application made them.

[Brent Pedersen]

I appreciate help from the member but is there a way to speak with someone at Affinity? 

 

[walt.farrell]

21 minutes ago, Brent Pedersen said:

I appreciate help from the member but is there a way to speak with someone at Affinity? 

 

You got a response from Lee D on May 16, the day after your initial post, then you waited about a week before responding. It's only been two days since you resumed the conversation. I'm sure Lee will be back, but all the staff are busy, and often conversations will involve other users before the staff can get back to them.

[Brent Pedersen]

Yes Walt, I was trying some of the suggestion and working with Apple. I was hoping the files I posted would help Leo see what's going on. But i haven't heard back.

v. 1.x was so stable! I'm such a fool to jump on a new version. If it's not broke, don't change it. But it worked for a while and I would have had to redo too much to roll back.

And so far it remains the worst kind of problem...intermittent. Sometime I can open the file and save a change. Sometimes I can't and have to do Save As.. sometimes that works, sometimes it says it can't open the file but if I give it a day I can. 

Making training materials is my livelihood. Important projects that I've been working on for years and maintaining and all of a sudden the files are getting corrupted, won't open, won't save...more than frustating. I'm concerned I'll either lose all my work or have to recreate work I've done from a back up but if the file is correct, is that backup file partially corrupt? will I have to do the same thing a few days later?

Again, I really appreciate help from Leo (staff) and members but the issue is still on-going. I think I need help from the manufacturer so I'll messaged them on Facebook. I provided my files for analysis and haven't heard back from anyone at the company. Is there no remote connection (team viewer) or do the log and project files tell the story? If so, I'd love to hear what they found.

[MikeTO]

Hi Brent

21 hours ago, Brent Pedersen said:

I believe my settings show iCloud isn't synching Afflinity files

This isn't what you think it is. If you turn that off for Affinity but your Affinity files are in a folder that you are syncing to iCloud, the files are going to sync to iCloud. Ignore this setting.

21 hours ago, Brent Pedersen said:

Now it won't let me save the file (see screenshot of the message). I am running to v. 2.1

I believe I have it set up as you described (access the files locally and not through the cloud). I renamed my asset folder on my HD to force Publisher to make a fresh link to the files. I

It doesn't matter if the files are stored locally, the bug is with files that are synced to the cloud. You are getting this message (file could not be written to) because the files are synced to the cloud. As I wrote in my first reply, Affinity accesses your files with this dynamic path $HOME/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs and not with a normal path. Yes, macOS is giving Affinity a local copy of the file, if available, and not downloading it from iCloud each time you open it, but something with these cloud paths is messing up Affinity.

21 hours ago, Brent Pedersen said:

But I can do a Save As.. and it will save. 

Correct. There's only one permutation of the bug that causes the document to be force closed so as long as you're not encountering that you can continue to use iCloud and just use Save As to create filename2, filename3, etc. That's what I do. At the end of the day I rename the last one back to the original filename and clear my recent items from the menu (otherwise it gets confused which file named filename it is referring to and bad things happen). If you want to do this, too, go ahead. It's not what Serif recommends but I've been doing that for a year without issues.

But if you want to avoid all of these issues, then follow the advice that I gave you which is what Serif recommends. Create a folder at the root of your user directory (or anywhere else that isn't synced to iCloud). Move your document and all of the linked resources there. (If you copy your linked resources instead of moving them, you must rename the existing folder to something else, perhaps folder-backup, because otherwise Affinity will open the original linked resources and not the copied version which will defeat the point.)

[Lee D]

@Brent Pedersen The crash report doesn't show any specific to the issue and so far in testing with your file I haven't experienced any load or save issues. However as I don't have any of the linked resources. I suspect the issue does relate to them as @MikeTO also indicates, as in the Resource Manager they do show as Linked (Remote), even though the path shown is local.

Please try Mikes suggestion, it's a method we use when investigating resource related issues.

[Brent Pedersen]

I changed the name of the folder with the assets and when it opened, it asked me to find them which I did. Is that what you mean? Is there anything in Resource Manager that shows they are remote links? How do I know when I'm successful at doing what Mike suggested?

 

And to be clear. You were able to open that file (Prime Companion SW 5.2.8)? It's coming up as correct on my iMac.

 

 

[Brent Pedersen]

[Brent Pedersen]

5 hours ago, MikeTO said:

Hi Brent

This isn't what you think it is. If you turn that off for Affinity but your Affinity files are in a folder that you are syncing to iCloud, the files are going to sync to iCloud. Ignore this setting.

It doesn't matter if the files are stored locally, the bug is with files that are synced to the cloud. You are getting this message (file could not be written to) because the files are synced to the cloud. As I wrote in my first reply, Affinity accesses your files with this dynamic path $HOME/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs and not with a normal path. Yes, macOS is giving Affinity a local copy of the file, if available, and not downloading it from iCloud each time you open it, but something with these cloud paths is messing up Affinity.

Correct. There's only one permutation of the bug that causes the document to be force closed so as long as you're not encountering that you can continue to use iCloud and just use Save As to create filename2, filename3, etc. That's what I do. At the end of the day I rename the last one back to the original filename and clear my recent items from the menu (otherwise it gets confused which file named filename it is referring to and bad things happen). If you want to do this, too, go ahead. It's not what Serif recommends but I've been doing that for a year without issues.

But if you want to avoid all of these issues, then follow the advice that I gave you which is what Serif recommends. Create a folder at the root of your user directory (or anywhere else that isn't synced to iCloud). Move your document and all of the linked resources there. (If you copy your linked resources instead of moving them, you must rename the existing folder to something else, perhaps folder-backup, because otherwise Affinity will open the original linked resources and not the copied version which will defeat the point.)

I moved it to the root of my user, is this what you mean?

[MikeTO]

25 minutes ago, Brent Pedersen said:

I moved it to the root of my user, is this what you mean?

Yes, that's right. You can make whatever folder structure you want there, just keep it out of your standard macOS Documents folder or any other folder synced to iCloud.

Give it a try for a few days and see if things are more stable for you.

Good luck!

[Brent Pedersen]

It's working better already. Thanks Mike! Fingers crossed.