Linked resources: Location and "remote"

[max3.2]

Hi,

 

The situation is that I am using an iCloud folder with my afpub and some subfolders with images. This is all in the newest v2. I switch between iPad and macOS. Can someone clarify these two for me? Specifically:

1) Some images show as "Linked (Remote)" and some as linked. Whats the difference? I placed them all by the same way...

2) How can I specify relative locations? Since absolute path differ on iPadOS and macOS for the image location (the root of iCloud drive is just different...) im loosing my links.

 

Best

[walt.farrell]

38 minutes ago, max3.2 said:

2) How can I specify relative locations? Since absolute path differ on iPadOS and macOS for the image location (the root of iCloud drive is just different...) im loosing my links.

V2 added support to resolve this. For iCloud it's supposed to always be enabled (at least on Mac and iPad; not sure it works on Windows), and for Dropbox you can enable it via the application Settings, Linked Services.

When enabled, it should recognize that the Linked files reside on the Linked Service, and use that service's functions to locate the Linked items. That way, the absolute path shouldn't matter.

38 minutes ago, max3.2 said:

1) Some images show as "Linked (Remote)" and some as linked. Whats the difference? I placed them all by the same way...

Linked (Remote) is another new V2 function, explained in the Help: https://affinity.help/publisher2/en-US.lproj/pages/Media/placeImagesWeb.html

It should only occur (according to that Help page) when you've dragged an image from a web page and dropped it into your document with the Ctrl (Cmd on Mac?) modifier held. In my experience, this works when dragging images from Chrome but not from Firefox.

[walt.farrell]

Here you can see (bottom of dialog) what the location info looks like for a file Placed from Dropbox, when the Dropbox service is linked:

You can also see that one image was dragged in from a web browser (Chrome). The image above that one was dragged in from Firefox, but does not show the (Remote)

[max3.2]

Ok i as able to remove the remote tag by relinking don’t know what went wrong there now it’s working so far. 

Another question: Imagine now I want to copy that folder locally - any way to set the path to relative or do I need to Relink? Best solutions obviously would just be standard relative path definition as available on OS level…

[walt.farrell]

3 minutes ago, max3.2 said:

Another question: Imagine now I want to copy that folder locally - any way to set the path to relative or do I need to Relink? Best solutions obviously would just be standard relative path definition as available on OS level…

I'm sure you would have to Relink everything, but if they're all in the same folder the Relink function in Resource Manager should handle everything at once.

As for relative: Awhile ago during V1, Serif staff said that if you have an image folder in the same directory as the main document, that the application will use relative links. Thus, you could move both the main document and that image folder to a new location (keeping that same relationship: both the document and the folder copied to the same new location).

I have not done any testing of this recently.

[Like, would like more if…]

Late to this party but suffering with the same Linked vs Linked (remote) issues which make opening and editing linked files impossible.

My partners and I share Dropbox as a working environment using Mac Studios M1 Max chip. We are currently on Sonoma 14.6.1 and Affinity Suite 2.5.3

The Linked Services setting has been working well, however now anything placed by my partners on their macs becomes Linked (remote) on mine, and while displaying the same root path ../CloudStorage/Dropbox/Work/etc… nothing will open as a link to be edited, nor will it "Show in finder". Show in finder just highlights iCloud Drive in sidebar (not relevant and not a used storage location) despite the paths showing identically as highlighted before in the Resource Manager panel.

Is this a new issue or is there a fix I can implement? Painful on large files using multiple source locations to pull them all together.

(This issue is possibly linked also to the offering of a "Recovery file" after I edit and save a file originally saved by someone else).

I have unlinked and relinked Dropbox to see if there was an issue there… no change. As it can't "Show in finder" I thought I'd test that with "Collect…" and it clearly knows exactly where the files are and drops them all into a folder of my choosing, reclassifying as "Linked"  having fetched them from various locations – go figure!

Edited August 30 by Like, would like more if…
Update

[walt.farrell]

23 minutes ago, Like, would like more if… said:

The Linked Services setting has been working well, however now anything placed by my partners on their macs becomes Linked (remote) on mine,

I believe that is the correct way for it to be displayed. The (Remote) is due to you having the Dropbox service linked in Settings, I think. 

26 minutes ago, Like, would like more if… said:

nothing will open as a link to be edited,

What did you you try? 

In your Dropbox configuration, are you synchronizing everything to your machine (available offline), or leaving everything in the cloud and only synchronizing when find are requested? 

For the latter (when requested), are the remote files actually on your machine already when you try to open them via the link? If not, does it work better if you synchronize the file to your machine, then try the access within Affinity?

[Like, would like more if…]

39 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

In your Dropbox configuration, are you synchronizing everything to your machine (available offline), or leaving everything in the cloud and only synchronizing when find are requested? 

For the purpose of keeping local hard disks flexible and not overloaded all files are stored online. This hasn't been an issue to date (since the Link Services introduction) but has become so and not sure when/why. I will attempt localising perhaps the latest created publisher on work files - but the images and other artwork resource libraries are too big to have both online and offline - but the fact that "Collect…" locates files with no issue suggests there is something wrong with "Show in finder" and ability to double click and edit Linked (remote) files.

Interestingly the large photo resource library i referred to is set to be available locally as well as on line and some of the used folders for artwork items also. The day to day work files offload online via Dropbox's auto offload sync process.

[Like, would like more if…]

I have tried both local hard disk and online only options for the folders that contain images in the document, and in each case chosen to unlink and relink app to dropbox. They all remain still as "Linked remote" and cannot demonstrate their location on dropbox in anyway. Will not show in finder. Will not open to edit either within personas or other applications - despite paths being clearly and correctly shown at base of Resource Manager window.

Tried saving the Publisher file to local desktop too to see if that rewrote the ties… No it didn't.

[stokerg]

Hi @Like, would like more if…,

On 8/30/2024 at 1:35 PM, Like, would like more if… said:

My partners and I share Dropbox as a working environment

I just want to confirm you are both sharing the same Dropbox account?

So far, i've not been able to replicate this.  I set a File in Dropbox to be Online Only, link it in Publisher and check the Resource Manager, it does show as Linked (remote) and the Show in Finder option is greyed out but i suspect thats due to the file not being made available offline, so there isn't anything for Finder to show.  I'm also not having any trouble loading the image into a Persona or using the File>Edit In Photo command.

[Like, would like more if…]

@stokerg yes we use the same dropbox account and have done so for many years. I had my partners test this too and the machines show the same issues. Items placed by each of us are fine, items placed by others Linked remote and inaccessible without manually following the link it clearly displays in the resource window. 
 

This must be a Publisher bug. 

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I attach a video of some of the crazy broken functionality that I can only assume is linked to this whole remote linked dropbox issue.

In a rapid edit (apologies) its a bit quick in parts but essentially two things…

• Affinity apps are unable to locate resources or files hosted on dropbox
• Affinity apps are unable to identify and release resources when chosen to Edit in designer/photo

…and a myriad more similar scenarios, very frustrating.