Problem with Linked Services in Affinity Publisher on iPadOS using Dropbox

[Mr. Doodlezz]

Hey community,

I'm having issues getting files to stay linked in Affinity Publisher on my iPadOS, using Dropbox.

When I link an Affinity Designer file on Dropbox with the Linked Services feature enabled and set up, the files don't stay linked at all. Plus, I'm unable to select other artboards within that particular Affinity Designer file. To provide more context:

• I was able to succesfully link other file types on Dropbox.
• iCloud isn't an option for me in this scenario, and I haven't explored it.
• I have tested the recent 2.2 update, no difference in behaviour, files are immediately marked as missing in the resource tab.
• This issue hasn't surfaced on either MacOS or Windows. There, linking works fine, and I can also select different artboards after I linked an Affinity Designer file on Dropbox.
• A speculation I have is that maybe when linking a file within Affinity Publisher on iPadOS, it loads the file just for placement and then deletes it right post-placement, causing the link to break.

Given this, has anyone encountered something similar or can offer advice on what might be the culprit? It completely breaks my workflow over different devices.

Many thanks for any guidance!
Dennis

[walt.farrell]

Do I have this correct?

1. You have a Designer file with multiple Artboards, stored in Dropbox.
2. You have the Dropbox application configured on your iPad, macOS, and Windows.
3. You have Dropbox configured as a Linked Service in Settings for Publisher on your iPad, and I presume also on macOS and Windows.
4. You create a Publisher document on the iPad, with the document Placement Policy set to Prefer Linked.
5. You Place the Designer file from Dropbox into the document.
6. The Resource Manager immediately shows the Linked file as Missing?

[Mr. Doodlezz]

13 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Do I have this correct?

1. You have a Designer file with multiple Artboards, stored in Dropbox.
2. You have the Dropbox application configured on your iPad, macOS, and Windows.
3. You have Dropbox configured as a Linked Service in Settings for Publisher on your iPad, and I presume also on macOS and Windows.
4. You create a Publisher document on the iPad, with the document Placement Policy set to Prefer Linked.
5. You Place the Designer file from Dropbox into the document.
6. The Resource Manager immediately shows the Linked file as Missing?

Exactly.

[Mr. Doodlezz]

Hey @walt.farrell, were you maybe able to re-create this issue?

I have another suspicion: I believe you need to enable the »Make available offline« option for the folder. However, this feature seems to be only available to Dropbox Plus users associated with a monthly fee.

If this is actually the case, the Linked Services functionality isn't operating as I'd expected and lacks a bit of clarity in the Affinity handbook/s.

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, Mr. Doodlezz said:

were you maybe able to re-create this issue?

I need to upgrade my Dropbox service before I can try, I'm afraid. Maybe later today.

You may be right that "Make Available Offline" will be required.

[walt.farrell]

OK, I've now upgraded my Dropbox account so I can use the iPad as well as my other 3 devices. I then:

1. Created a .afdesign file on Windows.
2. Created a .afpub file on the iPad, with the Placement Policy set to Linked.
3. I looked in the Files app on the iPad, and checked the Dropbox folder. It showed the .afdesign file from step 1 as being in the cloud.
4. I Placed the .afdesign file into the .afpub document. It worked fine, and checking in Files again showed the .afdesign file had been downloaded.
5. I then Saved the .afpub file into Dropbox, and moved back to Windows.
6. I Opened the .afpub file from Dropbox, and was told that the Linked file was modified. Resource Manager confirmed this. And an Update in Resource Manager removed the Modified status. This is odd, as I had not touched the .afdesign file after step 1 except for Placing it.

I don't know if any of these Help articles from Dropbox will be relevant to you. They are about macOS, not iPadOS, but perhaps are relevant depending on your macOS setup, I suppose:

https://help.dropbox.com/installs/dropbox-for-macos-support

https://help.dropbox.com/installs/macos-support-for-expected-changes

[Mr. Doodlezz]

43 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

OK, I've now upgraded my Dropbox account so I can use the iPad as well as my other 3 devices. I then:

1. Created a .afdesign file on Windows.
2. Created a .afpub file on the iPad, with the Placement Policy set to Linked.
3. I looked in the Files app on the iPad, and checked the Dropbox folder. It showed the .afdesign file from step 1 as being in the cloud.
4. I Placed the .afdesign file into the .afpub document. It worked fine, and checking in Files again showed the .afdesign file had been downloaded.
5. I then Saved the .afpub file into Dropbox, and moved back to Windows.
6. I Opened the .afpub file from Dropbox, and was told that the Linked file was modified. Resource Manager confirmed this. And an Update in Resource Manager removed the Modified status. This is odd, as I had not touched the .afdesign file after step 1 except for Placing it.

I don't know if any of these Help articles from Dropbox will be relevant to you. They are about macOS, not iPadOS, but perhaps are relevant depending on your macOS setup, I suppose:

https://help.dropbox.com/installs/dropbox-for-macos-support

https://help.dropbox.com/installs/macos-support-for-expected-changes

Ok, so it doesn't say it's missing for you, right? For me, it clearly states it's missing, a.k.a. it can't simply be updated via the resource manager but has to be completely relinked. On iPadOS, that's quite the tedious process if you need to replace the same file repeatedly, having to navigate to the file each time. 

Well, I’d even take my chances to do this – if it just would work! 😞
But as mentioned the link to the file immediately changes back to missing.

Maybe the devs can give an answer on this?

[walt.farrell]

When you look in Files, does the Linked .afdesign fine show that it's present on your iPad, or is it only in the cloud?

[Mr. Doodlezz]

19 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

When you look in Files, does the Linked .afdesign fine show that it's present on your iPad, or is it only in the cloud?

Thanks again for checking! Sorry, I tried to imply that I do not own a Dropbox Pro subscription with my previous reply and wasn't quite clear enough. 😅
I assumed it would work with any kind of Dropbox account, even the free one since I do not intend to get a subscription just for this feature to work. But I guess it's not working then?

I really wish staff could give us a quick and definitive answer on this matter before I jump to conclusions. 🫤

[walt.farrell]

2 minutes ago, Mr. Doodlezz said:

Sorry, I tried to imply that I do not own a Dropbox Pro subscription with my previous reply and wasn't quite clear enough.

On macOS, "in the cloud" works with Pro or Free accounts, according to the Dropbox Help, and depending on the macOS release you have. To set "available offline" you need the Pro account.

From that, I presume that if you look in Files you might still see that the file is only in the cloud, if you haven't actually tried to Open it yet. In that case, you'll have a Cloud icon by the file, in Files.

[Mr. Doodlezz]

1 minute ago, walt.farrell said:

On macOS, "in the cloud" works with Pro or Free accounts, according to the Dropbox Help, and depending on the macOS release you have. To set "available offline" you need the Pro account.

From that, I presume that if you look in Files you might still see that the file is only in the cloud, if you haven't actually tried to Open it yet. In that case, you'll have a Cloud icon by the file, in Files.

I was just about to edit my reply. 😄

So, yes, I checked – it's not locally available on iPadOS, there's always the little cloud-download-icon next to it. If I try to make it or the whole folder locally available it prompts me with a subscription.

So I guess this settles it then? I wish this was communicated more clearly in the Affinity Handbooks. 😞

[walt.farrell]

9 minutes ago, Mr. Doodlezz said:

So I guess this settles it then? I wish this was communicated more clearly in the Affinity Handbooks.

I'm not sure that Serif can know, or keep up with, all the vagaries of how Dropbox works.

If you can't make the file available on your iPad, the issue might simply be that you have too many devices connected to Dropbox. The free account allows only 3 devices to be connected at once. How many do you have currently?

Perhaps they still allow you view the files, just not access them, if you try to connect from a 4th machine?

 

[DWright]

Is your Dropbox account linked to Affinity Publisher as this will allow to to use the linked Dropbox files on other devices.

More information can be found in the help link below

https://affinity.help/publisher2/English.lproj/pages/Media/linkedServices.html

 

[Mr. Doodlezz]

Thanks for chiming in.

8 minutes ago, DWright said:

Is your Dropbox account linked to Affinity Publisher

I've linked the whole Affinity Suite to Dropbox.

[DWright]

Can you please confirm In the resource manager the object from your Dropbox does it have the status of Linked or Linked (Remote)

[Mr. Doodlezz]

17 minutes ago, DWright said:

Can you please confirm In the resource manager the object from your Dropbox does it have the status of Linked or Linked (Remote)

Desktop (Windows) = Placement Linked; Status = OK

 

iPadOS = Placement Linked (Remote); Status = Missing

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, DWright said:

Can you please confirm In the resource manager the object from your Dropbox does it have the status of Linked or Linked (Remote)

For me, it shows Linked Remote.

Strangely, for me, today Files on my iPad showed the .afdesign file as present (not in the cloud), but the Resource Manager in Publisher showed the file as Missing. In the workspace it looked perfectly fine (not pixelated at all).

Also strange: The placement preference in the document is for Linked, and the Resource Manager showed Linked Remote (and Missing). However, when I used Replace in the Resource Manager, and specified the same .afdesign file in Dropbox, it became Embedded.

[Mr. Doodlezz]

On 9/22/2023 at 5:56 PM, DWright said:

Can you please confirm In the resource manager the object from your Dropbox does it have the status of Linked or Linked (Remote)

Sooo … any updates on this, @DWright?

[dapoocycling]

Is this topic still open?

[Alfred]

10 minutes ago, dapoocycling said:

Is this topic still open?

Welcome to the Serif Affinity Forums, @dapoocycling.

If the topic were closed, you wouldn’t have been able to post to it. So I think you have your answer!

[dapoocycling]

Point for you @Alfred😀. What I actually wanted to say was whether there is now a solution to the problem? I also have the problem that the Dropbox migration via Linked Services does not substitute the specified path as described in the Affinity Online Help. 

Linked Services (affinity.help)

- macOS Sonoma 14.5.0
- Affinity 2.5.0.2471