Unable to open file

[der_gent]

I created a file with designer version 2.2.1 on macOS Sonoma on an M1 mac Mini. I tried to open that file with designer 2.2.1 on a macBook Pro  on Ventura. The file won't open. It's a very simple design (a puzzle with some numbers on each tile). I also can not open the exported pdf on the mac Book.

I didn't get any warning or errors. The files just won't open.

What could be wrong? How can i contribute some logfiles or else?

Kind rergards

[walt.farrell]

If your files are on iCloud, then you may be experiencing an issue where accessing files in iCloud from Sonoma can take a very long time. Apparently Sonoma manages iCloud files differently from earlier releases.

There is one FAQ article that mentions the issue. The general workaround is to simply wait.

 

[der_gent]

I'm not using sonoma to open the file. The file does not open on Ventura although created with sonoma and stored on icloud. The file is completely uploaded to iCloud and synched. I tried to copy it to the Desktop on the Ventura machine and open it from there and the file could still not be opened in designer.

I'm now back on my sonoma machine and can open the file in designer from icloud just fine.

I tried to save the file to dropbox and it won't open on the ventura mac from there, too.

regards

[der_gent]

Here's the file. I uploaded it here from the desktop, so i can check, if i can download it on the ventura machine from here and try to open it. Will report if this works.

Kind regards

Puzzle.afdesign

[der_gent]

OK. The file can not be opened on the ventura machine by downloading it from the post above. Something is wrong with affinity designer on ventura.

regards

[der_gent]

I'm having the same problem with publisher and i'm even not able to create a new document neither in designer nor publisher on the ventura machine. I can chose a file from a template, but after clicking on "create" the main window does not open in both apps.

Is there a compatibility issue with v2 apps (latest version) on intel macs with ventura?

[walt.farrell]

Do you ever use multiple monitors on your Ventura system? If so, are they all attached and turned on now?

[der_gent]

I see, what's the problem. On the ventura system i normally use a second screen where the main windows from the affinity apps are located. Yesterday that monitor was not available. It seems that affinity programs moves the main window on the second screen when starting, even if that screen is not attached and/or available. It should check how many monitors are available and attached and if there's only one, it should move the windows to that screen only. I hope you get, what i mean.

Kind regards.

[walt.farrell]

I agree; the applications should do a better job of reacting to the current set of monitors you have available.

[carl123]

11 hours ago, der_gent said:

It should check how many monitors are available and attached and if there's only one, it should move the windows to that screen only.

All my work is done on my main screen but I have other "monitoring" apps (e.g. Task Manager) automatically started on my second screen when I switch on my PC

I don't use my 2nd screen every day and just switch it on/off when I want to see the status of those apps

In my opinion it would be wrong (and very annoying) for those apps to move themselves to my main screen if they detect my 2nd screen it not available/switched on. 

[der_gent]

In case of using a big monitor on a laptop i totally disagree. When just using the laptop in case of mobile working, how would i get to my windows? I've never seen an app before i posted this here, that's not showing every window on the remaining screen in case the second screen is not attached.

[carl123]

On Windows any app/dialog showing on the 2nd screen can be moved using the Winkey+Shift+Left/Right Arrow Keys

So, it's easy to move an app without having my 2nd screen switched on but I just have a desktop so no mobile working so I can't test if that works without physically disconnecting my 2nd screen (which due to my cable management system, is not easy to test right now)

In addition, Windows appear to have some settings (see below) that may control what happens when a 2nd screen is disconnected.

I'm not sure if Macs have something similar but I'm surprised that we have not had a lot more reported issues with using Laptops and mobile working if this is a generic problem.

 

[der_gent]

My original post state that i'm using macOS. I don't care how to do anything on windows. This behavior is not correct on macOS and should be addressed and fixed by the developers of affinity.

[carl123]

Bye

[R C-R]

5 hours ago, der_gent said:

This behavior is not correct on macOS and should be addressed and fixed by the developers of affinity.

I'm not even sure this is something Serif could fix -- the macOS has a long history of having problems with multi-monitor setups when one or more is disconnected. It isn't as simple as it seems because the different monitors could have different sizes, be set either to their native default or one of several scaled sizes, & use different display profiles. So, since an app's windows may be sized differently when placed on different ones, each window could have different size & position coordinates for each monitor it appeared on & there would have to be some way of determining where & how they should be placed if any of them had never previously been placed on a different one, plus some way of automatically restoring each of them to the size & position on each monitor whenever it was reconnected.

[der_gent]

When disconnecting a display that has open windows on it from a mac device, the window will automatically be transferred to the remaining display and resizes there.

At this moment i'm using Teams, Mail, Calendar, Remote Desktop, Safari and our company's communication app on my external display attached to the macBook. If i disconnect the external display, every app moves their windows to the macBook's internal screen. And if i connect the external display again, every window of the app moves back to the external display. That's what i expect and that's how it worked ever since at least macOS X.

But this is not, what i consider as a bug. The problem we've to discuss with Serif is: Why did their apps try to open windows on a device that's not available at the moment the app starts. That's why i accidentally thought, that the files won't open. Of course they opened, but on a display, that's not connected, so i can not see the open file's window.

10 minutes ago, R C-R said:

the macOS has a long history of having problems with multi-monitor setups when one or more is disconnected

I'm using macs for more than 35 years now and have never seen an app that positions it's main window on a display that's not available. That's a bug and have to be addressed by serif.

 

[NathanC]

3 minutes ago, der_gent said:

When disconnecting a display that has open windows on it from a mac device, the window will automatically be transferred to the remaining display and resizes there.

But this is not, what i consider as a bug.

It sounds like you may be running into this known bug that's currently logged with the developers, the FAQ also contains a workaround in the event this bug is encountered when changing active displays.

 

[der_gent]

Hi NathanC: Thank you! That's what really helps and good to know, that it's already be addressed by the team. And i've a workaround now.

Kind regards

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, NathanC said:

It sounds like you may be running into this known bug that's currently logged with the developers, the FAQ also contains a workaround in the event this bug is encountered when changing active displays.

But from that topic:

Quote

Unfortunately there's no way to stop this issue from triggering when connecting/disconnecting an external monitor...

So if there is no way to stop it how can the Affinity developers fix it?

[v_kyr]

Of course there are programmatic ways under macOS to detect how many monitors are connected and to react on newly connected or disconnected monitors, thus also triggering external monitors.

A bunch of macOS third party apps do handle this in a graceful manner.

Further one can also easily deal with that via scripting if wanted, just one two simple AppleScript examples here …

• https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/333556/how-do-i-trigger-a-script-when-a-second-monitor-is-attached

[R C-R]

13 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

Of course there are programmatic ways under macOS to detect how many monitors are connected and to react on newly connected or disconnected monitors, thus also triggering external monitors.

The issue isn't if the OS can detect & react to monitor connections & disconnections. It is how an app like Affinity that can have dozens of windows of various sizes & positions open in a myriad of different combinations on the various monitors can keep track of where & how to arrange them as the monitors are connected & disconnected.

[v_kyr]

10 hours ago, R C-R said:

The issue isn't if the OS can detect & react to monitor connections & disconnections. It is how an app like Affinity that can have dozens of windows of various sizes & positions open in a myriad of different combinations on the various monitors can keep track of where & how to arrange them as the monitors are connected & disconnected.

The app either way keeps track of window sizes and their positions etc., additionally it has to check for the external monitors availability (connected/disconnected) and if a before used monitor is disconnected then remap & arrange the windows over to remaining connected ones instead. - Further as an OS already offers via it’s accompanied prog APIs & libs all the related monitor detection & window handling functions etc., it‘s more a matter of making the right use out of these here for this context.

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, v_kyr said:

The app either way keeps track of window sizes and their positions etc., additionally it has to check for the external monitors availability (connected/disconnected) and if a before used monitor is disconnected then remap & arrange the windows over to remaining connected ones instead.

Then how exactly does it decide how to do that if all the windows that were open & floating on different & potentially much larger monitors won't all fit on the remaining one(s) without covering one another or whatever was already on the remaining one(s)?

Consider for example if I have a large second monitor on which I have placed the Layers panel, expanded to the full height of that monitor & widened enough to show long layer names without truncation. Next to the I have placed the Brushes panel, also expanded to the full height, & beside that several other full height panels & panel groups, say one for Text Styles, another for Assets, another for History, & one or more for fixed size panels, all to take advantage of that monitor's larger size.

I certainly do not want all those panels to remain separate, floating, & positioned the same relative screen positions when the larger monitor is disconnected, so how would the app know how I did want them configured?

Further, consider that there could be 3 or more monitors in the setup & that any combination that used less than all of them would also need to somehow decide where to place all the windows on the remaining one(s) as they are disconnected.

I'm not saying it is impossible for the app to adapt to disconnections, only that I can see no simple or straightforward way for the app to automatically do this in a useful or user friendly way.

[v_kyr]

2 hours ago, R C-R said:

Then how exactly does it decide how to do that if all the windows that were open & floating on different & potentially much larger monitors won't all fit on the remaining one(s) without covering one another or whatever was already on the remaining one(s)?

…

… only that I can see no simple or straightforward way for the app to automatically do this in a useful or user friendly way.

It has to take (show up) those from a disconnected monitor then ideally over to the main screen/monitor with/by applying the default window size setups for the initial used main screen. - Pretty much similar, but in a better & directly programmed automated task, of what above referenced FAQs tell to do manually instead.

[R C-R]

32 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

It has to take (show up) those from a disconnected monitor then ideally over to the main screen/monitor with/by applying the default window size setups for the initial used main screen.

Even with my one screen configuration I do not & never have wanted to use the factory default sizes, positions, or groupings of the Studio panels in any of the Affinity apps or their personas. I always want one of several different setups with some panels floating & others grouped & sized differently than the factory defaults.

Thus, for me this would be about as far from ideal a behavior as I can imagine, & I believe there are many other users that would also find that behavior less than ideal.

Beyond that, moving everything to the main monitor is only one possibility if there is a 3 or more monitor setup & one of them is disconnected. It would be very annoying if everything ended up on any one of the other still-connected ones.

In short, there is no 'one size fits all' default setup & I doubt there is any automated programatic method of reconfiguring the workspaces that the majority of users would consider a good solution for this issue.