Affinity Photo V2.3 - Failed to save document: Save failed because the document could not be written to.

[Rick Kelly]

This is something new that started with the upgrade of Version 2.3. I can no longer save a file I am currently working on due to this error. I can do a "Save As" to a new document, but then immediately cannot save again. I have to keep swapping back and forth between two versions of the file, overwriting the previous. We are working to a set of network drives and I have seen some comments that Affinity recommends working to a local drive, although I have not seen that stated anywhere on their site. However, this just started with the upgrade to V2.3 and was working fine before that. If that is the case, this still seems like a bug and is not good for collaboration. Having to worry about copying your latest work to the network over and over is going to result in some missed updates. And, we use Photoshop, Illustrator and free tools like GIMP and Inscape and none of these tools are having that issue. Hopefully this is just a bug that popped up in the latest release. (I did search this before posting, but that other thread got off the rails and I am not sure anyone will see my update to it)

Edited December 11, 2023 by Rick Kelly

[Dan C]

Hi @Rick Kelly,

Welcome to the Affinity Forums & sorry to hear you're having trouble!

Affinity V2.2 implemented 'lock' files, in order to stop documents from being edited by multiple users at once, causing file issues. These lock files are covered further here - 

It's possible that this file handling change is causing issues with your network drive setup - just to confirm, are you seeing this error only when attempting to save to a network location? Or is this only happening with a specific document?

If you try saving this file to a local location, such as your desktop, does it work as expected please?

15 hours ago, Rick Kelly said:

We are working to a set of network drives and I have seen some comments that Affinity recommends working to a local drive

To verify, our developers do recommend loading/saving files to local disks only, then creating duplicate files for backup purposes in external/network locations to avoid file errors or corruption.

[Rick Kelly]

Thanks for the reply. I guess this is something we will continue to to work around.

Yes, it does work on a the local drive, but not USB external or network.

Yes, it is all documents, not just a particular one.

No, it is not the network or the drives, Gimp, Inkscape, Photoshop, Illustrator and every other application still works fine. Affinity was working fine too, until the 2.3 upgrade.

Thanks again.

[thomaso]

2 hours ago, Dan C said:

It's possible that this file handling change is causing issues with your network drive setup - just to confirm, are you seeing this error only when attempting to save to a network location?

58 minutes ago, Rick Kelly said:

Yes, it does work on a the local drive, but not USB external or network.

Wasn't this (with a range of "Save failed…" errors?) announced by the "@Serif Info Bot" to be solved in v.2.2.1 ?

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/search/&q="Serif Info Bot" AND "afp-4826"&author=%40Serif Info Bot&tags=afp-4826,@serif info bot&eitherTermsOrTags=or&search_and_or=and&sortby=relevancy

for instance:

On 10/24/2023 at 2:48 PM, Serif Info Bot said:

The issue "Saving Failed increasing frequency of reports" (REF: AFP-4826) has been fixed by the developers in build "2.2.1 Release".

This fix is in the current customer release.
If you still experience this problem once you are using that build version (or later) please reply to this thread including @Serif Info Bot to notify us

[karlstatt]

I'm new to Affinity products, but I have very similar problems with Designer and Photo and I've read similar things from other users here. I can say for myself that I have been working for decades with a wide variety of programs in different networks, e.g. Windows NT, Linux, Synology and even such special ancient systems as Kirschbaum. I have never had such file problems. For me, the probability clearly shows that Serif programs have problems dealing with networks, not the users. This is a fundamental problem and I would be very grateful if this were confirmed and resolved as a matter of priority.

To be clear, copying a file locally for the time being may be a temporary solution, but it is not a solution. Half the world works with networks and clouds, but at Serif you copy to local data carriers? I don't understand that.

[Dan C]

On 12/12/2023 at 12:47 PM, Rick Kelly said:

Yes, it does work on a the local drive, but not USB external or network.

Yes, it is all documents, not just a particular one.

Thanks for verifying that for me! I'm getting this logged with our team to be investigated further, as I've noticed a few reports of this following 2.3's release.

On 12/12/2023 at 1:58 PM, thomaso said:

Wasn't this (with a range of "Save failed…" errors?) announced by the "@Serif Info Bot" to be solved in v.2.2.1 ?

As I understand it, v2.2, alongside adding the ~lock~ files also included fixes/improvements to the Saving procedure, which according to our dev team should reduce the frequency of these issues occurring.

Since releasing 2.2.1 (and subsequently 2.3), the technical support team have certainly noticed fewer of these reports, however it appears the underlying cause has not yet been completely eradicated.

Therefore as above, I'll be informing the team of these further reports - and we'll be sure to request any further information from these users, as required.

On 12/12/2023 at 2:04 PM, karlstatt said:

To be clear, copying a file locally for the time being may be a temporary solution, but it is not a solution. Half the world works with networks and clouds, but at Serif you copy to local data carriers? I don't understand that.

As above, our development team have made specific adjustments in the latest updates to better support these systems, but we still currently recommend using Affinity with local files where possible, to further reduce the chances of this occurring.

Just to confirm, are you using Affinity on macOS or Windows, and are seeing similar 'Failed to Save' error messages?

[karlstatt]

Hi Dan C. Thanks for your answer. I work with Windows 11 Pro, and yes: working in a network is practically impossible.Ich arbeite unter Windows 11 Pro, und ja: Arbeiten im Netzwerk ist praktisch nicht möglich.

[Dan C]

No problem at all, thanks for letting me know - I'll be sure to add your report to this development log now, our apologies for any inconveniences in the meantime.

We'll be sure to reply here, requesting any further information our team may require to help investigate and resolve this issue 

[Rick Kelly]

Thanks for all of the replies!