Affinity Publisher takes forever to open a document (1.4 MB)

[Hooray]

Hi folks,

I have created a flyer, a third of A4, which I have filled with content, backgrounds and a graphic. The .afpub is 1.4 MB in size.
When I want to open this document, it takes forever (! - about 4 minutes) until it is open and can be edited.

Does this happen often? What can I do about it?

Thank you very much,
Hooray

 

[MikeTO]

Are you including the time to launch Affinity or is it already open? Sometimes on macOS it takes a very long time to launch the app due to a macOS security procedure (for which you can find long discussions in this forum, just search for slow start or slow open).

If it takes that long to open a document for an app that is already open, there must be something in the document causing the issue. Can you share the document or describe what's in it?

Cheers

[Hooray]

Thank you!

At first, just opening Publisher took a relatively long time, but not too much.

Then I opened the document from Publisher (File-Open...). That took about 4 minutes.
After I saved the document under a different name, it was OK again, it was quick.

There is nothing special in the document, simply a DinA4 sheet that becomes a three-part flyer printed on both sides.

What I noticed the last time I saved before the problem: there was a message that said (roughly) that access to iCloud should be guaranteed (I don't remember exactly....).

 

 

[Old Bruce]

12 minutes ago, Hooray said:

What I noticed the last time I saved before the problem: there was a message that said (roughly) that access to iCloud should be guaranteed (I don't remember exactly....).

Are you storing Linked files on iCloud? That could explain the lag, the OS and Publisher is having to download the Linked files from the internet.

[Hooray]

Yes, but a file of 1.4 megabytes shouldn't really take long on a network of 1000...

But I've since read here that there are probably problems with MacOS and Affinity. Well, I've found a workaround...

 

[Old Bruce]

2 minutes ago, Hooray said:

Yes, but a file of 1.4 megabytes shouldn't really take long on a network of 1000...

I still don't know if in fact you are linking files (your "content, backgrounds and a graphic"), I will assume you are because this problem you have sounds like you have them linked and perhaps stored on a cloud service.

If you are linking files then the Publisher document will have links to the files, links are quite small in size. Therefore the Publisher file can be quite small. But the linked files still need to be found, read, and put on the screen. If they are in fact stored in a cloud then the internet needs to download them and then they need to be put on the screen.

[R C-R]

30 minutes ago, Hooray said:

Yes, but a file of 1.4 megabytes shouldn't really take long on a network of 1000...

Maybe it is obvious to others but what you mean by "a network of 1000..." is not obvious to me. So can you explain what that means?

[Hooray]

On 1/18/2024 at 7:05 PM, R C-R said:

network of 1000

MBit, I assume that means....

[Hooray]

However, I now know that this is not an Affinity, but a MacOS problem: sometimes it takes minutes for other files to open as well.

This is a service provided by the company Äppel (German for "apple"): they are so concerned about your security that they first let you twiddle your thumbs and then - maybe - let you open the file. (...the next computer has a window again...)

 

[thomaso]

13 minutes ago, Hooray said:

I now know that this is not an Affinity, but a MacOS problem: sometimes it takes minutes for other files to open as well.

(…) "apple"): they are so concerned about your security

What macOS are you using on your macbookair M1 (2020)? – For Sonoma there was a Serif note (Oct. 2023), though it may indicate an Affinity issue, not a general delay with other apps as you seem to experience – whereas this report (Apple developer forum, Nov. 2023) discusses a potential issue in Sonoma.

Since you suspect for your setup security issues (and handling): do you have any third party app installed that may influence security handling, e.g. antivirus or auto-cleaning apps? The app EtraCheck can point you to potentially involved apps (including hidden background processes, e.g. run as "daemon"). EtreCheck reads + reports with comments only, it does not fix issues.

Independent from the OS version there are various reports where it took time for a specific Affinity document to open, triggered by specific content, for instance here (corrupted linked resource) or here and here (cloud involved?) and a certain .EPS file that took about 30 minutes for various forum users to open (can't find via search).