Each document should remember export location

[Benwiggy2]

I frequently work on several projects over a period of time, and I might export a PDF from each one regularly. Whenever I export a PDF from Affinity Publisher, the file dialog presents me with the location that the last project used. It's really tedious to navigate to the correct folder every time. 

(Yes, macOS has a drop-down of recent folders, but it's not always there.)

If each document remembered the export location that it used before, it would be a massive improvement.

Edited March 21 by Benwiggy2

[GarryP]

This sort of thing has been requested, discussed, and sometimes argued against (for various reasons) since 2016 at least.

See, for example: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/198288-export-folder/

Basically, Serif are aware that different people have different – sometimes diametrically opposed – short/long-term expectations/requirements for the default export location.

Edited March 21 by GarryP
Added more details.

[GripsholmLion]

That thread requests that the export is by default placed in the same directory as the source. I read this post as a request to recall the chosen export location for each source document, so that subsequent updated exports will go to the same location as was used for the initial export of that document, which is very different indeed.

[Benwiggy2]

Indeed. It would make perfect sense if Affinity apps selected the 'home' folder of a document for the first export, and then remembered whatever  export destination was ultimately selected for that document. That might not suit everyone, but it would surely be more useful to a larger number.

 

I'd argue that the current behaviour is not the desired workflow for the majority of cases. "Most likely" functions usually involve the easiest/quickest method in user interfaces.

[GarryP]

My point was that Serif have had various requests to make the default export location various things by various people in lots of varied situations, including options that would allow the user to specify their own choices which could be used at different times depending on what they wanted in the circumstances they found themselves in at different times.

Try doing a search for default export location , reading all of the threads with all of the different requirements, and then try and then coming up with a solution that no-one will complain about.

What’s ‘best’ for you, or some people, may be ‘a disaster’ for others; there's no win-win scenario.

[garrettm30]

I would prefer something of the sort. New documents would default to export to the source folder, but they would remember the last export folder so subsequent exports of that document would default to that location.

[GarryP]

And here we go round the roundabout...

[Benwiggy2]

3 minutes ago, GarryP said:

What’s ‘best’ for you, or some people, may be ‘a disaster’ for others; there's no win-win scenario.

If lots of people want something different, then that at least suggests that the current behaviour is 'non-optimal' for a large number. Of course some workflows will always require more clicks than others. 

The job of an Interface Designer is to gather data on how people use things, and create tools that serve those uses.

 

3 minutes ago, GarryP said:

And here we go round the roundabout...

He seems to be supporting the same proposal, not offering an alternative.

[Granddaddy]

In last summer's discussion of export folder location at
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/189565-export-location-option-to-source-file/
I commented that the lack of this export option is another of the many reasons Affinity users need a high tolerance for seemingly unmodifiable design decisions that cause workflow and usability problems.

Many people, including myself, came to Affinity because they believed they had a compelling reason to do so.

The big question for Affinity's future is: Do disgruntled users have a compelling reason to continue with Affinity?

That's a question I ask myself regularly. For example, Affinity has fallen well behind its competitors in applying AI methods even for such simple things as selection. Many people have commented on this lack. Their comments finally gave me a compelling reason to try another product this year. At the moment I continue to use Affinity only because it is familiar. Meanwhile I'm learning the alternative software because it appears it may be better for my purposes and it does not have some of the annoyances I find in Affinity.

The more one is told that one's preferences for certain software features imply that one is ignorant, incompetent, or contrary to the majority of Affinity users, the more one begins to see compelling reasons to move elsewhere.