Not able to Export on my laptop

[Jill Wolcott]

I normally work on my Desktop, but I'm traveling.  I am on v2.3 and haven't downloaded the latest update because my internet isn't great.

I have tried several times (in different locations) to create a pdf from a document that I have previously created pdfs from on my desktop, but I cannot get it to work.  I realized I didn't have a pdf software, so I got that (PDFElement).  But it can't be that because it won't export as any type of document.

By not working, I mean that when I select Export either using shortcuts or drop-down, nothing happens.  Earlier today it was causing Publisher to freeze.  

Any thoughts?  Here's a screenshot of the dropdown and I'm attaching my afpub file too.

Jill

Blue Canoe NEW.afpub

[Jill Wolcott]

On going back to the document, it is like the whole thing is locked.  I cannot edit anything.  I'm lost!

 

[walt.farrell]

Do you ever have an additional monitor/display connected to that laptop, and do you have it connected now? If so, perhaps the Export dialog is trying to show on that other monitor.

[Jill Wolcott]

Nothing else connected.

[GarryP]

23 hours ago, Jill Wolcott said:

On going back to the document, it is like the whole thing is locked.  I cannot edit anything.

I can open the document, edit it, and export it, so I don’t think the problem is with the document itself.

There are various linked resources, including some AFDESIGN documents, that couldn’t be found so it’s possible that one of those could be causing the problem of you not being able to edit it.

8 hours ago, Jill Wolcott said:

Nothing else connected.

Does that mean that:

• an external monitor is not currently connected but you have connected one previously but not while using Publisher, or;
• an external monitor is not currently connected but you have connected one previously while using Publisher, or;
• an external monitor is not currently connected and has never been connected while you have used Publisher, or;
• an external monitor has never been connected at all, or;
• something else?

[Alfred]

1 hour ago, GarryP said:

Does that mean that:

• an external monitor is not currently connected but you have connected one previously but not while using Publisher, or;
• an external monitor is not currently connected but you have connected one previously while using Publisher, or;
• an external monitor is not currently connected and has never been connected while you have used Publisher, or;
• an external monitor has never been connected at all, or;
• something else?

Walt’s question was:

22 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Do you ever have an additional monitor/display connected to that laptop, and do you have it connected now?

So it seems entirely reasonable to infer that Jill’s answer means

Quote

an external monitor has never been connected at all

 

[GarryP]

I wasn’t sure if the answer was in the present tense (e.g. Nothing else is connected now), or the past tense (e.g. Nothing else has ever been connected until now), or both (e.g. Nothing else has ever been connected and isn't connected now), as the wording wasn’t clear to me, which is why I asked for clarification.

[Alfred]

3 minutes ago, GarryP said:

I wasn’t sure if the answer was in the present tense (e.g. Nothing else is connected now), or the past tense (e.g. Nothing else has ever been connected until now), or both (e.g. Nothing else has ever been connected and isn't connected now), as the wording wasn’t clear to me, which is why I asked for clarification.

It was the word ‘ever’ in Walt’s post that swung it for me. I read Jill’s reply as telling us unequivocally that your ‘both’ scenario (nothing else has ever been connected) applies here.

[Meliora spero]

On 5/15/2024 at 9:47 AM, Jill Wolcott said:

On going back to the document, it is like the whole thing is locked.  I cannot edit anything.  I'm lost!

Before this turns into a multi-volume work, it sounds to me like one of the many nightmares that made me permanently leave Windows.

Many times while traveling with my laptop on Windows, I experienced programs trying to display on other screens I usually had it connected to from the dock. Ridiculous. There are YouTube videos and other tutorials about the tedious and again ridiculous work you have to do to get the screen to display on a real screen. Not a fantasy screen.

What sounds like the scenario here is that the program tries to show the export dialog, but the main program is displayed on your laptop, and Publisher apparently tries to show the export dialog on a screen that is no longer connected, or in a window position that is no longer possible due to resolution differences between what you use on your laptop and desktop? It's hard to determine with few details.

What I think is the way forward from here is to reset Affinity's config regarding dialog placements if it exists. Is it one of the things that can be reset on program start, Serif?

[carl123]

35 minutes ago, Aldus said:

but the main program is displayed on your laptop, and Publisher apparently tries to show the export dialog on a screen that is no longer connected,

On Windows I can use the Windows Key+Shift+Left/right arrow keys to move the export screen between 2 monitors

Not usure what the key combination (anyone?) is on a Mac but the OP might want to try that

[Jill Wolcott]

I am on Mac, not Windows. I have never had an external monitor attached. I do plug my phone in to charge/back up photos. Just to be sure I’m going to check that there is nothing else it might be looking for. 

 

I am currently in Australia, so time is weird.

[Jill Wolcott]

Every time I open the document and try do to anything, Affinity Publisher freezes and I have to force quit.  I understand that the document is fine, but what is going on with my program?  Any help much appreciated.  I have checked and there is no other monitor/device that the laptop is trying to access.  I have successfully used Publisher on this computer in the past so I am baffled.

[walt.farrell]

9 hours ago, Jill Wolcott said:

I have checked and there is no other monitor/device that the laptop is trying to access.

I am curious how you checked that. And the question earlier was whether you do use additional monitors with that machine, but don't have them connected now.

I would suggest you reset the application. First, make sure the application is not running (Quit it if it is). Then press and hold Ctrl while you start the application from Applications. You should get a Clear User Data dialog, at which point you can release Ctrl. Leave the first 3 items checked, and press Reset.