Corrupted File - Affinity Publisher

[Chaser1515]

Hello,

I tried opening my project I've been working on for months and it tells me the file is corrupted and must be closed immediately. I've seen other posts from staff that ask to have a file uploaded to Dropbox. Is there a staff that might be able to help me with rescuing my project? Thanks!

[Hangman]

Hi @Chaser1515 and welcome to the forums,

Someone in the moderation team will pick this up and provide you with a private Dropbox link though that may not be until tomorrow as their office is likely now closed for the day...

[Chaser1515]

Darn! OK, I appreciate it. Thanks, Hangman!

[Dan C]

We’re very sorry to hear your Affinity document is no longer opening for you @Chaser1515.
In order for our team to assist and investigate this issue, we're going to need a copy of this file and some further information.

Please upload the file to the below link and we’ll take a further look to see if we can recover any of its contents.
https://www.dropbox.com/request/iaa1nGTjr1Sse1Kb2BwF

We also require some information regarding your setup, to help our development team locate the cause of the problem and reduce the chance of it happening in future. Please answer the following alongside the corrupted document:

1. Which Affinity app and version did the file last get saved in? (ie Photo, 2.4.2)
2. Which Operating System and version are you using? (ie Windows 10, macOS 10.15 Catalina)
3. What error message is shown when trying to open the file? Please include a screenshot of this error if necessary.
4. Are you saving to an Internal drive, External drive, USB stick/Memory card or Network location?
5. Is the folder you're saving to syncing to Google drive, OneDrive, iCloud, Dropbox or other Cloud services?
6. Do you have any Anti-virus and/or Anti-malware software running on your machine. If so, which one(s)?
7. Was this file a new document or are you trying to save to an existing document when the corruption occurred?
8. Are you able to save a new document to the same location without an error?
9. Can you remember what you were working on or the functions most recently used within the affected document before the corruption occurred?
10. Any other information you think would help us try to find the problem?

We suggest that you check to see if you have any backups of the document available in case we’re unable to recover the file.

If your document is synced to cloud storage, it may have a File History feature that should allow you to download a previous version of the file.

[Chaser1515]

@Dan C Thank you for seeing if it can be saved. Here are the answers to your questions:

1. Affinity Publisher 2.5.3

2. Windows 11 Home

3. "The document file is corrupted: File Name... The document file appears to be corrupted and must now be closed.

4. Saved to an external drive with all associated pictures and PDFs being placed. These can be moved to desktop, if file is salvageable.

5. No cloud services.

6. Just Windows labeled antivirus service. No additional, such as Norton, etc.

7. Had gotten more than 90 pages designed, added PDF items and were about to place those accordingly on the following pages. When I went to reopen the software, I received the error message.

8. After testing, I can save and open a new document to the external drive.

9. See answer 7.

10. Only other thing is Windows said there was an error with the drive (happens occasionally) and I chose the option to fix it. It was very quick, as it usually is, and doesn't impact me opening the pictures, files, etc. on their own.

If you need any other info, let me know. Thanks again!

 

[Dan C]

Many thanks for providing this for me, alongside your document!

I have been able to recover a version of your document, but currently I am receiving the following error when opening this file:

I am hopeful that this is due to a corrupted linked document thumbnail that is being displayed as the resources are 'missing' on my end - therefore I'd recommed you try the following.

• Download the recovered file that I have returned to you via email (the address associated with your Affinity Forum account)
• Open this file in Publisher and relink any resources, if required
• Check the document carefully, as you might find previously placed images/document are no longer visible and may require deleting and replacing
• Once happy, use File > Save As to create a new document from this file
• Close and reopen the newly saved document with your linked resources present

Does this error message still show when opening this new file please?

[wonderings]

On a side note, I would recommend looking at some sort of incremental backup solution. If this was to happen again you could simply go to the previous hour, or days backup. A job that is taking months to complete is a scary thing if there is no incremental backup as things can happen, does not matter what software you are using. 

[Chaser1515]

@Dan C Everything is working again! Thank you so much for getting everything back. Some of the PDFs I've placed aren't showing up, but that will not be difficult at all to relink. The error message does not show when opening the new saved file. You're a lifesaver!

@wonderings Good point! Because of this, I will definitely look into something.

[wonderings]

1 minute ago, Chaser1515 said:

@Dan C Everything is working again! Thank you so much for getting everything back. Some of the PDFs I've placed aren't showing up, but that will not be difficult at all to relink. The error message does not show when opening the new saved file. You're a lifesaver!

@wonderings Good point! Because of this, I will definitely look into something.

Good to hear! Not sure what options are out there for Windows, but one I use on my Mac is BackBlaze. I am not affiliated with them, just a happy user. It is cloud based so no worries about having a big enough hard drive and as it is cloud it is offsite so heaven forbid anything happens to your home or office it is safe. I am sure there are local solutions people can suggest as well. 

[Dan C]

That's wonderful news, many thanks for letting me know!

We certainly hope that you don't experience further issues with this file, but as wonderings suggests the best method to avoid data loss in any app is constant saving/backups where possible