Cannot create Snapping presets [all 3 apps, all 2.5.x versions]

[R C-R]

As I first mentioned in my reply at 

the burger menu for the Presets in the Snapping popup does nothing when I click on it. (There is a screenshot in that post.) As mentioned in a reply there to @walt.farrell I tried resetting just the snapping options via the CTRL start method but it changed nothing.

I just updated to 2.5.5 & still nothing has changed. 

I hope someone can help me figure out how to fix this, or confirm that it has something to do with Catalina.

Thanks!

[MikeTO]

This is grasping at straws, but while you wait for an official response try clicking around the menu icon instead of on it. Perhaps on Catalina the hot spot for the control is out of alignment with the control itself.

Also please share a screenshot of your Snapping window, perhaps it will reveal that on Catalina the controls aren't aligned the same way as on later versions of macOS.

[R C-R]

3 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

Also please share a screenshot of your Snapping window, perhaps it will reveal that on Catalina the controls aren't aligned the same way as on later versions of macOS.

There is a screenshot of that in the post I linked to above, but here it is again:

I can select any of the builtin presets from the preset popup, as as shown I can change an option to remove that preset name from the Preset: field, & those new snapping options work. I just can't use the burger menu to create a new custom preset. 

Perhaps significantly, in the AD Snapping help topic, a tiny downward pointing triangle appears next to the menu but as you may be able to see, it is absent from that menu for me. That triangle is present in the V1 apps & opens the menu as expected, so this is just an issue with recent 2.5 versions.

BTW, I am pretty sure I had some custom presets created in an earlier V2 version that worked in them so I think this must have become an issue in some 2.5 version & I am just now noticing it.

EDIT: forgot to mention that I tried clicking everywhere around the burger button looking for a 'live' spot but without success.

[Old Bruce]

16 minutes ago, R C-R said:

BTW, I am pretty sure I had some custom presets created in an earlier V2 version that worked in them so I think this must have become an issue in some 2.5 version & I am just now noticing it.

This brought up a memory of me thinking "What happened to my 'All Off' preset?" a while back. As it is only the one preset that I ever make I just shrug it off. I cannot swear to it actually happening.

[R C-R]

4 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

This brought up a memory of me thinking "What happened to my 'All Off' preset?" a while back. As it is only the one preset that I ever make I just shrug it off. I cannot swear to it actually happening.

But you could still create new presets if you want & then delete them, right? IOW, does the menu opens for you if you change anything in a preset (your all off or a builtin one)?

[R C-R]

One other thing. For the life of me I cannot find where the custom presets should be stored, I assume as a propcol file. so I can't even use a Time Machine backup to look for earlier ones. All V2 apps came from the Affinity store so maybe someone whose apps came from there can tell me where to look.

[Old Bruce]

15 minutes ago, R C-R said:

But you could still create new presets if you want & then delete them, right? IOW, does the menu opens for you if you change anything in a preset (your all off or a builtin one)?

Yes I can still make new presets. I don't have the same OS as you do though. Currently they are still working with the 2.5.5 retail version released today.

[walt.farrell]

1 minute ago, Old Bruce said:

Here on Mac OS 12.7.6 it is in ~/Library/Application Support/Affinity Designer 2/user/snapping_options.dat

Also there on Sonoma.

Those files (actually, those "user" directories, one per app) seem to be missing from the FAQ:

 

[Old Bruce]

@walt.farrell and @R C-R

I hid that post because it is not from the App Store.

Here my Mac App Store version 1 files are at:

~/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.affinitydesigner/Data/Library/Application Support/user/snapping_options.dat

the version 2 Serif Store versions which are at:

~/Library/Application Support/Affinity Designer 2/user/snapping_options.dat

===============

27 minutes ago, R C-R said:

All V2 apps came from the Affinity store so maybe someone whose apps came from there can tell me where to look.

So maybe there is a difference for the old OS R C-R is running. I doubt it though because on my laptop with Mac OS 10.12.6 the Serif Store version 1 of Publisher is 

~/Library/Application Support/Affinity Publisher/user/snapping_options.dat

which is very much the same as my Serif Store Designer version 2.

[R C-R]

@walt.farrell, I can't find the post from @Old Bruce you quoted above about the ~/Library/Application Support/Affinity Designer 2/user/snapping_options.dat location. Also, the 'where are the resources' post you posted seems to say I should find everything in ~/Library/Group Containers/6LVTQB9699.com.seriflabs/v2/user/  but I don't see any "*.dat" files there at all.

So could you post the complete fie path to what you are showing with the snapping_options.dat file in it?

[R C-R]

8 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

the version 2 Serif Store versions which are at:

~/Library/Application Support/Affinity Designer 2/user/snapping_options.dat

Alas, I do not have a snapping_options.dat file at that or any other folder location I can find. I have 5 dat files there (document_defaults.dat, user/file_export_options.dat, font_map.dat, glyph_browser.dat, & and visibility_options.dat) but no others. (Same for all 3 apps).

[MikeTO]

8 minutes ago, R C-R said:

@walt.farrell, I can't find the post from @Old Bruce you quoted above

Bruce stated that he his his post

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

There is a screenshot of that in the post I linked to above, but here it is again:

...

EDIT: forgot to mention that I tried clicking everywhere around the burger button looking for a 'live' spot but without success.

The control layout is a bit different due to the different system font on Catalina. If it's due to control alignment, the hot spot might be 10 Retina pixels or 5 regular pixels further left than the icon.

But more importantly, have you tried it from the View > Snapping menu and not just from the Toolbar popup? One may work even if the other doesn't.

Good luck.

[R C-R]

3 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

The control layout is a bit different due to the different system font on Catalina. If it's due to control alignment, the hot spot might be 10 Retina pixels or 5 regular pixels further left than the icon.

I tried everywhere in the general vicinity of the burger menu. Nothing happened. Same with the stand alone View > Snapping window ( which is what I assume is what you mean by menu) -- no live spots, no downward triangle like in the help topic (or in V1 on my Mac).

I also used Time Machine to look back more than a year for the missing snapping_options.dat file file & can't find it anywhere.

I am about ready to give up on this unless some one still running Catalina has something else to suggest.

[MikeTO]

3 minutes ago, R C-R said:

no downward triangle like in the help topic (or in V1 on my Mac).

That's just an old v1 screenshot in the v2 help.

I'm out of ideas, sorry.

[walt.farrell]

29 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Alas, I do not have a snapping_options.dat file at that or any other folder location I can find

I would guess that's why you have this problem. 

If doing the Ctrl run-up and choosing to reset the snapping options didn't work, you may have to do a complete reset. Though perhaps installing a .dat file from another user would work?

[walt.farrell]

Or, you could try a full Reset of one of the beta apps. If that gives you the file, you could try installing it in the production app(s), too.

[R C-R]

29 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Though perhaps installing a .dat file from another user would work?

I thought about asking for that but I think it makes sense at this point to wait for an official reply. I may try the Beta reset though.

EDIT: I tried clearing everything in the just-installed 2.5.6 AD beta & nothing changed except that I will have to redo all the UI stuff that destroyed.

[MikeTO]

Do the following similar option menus work for you?

• View > Grid and Axis > Preset
• Preflight panel > Profile
• TOC panel > TOC Style

[walt.farrell]

51 minutes ago, R C-R said:

just-installed 2.5.6 AD beta

???

Perhaps you meant 2.5.5.2636 beta?

Too bad the Reset didn't work.

[R C-R]

6 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

Do the following similar option menus work for you?

• View > Grid and Axis > Preset
• Preflight panel > Profile
• TOC panel > TOC Style

View > Grid works fine. I don't have any APub docs with a TOC to test with but the Preflight panel also works fine.

@walt.farrell sorry, I meant the 2.5.5.2636 beta.

[MikeTO]

3 hours ago, R C-R said:

Alas, I do not have a snapping_options.dat file at that or any other folder location I can find. I have 5 dat files there (document_defaults.dat, user/file_export_options.dat, font_map.dat, glyph_browser.dat, & and visibility_options.dat) but no others. (Same for all 3 apps).

snapping_options.dat

As Walt suggested, perhaps copying a file from somebody else will help. I created this with Publisher 2.5.5 beta and copied to 2.5.5 retail and it worked fine.

With Publisher closed, save it to:

~/Library/Application Support/Affinity Publisher 2/user/

and then start Publisher and see if there are two user presets in the snapping preset menu (they are named My Default and No Baseline).

If this works, select one of the presets and then select the other (to force a save to the preset file). Then try clicking the menu options icon and see if anything happens. Regardless, restart Publisher and see if the preset options are still there and if the .dat file is still where it's supposed to be.

Good luck.

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, MikeTO said:

If this works, select one of the presets and then select the other (to force a save to the preset file). Then try clicking the menu options icon and see if anything happens. Regardless, restart Publisher and see if the preset options are still there and if the .dat file is still where it's supposed to be.

Well, I tried all that & I can select your two custom presets, but I still cannot get the burger menu to respond. BTW, selecting one & then the other did not change the preset file after restarting, nor did I expect it to since I can only select a preset but not add one of my own.

Thanks for trying to help but I am beginning to accept that this is a bug that only affects Catalina users ... & probably never will be fixed. 

[NathanC]

Hi @R C-R,

Just for reference, you are correct in that this context menu failing to prompt is a bug specific to Catalina, this is a regression over 2.1.1. I've bumped the existing issue with your report.