I cannot save my files because of "Save failed. Could not acquire a lock on the file"

[kmaroney]

As title says. For a year now, I have spontaneously been getting errors where I save a file that took a LOT of work to generate (I'm in science and I use this to organize my figures), then when I open it up to edit because someone complained text was too small or something, if I try to save, first it says

"Failed to save [File name]

Internal error: The file was opened as Read Only. You should only be able to do a Save-As."

I check the file, and it's NEVER marked read-only under Properties. So that's useless.

Then if I try to save it as a new file (Save As, both ways) rather than overwrite the previous which didn't USE to give me problems, it tells me:
"Failed to save document: [file name]

Save failed. Could not acquire a lock on the file."

I realize you guys want to have the lock in the case that 100 people at a company are working on the same document. But for 99% of the consumers, I think it's probably going to be only one person. Is there some way for me to turn this inCREDIBLY annoying bug off by switching off the god damn lock function? I'm even more frustrated because whenever I look online, I see a few people complaining it about it but NO solutions or some dude huffing and puffing and saying "well the lock system was conceived in 1978 by George Oppenheimer III at the School of Westhouse Virginia, and it has interesting history and you just don't understand blah blah blah". Or they suggest saving again which doesn't work for me. I really don't care how it works. How do I solve this? From my understanding, there are a LOT of people having this problem which makes the ENTIRE program unusable long-term, so I know I'm not the only one. How do I TURN THE LOCK FUNCTION OFFFF?!!!!

Sorry for my unprofessionalism, but god damn is this annoying - I have extolled the virtues of Affinity and paid for both 1 and 2, but I feel like I'm not sure how much I can really argue with people who tell me to just take the easy way out and use Illustrator again which is paid for by my University. I really don't want to, but this should not even be an issue, saving and editing a F**king file.
 

[Callum]

Hi Kmaroney,

There is no way to disable the creation of lock files unfortunately, typically we only see the error you are mentioning when a file has been opened from a cloud drive or external USB etc please could you confirm if your file is stored locally on the computer? This can also occasionally occur due to issues with embedded images within your document you may find rasterising them prevents this error from occurring.

Thanks
C

[ronnyb]

2 hours ago, Callum said:

typically we only see the error you are mentioning when a file has been opened from a cloud drive or external USB etc

Why does Affinity continue having issues using cloud, network or USB drives? This is certainly not a cutting edge feature like the new, super-duper important AI object selection feature…

Every other app can handle working with non-local files. This issue has been reported for YEARS! Do you guys plan on fixing this or is playing Russian Roulette a “feature” of the Affinity Suite? If so it could be listed as a gamified feature:

“Included with the of the purchase the Affinity Suite is a bonus, adrenaline-pumping feature, RRS: Russian Roulette Save! Will your files be saved properly? No one really knows?! Find out every time you reopen your file!”

Nothing elicits trust while working with “professional” software as much as not knowing whether files will be corrupted when Saving based upon the files’ location…. 

Incoming useless PR statement: ”We have logged the issue with development”

FOR HOW MANY YEARS DO PEOPLE HAVE TO LOSE HOURS AND HOURS OF WORK BECAUSE OF A STUPID BUG LIKE THIS? HOW ABOUT YOU STOP ADDING NEWFANGLED FEATURES AND FiX THE BASICS, LIKE RELIABLY SAVING A FILE?! 🤦‍♂️ 

[ronnyb]

23 hours ago, kmaroney said:

Hi Kmaroney,

There is no way to disable the creation of lock files unfortunately, typically we only see the error you are mentioning when a file has been opened from a cloud drive or external USB etc please could you confirm if your file is stored locally on the computer? This can also occasionally occur due to issues with embedded images within your document you may find rasterising them prevents this error from occurring.

Thanks
C

Hey @kmaroney I don't think @Callum will see your comment unless you use the forum's quote feature or his @handle as I just did above for both of you. 

Your frustration is not without merit; I also cannot understand how a "professional" piece of software cannot reliably save a file to non-local storage; it really boggles the mind how anyone in charge of QA would allow any version to ship without addressing this MOST fundamental requirement. 

BTW we DON'T have collaborative document editing; they can't even simply SAVE a file reliably, much less allow multiple people to edit concurrently. THAT would be a serious shit-show, I'm glad they haven't attempted that.

But hey, at least the we're getting a useless, AI "Object Selection" feature in the next release —along with ALL the previously resolved, FUNDAMENTAL bugs (like blend-mode rendering issues, FX rendering issues, PDF rendering issues, etc ad nauseam. 

This is so damn frustrating and your gratuitous dropping of the F-bomb is appreciated and warranted. Sometimes one cannot be nice because it's too easy to ignore with pre-canned-PR lingo...

AFFINITY: How about you SAY SOMETHING to address these FUNDAMENTAL stability issues to you loyal users/beta testers? 

Will you step-up and take control of the situation, or do you want to continue adding fuel to this dumpster fire?