Unable to Save/Open Files On iCloud "Save failed. Could not acquire a lock on the file."

[Robocat_]

Affinity Photo 2.5.6 opens and saves files to iCloud on my 2020 M1 MacBook Air running macOS 15.1.1. However, it can’t open iCloud files on my 2021 M1 iMac running macOS 13.4. Saving to iCloud gives an error message saying “Save failed. Could not acquire a lock on the file.” Saving and opening files on the desktop works fine, and is only an issue on the iCloud that has been a problem since installation. Uninstalling/reinstalling hasn’t been able to resolve the issue.

[MikeTO]

1 hour ago, Robocat_ said:

Affinity Photo 2.5.6 opens and saves files to iCloud on my 2020 M1 MacBook Air running macOS 15.1.1. However, it can’t open iCloud files on my 2021 M1 iMac running macOS 13.4. Saving to iCloud gives an error message saying “Save failed. Could not acquire a lock on the file.” Saving and opening files on the desktop works fine, and is only an issue on the iCloud that has been a problem since installation. Uninstalling/reinstalling hasn’t been able to resolve the issue.

Hi and welcome to the forums. When you open a file, Affinity creates a hidden lock file in the same directory which for some reason it's unable to access when you're trying to save - it sounds like an iCloud glitch. This has come up twice before but without resolution, I assume the issue went away:

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/search/&q="Save failed. Could not acquire a lock on the file."&quick=1

You can avoid the issue by moving the file off of iCloud to a folder on your internal drive which is what Serif recommends anyway. I use iCloud myself but I haven't experienced this glitch before. But iCloud can be glitchy - I had an issue saving today - I'd saved several times in the past few minutes but one time chose save and the save progress bar never even started - it just hung and after a few minutes I force quite Affinity. This is why I save frequently and make lots of backups.

[Robocat_]

2 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

Hi and welcome to the forums. When you open a file, Affinity creates a hidden lock file in the same directory which for some reason it's unable to access when you're trying to save - it sounds like an iCloud glitch. This has come up twice before but without resolution, I assume the issue went away:

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/search/&q="Save failed. Could not acquire a lock on the file."&quick=1

You can avoid the issue by moving the file off of iCloud to a folder on your internal drive which is what Serif recommends anyway. I use iCloud myself but I haven't experienced this glitch before. But iCloud can be glitchy - I had an issue saving today - I'd saved several times in the past few minutes but one time chose save and the save progress bar never even started - it just hung and after a few minutes I force quite Affinity. This is why I save frequently and make lots of backups.

Thanks for the insight, I'll keep my file on device from now on. Have a good day!