Save, backup and restore Studio settings...

[sansnom]

Hi, I'm trying to understand how Studios work with Affinity suite applications. The idea is to be able to manage my interfaces, if possible in the form of a configuration file that can be easily saved and used after a reinstallation of the macOS system for example. I spent a lot of time refining the interface of Serif software and I don't want to rebuild them entirely...

On AD macOS, I just created a Studio, “mySTUDIO”. A file was automatically created in:
Macintosh > Users > myHome > Library > Application Support > Affinity Designer 2> presets > com.seriflabs.Studio.Preset. Data2Draw.mySTUDIO.preset

If I delete this file, put it in the Trash and empty it, and then I restart AD, the “mySTUDIO” setting still exists and is still available to change the software interface!?... If I search my startup disk, I can't find any trace of a file with the name "mySTUDIO"...

Conclusion: the logic of the software is very far from what I imagined. If you have any explanations, I'm interested... 🙂

[sansnom]

In a previous post almost 2 years ago, I already mentioned this theme :

 

Here is a solution, with more precision than two years ago, to save a Studio and then be able to restore it without having to rebuild everything by hand. The principle remains the same for the three applications of the suite. This only concerns installations on macOS.

First, you need to locate the folders containing the files that contain the description of the Studios. They are located in Path D:

Macintosh –> Users –> your Home –> Library –> Preferences

The files are named:

com.seriflabs.affinitydesigner2.plist
com.seriflabs.affinityphoto2.plist
com.seriflabs.affinitypublisher2.plist

It can be wise, practical and secure to copy these files for backup or archiving in order to be able to return to them later: it is only the content of these files that interests us here (see below). These files can be moved or duplicated without restriction, the macOS system does not impose any restrictions within the user's folder.

Here is a montage (screenshots) of the file “com.seriflabs.affinitydesigner2.plist”. This type of file (.plist) can be easily opened with an advanced text editor or more easily with a code editor (here with Nova):

As always, working on copies of files is essential.

Next, you need to locate in the file the lines corresponding to the names you gave to your Studio settings. Here, there are three Studios (lines 686 to 690 which correspond to my own installation). See point A in the screenshot.

Further down, we find the same line of code (line 990). See point B in the screenshot.

And below, all the code corresponding to your Studio with the different palettes open and stacked, the arrangement of your two tool palettes (horizontal under the menu bar and vertical. See point C in the screenshot.

Now that we know this, it is easy to manage your interfaces.

Example, you have just installed AD on a new Mac. You open AD and you create a Studio that you name “mySTUDIO”. Quit AD. Open your backup of the file “com.seriflabs.affinitydesigner2.plist”, the one that contains all your previous interface settings for your Studios. Copy part C of the code and paste it in the same place in the newly created file in Path D. Save the changes made to the file. Open AD, you have found the interface of your Studio.