If I uninstall/reinstall Affinity Photo, what happens to my supplies?

[CaroleA]

I might need to uninstall AP simply to record the process of installing it (for a course). What happens to my current supplies? I don't have many, but a few Macros, a couple of Styles, and a handful of Assets.

Are they saved somewhere else or would I lose them when uninstalling? Or should I "move" them somewhere else during that short period?

[R C-R]

Nothing should happen to your stuff. It is all stored in user domain files (so if there are multiple users each one can have their own stuff) while the app is stored in the Application domain.

Just don't use a third party "cleaner" app when uninstalling it. Just drag the app from the Applications folder to the trash & empty it.

[walt.farrell]

18 hours ago, CaroleA said:

I might need to uninstall AP

That might depend on (a) which OS you use and (b) what method you use to uninstall.

On Windows, if you use the standard Windows-supplied Uninstall process you should be fine (at least as long as when you reinstall you use the same kind of installer you originally used). 

[PaulEC]

It will probably be fine, but, personally, I would make backups, just in case!

[CaroleA]

1 hour ago, PaulEC said:

It will probably be fine, but, personally, I would make backups, just in case!

A backup of what? I use Windows 10. I don't see anything with that I can identify as related to Affinity. Is it what is in ProgramData/Affinity? It does not look like there is anything from my few assets in there.

[PaulEC]

Last time I had to reinstall the Affinity apps I just saved a copy of everything from here as a backup: C:\Users\"user name"\AppData\Roaming\Affinity. 
I'm now on Windows 11, but I think it was the same in 10. As I said, you probably won't need a backup, but, if you're worried about losing anything it doesn't hurt to have one!

[CaroleA]

3 minutes ago, PaulEC said:

Last time I had to reinstall the Affinity apps I just saved a copy of everything from here as a backup: C:\Users\"user name"\AppData\Roaming\Affinity. 
I'm now on Windows 11, but I think it was the same in 10. As I said, you probably won't need a backup, but, if you're worried about losing anything it doesn't hurt to have one!

Interesting as I have nothing called Affinity in here: C:\Users\Utilisateur\AppData\Roaming

At this point, it is not that I am afraid of losing things, but I want to understand the process. I have use PSP for many years and when uninstalling, all the user-created supplies, saved in the Documents folder should be untouched. That is until it happened ONCE and the uninstall also removed those folders. So, at this point, I just want to understand what is going on and where, just in case.

[Brian_J]

21 minutes ago, CaroleA said:

Interesting as I have nothing called Affinity in here: C:\Users\Utilisateur\AppData\Roaming

The location of Affinity user data depends on which packaging format is installed: MSIX or MSI/EXE. It sounds like you may have installed the MSIX.

The following forum post provides file locations for each packaging format:

 

[jmwellborn]

@CaroleA  I am 100% with @PaulEC on backups.  As time goes by, you will surely add to your Macros, Assets, and Styles (not to mention Brushes and Swatches) and as you do, the accidental loss of your collections would be more and more painful.  I don’t know what your file folder storage is called in Windows, but on Mac it is FINDER.  It is very easy to click on a category in each Affinity Studio, go up to the hamburger menu, and select the Export option.  You can then add whatever it is (such as a style or an asset) to a STYLES folder or an ASSETS folder, etc., which is completely separate from any of the three Affinity apps.  This means that in a worst case scenario, you can import it back with ease.

[CaroleA]

34 minutes ago, Brian_J said:

The location of Affinity user data depends on which packaging format is installed: MSIX or MSI/EXE. It sounds like you may have installed the MSIX.

The following forum post provides file locations for each packaging format:

Thanks for that, however, I don't see anything that might seem like the three assets and the handful of Macros I created. Are they normally named in a recognizable way? Maybe they are there and under different names?

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, CaroleA said:

Thanks for that, however, I don't see anything that might seem like the three assets and the handful of Macros I created. Are they normally named in a recognizable way?

I am not a Windows user so it might be different than what they are named on my Mac, but for me they are named assets.propcol & macros.propcol, respectively. I believe "propcol" is short for "property collection." There should also be propcol files for raster brushes (raster_brushes.propcol), grid settings (grid_presets.propcol), & so on.

For V2 these are (at least on Macs) stored in a folder shared by all three Affinity apps, I believe to support the V2 linking function.

[CaroleA]

31 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I am not a Windows user so it might be different than what they are named on my Mac, but for me they are named assets.propcol & macros.propcol, respectively. I believe "propcol" is short for "property collection." There should also be propcol files for raster brushes (raster_brushes.propcol), grid settings (grid_presets.propcol), & so on.

Great. I see those now. So I am ok to save those as backups and do the uninstall/reinstall without issues.

Thank you for your help.

[Brian_J]

@CaroleA Thought I'd provide this info in case you're interested.

Because there are so many settings and user-created resources in the Affinity apps, I backup everything that I create or customize to ensure I can get the Affinity apps back to how I want them if the apps or user files get corrupted. My computer files are automatically backed up, so I have backups of the Affinity-created user files, but exporting and manually backing up stuff gives me peace of mind and makes it easy to restore individual resources or settings should I need to.

Some things can be exported; other stuff needs to be backed up another way.

I export any of the following that I create (i.e., I don't export any that are factory installed):

• Assets (Assets panel) — .afassets
• Brushes (Brushes panel) — .afbrushes
• Crop Tool — If presets have been created, export them.
• Grids (View > Grid and Axis; hamburger menu > Manage Presets ) — .afgrids
• Macros (Library panel) — .afmacro
• Palettes (Swatches panel) — .afpalette
• Styles (Styles panel) — .afstyles

The following cannot be exported, so I save backups or document them using a different method:

• Adjustments — Adjustments can be saved as a presets; Adjustment presets are accessed in the Adjustment panel. Save an Affinity file that contains Adjustment layers that have been saved as presets.
• Defaults for Vector, Art Text, and Frame Text (Edit > Defaults) — Save a file for each app (Designer, Photo, and Publisher) that contains an object, Art Text, and Frame Text with the Defaults applied to them. Only necessary if Defaults have been changed to override the factory Defaults.
• Document Presets (New Document window) — Take a screenshot of the New Document window with all my custom presets visible.
• Settings (Windows app: Edit > Settings) — Take screenshots of all settings (not including Shortcuts and Miscellaneous).
• Shortcuts (Settings > Shortcuts) — Keep a spreadsheet documenting all custom shortcuts and edits to the factory defaults.
• Snapping (View > Snapping) — Custom presets can be saved. Not sure if presets can be exported; if they can’t be exported, take a screenshot of each custom preset.
• Studio Presets — Take a screenshot of the entire UI for each custom Studio Preset.
• Text Styles (Text Styles panel) — Save a file for each app (Designer, Photo, and Publisher) that contains my custom default text styles.