Lost all the assests I created v2.6

[macksHeadroom]

 

Now I've lost all the assets I created. Happened when I tried to update designer resources in publisher (v2.57) resource manager, complained the designer pages were from a newer version(2.6). Updated publisher to 2.6. Closed everything down when i restarted designer all the assets i created have gone.

 

windows 11

affinity version 2.6

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, macksHeadroom said:

Closed everything down when i restarted designer all the assets i created have gone.

When you did the update, were you prompted to "Download" or "Install". The Download prompt indicates you were running the MSI/EXE version of the application. When you got to the Download site, you may have mistakenly chosen to download the MSIX installer, instead of the MSI/EXE installer, and that will not use the same files (Assets, etc.) that the other version uses. 

If that's what happened, you will have two entries for the application in the standard Windows Start menu. The first entry is probably for the MSI/EXE version, the second for the MSIX version. Just uninstall that one (right-click; choose uninstall), then run the other one, which should again prompt you to update. And this time, choose the MSI/EXE version instead of the MSIX.

[JohnM63]

Same here. Updated a few days ago (Windows 10) to 2.6 and just noticed that all my custom assets are gone. The same is the case in the file where I originally created these asset. No warning or anything at the time of updating. Annoying.

 

Edited February 27 by JohnM63

[walt.farrell]

21 hours ago, JohnM63 said:

Same here. Updated a few days ago (Windows 10) to 2.6 and just noticed that all my custom assets are gone. The same is the case in the file where I originally created these asset. No warning or anything at the time of updating. Annoying.

 

Welcome to the Affinity forums.

If you open the standard Windows Start menu, and click on All Apps (upper-right corner) so you see the full list, how many copies of your Affinity V2 applications do you have installed? If you're seeing, for example, 2 listings for Affinity Photo 2, or 2 listings for Affinity Designer 2, or 2 for Affinity Publisher 2, then you have installed both the MSI/EXE and the MSIX versions.

As I mentioned above, this is probably due to you choosing the wrong installer when you were prompted to Download the update.

If that happened, your Assets are recoverable by simply uninstalling the MSIX version (probably the second icon), then running the older 2.5.7 version again and this time choosing the proper version of the installer when you Download the update again.

[JohnM63]

Thank you Walt, but this is not the case. I do not see multiple versions in the overview of all installed apps and also in the start menu I see only one version of each of the apps. I installed the complete studio at some point last year, and never did an additional or new install, just the regular updates without manually downloading an installer. Just followed the instructions from within the software.

[macksHeadroom]

Not me either, but  it's more of a reminder to backup before upgrades.

[ByteNarc]

I have always used the EXE version and upgraded to each version when it comes out, Once I upgraded to version 2.6 I lost all my assets that took me hours to create and setup, there was no prompt to backup these before upgrading and I felt there was no reason to since I never lost these from previous upgrades.    this is where my installation is stored C:\Program Files\Affinity\Designer 2

[JohnM63]

But what to backup then? All my files are still there, just without the assets. One lesson learned is to export assets to a separate file. 

[Meliora spero]

1 hour ago, JohnM63 said:

But what to backup then? All my files are still there, just without the assets. One lesson learned is to export assets to a separate file. 

Contrary to what everyone - including Serif- believes, Affinity is not made for professionals - and here’s one of the signs.

There should fundamentally be configurable paths for user data, so users can store their data in locations that are transparent and easy to identify. This also ensures that data can be placed somewhere where users can reliably choose paths for backups. Not backups of the entire operating system, but of DATA.

That’s not to say that vendors who lack control over their own product couldn’t still delete files, but at least they could be properly backed up.

Unfortunately, these data files can be quite large, and with Serif’s disastrous file access issues - corrupting files - I’d assume that files stored on network drives or in cloud folders would cause even more corruption problems for users. However, with configurable paths, all data files could be stored locally, meaning the concept itself is not flawed.

I found this for you—perhaps assets are stored there. However, exporting important assets sounds like a prudent idea.

 

[macksHeadroom]

I'd like to see an export ALL button somewhere for the assets, brushes. I DID have a lot of categories and exported them before upgrades, but got a bit complacent with the last update. My usual workflow is to place all the assets in a document which makes it easy to backup. Just a prompt before the update or a way to backup would be good.