Affinity version 1

[Gerhard1]

Hi, I have done a lot of work in Affinity 1 which I have removed from my system thinking Affinity Designer 2 would be able to open. How can I get my old version back to do changes to the work?

[Komatös]

Hi @Gerhard1 and welcome to the forums.

If you open a file that was created with V1 with V2, you are informed that the file can no longer be opened with V1 if you save under the same name!
The only possibility would be to access the V1 file version from a backup and the reinstallation of the Affinity programme(s) V1.
 

[Old Bruce]

53 minutes ago, Gerhard1 said:

Hi, I have done a lot of work in Affinity 1 which I have removed from my system thinking Affinity Designer 2 would be able to open. How can I get my old version back to do changes to the work?

Version 2 applications should be able to open Version 1 files with no problems. Going the other way is not possible.

Anyways to answer your question about getting Version 1 of the Applications back. Go the whichever store and re-download them. If you purchased them from the Affinity store they will be in the Downloads and Product Keys section once you log in.

[Ron P.]

You shouldn't need to revert to V1 to open and edit files created in V1 Affinity apps. They will open fine in V2.

What you must pay attention to is Saving the file. The warning presented clearly explains this. Use Save As, that way the original V1 file is not over written. When you Save As you would have a version of the file, that can be opened, edited in V2.

FWIW, the screenshot is the warning Affinity Designer V2 presented when I attempted to open a Legacy (V1) Designer file. I'm able to open it, edit it, and so long as I use Save As, I'm not going to have any affect on the V1 file.

[Gerhard1]

So far all I get is the following...

Core Change-fin logo art.afdesign

[GarryP]

Note: The file you supplied (a Designer document) doesn’t have the same name or extension as the file mentioned in your screen-grab (a Photo document), so we can’t check the file you are trying to open.

The file you supplied opens just fine for me in Designer 2.6.2 (except for some missing fonts), and I’m not getting a warning that it’s a V1 file.

Which version of which application are you trying to open the file in?

As mentioned above, you cannot open a V2 file in a V1 application.

[R C-R]

3 hours ago, GarryP said:

The file you supplied opens just fine for me in Designer 2.6.2 (except for some missing fonts), and I’m not getting a warning that it’s a V1 file.

Same for me, but as you say it is not the same file as shown in the 'Failed to Open' screen capture.

Also, that Core Change-fin logo art.afdesign file will not open in V1. That one does show the 'later version' failed to open message, so I'm not sure why the OP is getting the failed message with the *.afphoto file, unless it is corrupted or possibly is using something from the latest beta?

[GarryP]

I don’t think we yet have enough of the right information for us to be able to do much about this.

If Gerhard1 can supply the information requested then we might be able to help further.

Specifically, we need:

1. The name of the application that they are trying to open the document in and its version number;
2. An example document which is causing the trouble.

[Gerhard1]

On 4/28/2025 at 7:29 PM, Gerhard1 said:

Hi, I have done a lot of work in Affinity 1 which I have removed from my system thinking Affinity Designer 2 would be able to open. How can I get my old version back to do changes to the work?

Hi , thanks for the help so far. After reloading the software several times, I decided to download the MSI/EXE version. After installing that I got the message saying "Rename the file". From there on it was all OK.

[GarryP]

5 minutes ago, Gerhard1 said:

After installing that I got the message saying "Rename the file".

I’m not sure which message that is or when you saw it.

It sounds like you were trying to open a V2 document in a V1 application (either deliberately or by accident) but are now opening the document in the most recently installed V2 application.

This could have happened for a number of reasons, depending on how you were launching the application, but I suspect it might have been down to an issue with assigning file types to applications (e.g. Windows thought that Affinity documents were to be opened with the older version of the applications.)

[Gerhard1]

Hi Garry, After not being able to open any earlier verson files and getting the error message, I managed by reloading the software from the MSI/EXE version. It could be a Windows issue like you mentioned. Thanks a stack for the support guys!

[GarryP]

You're welcome.