AP for Windows - Saving workspace

[Samoreen]

Hi,

 

I don't see any way to save my UI setup in AP Windows. Am I missing something ?

 

Thanks.

[JFisher]

Hi Samoreen,

You should find that the UI doesn't reset unless it is reset manually, so there's no reason to have an option for saving the UI setup.

Are you having any specific issues with the UI? 

[Samoreen]

You should find that the UI doesn't reset unless it is reset manually, so there's no reason to have an option for saving the UI setup.

 

Maybe but what if a user wants to create several workspaces in order to adapt to different workflows ? Look at Photoshop, DxO Optics Pro, Capture One, and many others. All these apps allow a user to save multiple workspaces and to select one when needed. This is standard behavior. And this is easy to code (I know, I did it for the applications I have developed).

 

And what if the UI is inadvertently reset ? One has to rebuild it from scratch.

[Yuu]

Agree with samoreen. I also want to save different workspaces

[Alfred]

Maybe but what if a user wants to create several workspaces in order to adapt to different workflows ? Look at Photoshop, DxO Optics Pro, Capture One, and many others. All these apps allow a user to save multiple workspaces and to select one when needed. This is standard behavior.

 

Serif's own PhotoPlus also allows the user to save multiple workspaces. It's a huge time saver if you are working on different types of project, or if you have to reset the program to its installation defaults for any reason.

[Phil_rose]

I would like to add my voice to this too. I want to save my workspaces!

[dasigna]

check

[gsk]

+1

 

I'd also like to see this feature added.

[NobleValerian]

Hi Samoreen,

You should find that the UI doesn't reset unless it is reset manually, so there's no reason to have an option for saving the UI setup.

 

Are you having any specific issues with the UI? 

Is it the default position of an Affinity moderator to address an issue with close-minded disregard?  There are obviously situations where a UI can reset without being reset manually.  I work in a digital arts lab where the computers automatically reset after every shut down, and every time the students come back it's like the software was opened for the first time.  I'm not IT, and I'm not the only Instructor, I don't have the option to go in and set things however I want for every computer, so saving workspaces would be invaluable.  And as already mentioned, many users prefer different workspaces for different workflows.  The default layout is cluttered for a new user, and we don't need all the same tools and settings in all projects.  So, there are *several* reasons for having the option to save a UI setup.

[Patrick Connor]

There are obviously situations where a UI can reset without being reset manually.  

 

If you are going to reset the workstation then I appreciate that you might need this more urgently thank others, for whom it runs up as it last shut down.

[NobleValerian]

If you are going to reset the workstation then I appreciate that you might need this more urgently thank others, for whom it runs up as it last shut down.

Yeah, even after the last update things are [almost] exactly the same, which is nice.  However, I also think the workflow habits is a great point.  Especially if you consider a person may not own both Photo and Designer.  If I'm working on photo retouching, it's almost a completely different UI layout then I'd like while working on a text/graphical project.  And I own designer, but if it's work I can do in Photo, I'd still much rather click over to my other saved workspace than open another program.

 

I had the same thing going on with Adobe, I could get away with quite a lot of vector in Photoshop, and I would avoid Illustrator as much as possible (mostly because I really kinda hated working in Illustrator, to be honest - and kudos there, because I love playing with Designer!).

[Robert Petras]

+1

[Samoreen]

Hi,

Version 1.6 is here and still no way to save workspaces (unless I missed something obvious). Moreover, the update destroyed my existing workspace layout. I do appreciate.

[uwes]

+1

[Leslie Richelle]

 

On a 2-monitor setup like this, life is good.

Trouble is, there are so many ways for things to go wrong, in Windows or with the display driver, resulting in all those panels dumped willy-nilly on the main display. With Adobe apps (or, for that matter Corel) all their faults aside, one has only to click on a saved workspace and all is right again. Is it that hard to code for this, given that the program is saving the configuration anyway? Just throw a couple Save and Restore buttons in somewhere?

 

[Samoreen]

Nothing new about this in version 1.7. Sigh !

Well, maybe in version 1.8 next year ? As I already explained (see here), adding this feature would take a few hours of coding at most (for a slow developer).

[Frank M]

 

Please add my vote to have this feature added. I like to have my panels set up a specific way on my second monitor. It's frustrating to have to rearrange and resize the panels every time I open a new image. Surely it can't be too hard a feature to add?????

[Samoreen]

Hi Frank,

I'm not sure that your problem is directly related to the need to save different workspaces under a specific name. I do use a dual display configuration with a specific panels layout on my secondary display and this layout is maintained over sessions or whenever I open a new file (ahem, I have to be more accurate here : until now, installing a new version of AFP has always broken my layout). Anyway, I do not have the problem that you describe, at least under Windows. Are you using a Mac ?

If you are using Windows, your current workspace should be stored in C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Affinity\Photo\1.0\Workspaces\Photo  when terminating AFP. You can check this by looking at the time stamp of the 3 files stored in that folder. These files will be reloaded when launching AFP. If the timestamp doesn't change when you quit AFP, then it is probably because it could not write to that folder. This could a permission issue.

[AndyQ]

Saving "workspaces" (customised UI layouts) is certainly a feature I'd like to see, also an easy way of transferring them across installations or sharing them with other users . As others have mentioned, it's not just a matter of just saving your layout, you want to save multiple layouts for different purposes and swap between them; maybe share them from your work computer to your home computer, or have alternatives on your laptop or when it's connected to external displays. 

One other point: with the current 1.7.1 versions it seems any UI changes are only saved on exiting the application;  if I have a crash (and I get a fair few) then any changes made to the UI during the session are lost. This isn't a big deal, but I've been tweaking my preferred layout and have had to re-do things a few times so it's something I'm noticing.

[walt.farrell]

On 6/30/2019 at 5:10 AM, Samoreen said:

If you are using Windows, your current workspace should be stored in C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Affinity\Photo\1.0\Workspaces\Photo  when terminating AFP. You can check this by looking at the time stamp of the 3 files stored in that folder. These files will be reloaded when launching AFP.

In fact, that was noted by at least one other user, and used as the basis for a proposal that should allow one to run with different workspace configurations:

1. Create the workspace configuration you like.
2. Quit Photo (or Designer, or Publisher) so the configuration is saved.
3. Copy the files to a new directory, named perhaps Configuration1.
4. Start Photo again, and create a new configuration. Repeat steps 2 and 3, but saving to a different directory, perhaps Configuration2.

Now create two Windows .bat files:

• The first one will copy everything in Configuration1 into C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Affinity\Photo\1.0\Workspaces\Photo and then start Photo. Presto, you're running with your preferred first configuration. At the end, when you close Photo, the .bat file will copy the files back into Configuration1, saving any changes to the workspace you may have made, and then quit.
• The second will do the same, but using the Configuration2 directory.

I have not had time to play with this yet.

 

[ColinK]

My vote too. I had hoped it would appear in 1.7 but, sigh, no luck. I also find that Affinity does not save precisely the current configuration on shut down. I use two monitors and invariably find I am having to do minor, but annoying, bits of tweaking to get things back where they were. I opened Photoshop for the first time in ages today and you know, it was so nice to be able to just click My Workspace and see everything arranged just the way I like it. Would it really be that hard to add this feature to Affinity products? Every other piece of photo software seems to have it.

[i abukhadeejah]

my vote too...have been searching the internet for this...was hoping to find solutions...hope this will be added for the 1.8 updates.

[CLC]

On 12/9/2016 at 11:16 PM, Samoreen said:

Hi,

 

I don't see any way to save my UI setup in AP Windows. Am I missing something ?

 

Thanks.

User @gabriel_komorov shared his little Windows .bat file that does all what you're requesting, I believe.

 

[Samoreen]

13 hours ago, i abukhadeejah said:

hope this will be added for the 1.8 updates.

Don't hold your breath. I think there's some kind of mind blocking problem with this request. Coding this feature would be easy and quick. No need to be a top notch developer to do this. The reasons given for not implementing it are irrelevant. So, I guess there's something else preventing the development team to satisfy this request for a feature that is implemented by design in any other similar software. This is the same kind of problem as the questionable Save as... implementation in AP. No intention to listen to what the users say even if the request is easy to satisfy. This is surprising for a software that is otherwise gaining in popularity and for very good reasons.

[Samoreen]

16 hours ago, Samoreen said:

Coding this feature would be easy and quick. No need to be a top notch developer to do this.

Gabriel was even able to create a .bat file doing the job (thanks, by the way). But it's a pity to have to resort to such solutions when one or two hours of coding and testing would be enough to implement a native solution.