Saving affshortcuts within a document

[Jim Monson]

Previously, the shortcuts I had created and saved via .affshortcuts would automatically come up when opening the doc in which I saved (or loaded) them. This no longer is the case. Now I must reload the .affshortcuts each time the doc is reopened, even though I re-saved the shortcuts in this doc.

 

The only change that might have done this is the fact that sometimes I work on this doc on my Mac laptop, but later return to work on it on my MacPro. After reloading (or re-saving) the shortcuts on my MacPro, closing it and bringing it up again, I must reload them each time. Are not the .affshortcuts info saved within the doc?

[R C-R]

.affshortcuts files are not saved in the document. The shortcuts are stored in per user app support files (like in ~/Library/Containers/com.seriflabs.affinitydesigner/Data/Library/Application Support for AD Mac) but not as .affshortcuts files, which are the exportable & importable versions that can be saved or loaded in Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts.

 

So each computer has its own application shortcuts that are independent of those on any other computer. There is no way to merge saved .affshortcuts files with the currently loaded application shortcuts, so the best you can do is export from one Mac & import to the other.

[Jim Monson]

I understand the above, but what continues to bother me is the fact that when now working only on my MapPro, and after numerous times saving my shortcuts on this same computer, they still do not automatically come up with the document I am working on. Each time I close the document and bring it up again I must load my shortcuts. Previously, as I saved my shortcuts on this computer, they would come up with the document when I opened it. Since it is a very complex document, I do not want to create a new one and bring my work over to it.

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, Jim Monson said:

I understand the above, but what continues to bother me is the fact that when now working only on my MapPro, and after numerous times saving my shortcuts on this same computer, they still do not automatically come up with the document I am working on.

Keyboard shortcuts are in no way associated with any particular document. You can save the current set used by the app to an affshortcuts file as a backup or to load them into the same app on another computer, but that file will not automatically be loaded with any document or for any other reason other than doing that manually.

 

2 hours ago, Jim Monson said:

Previously, as I saved my shortcuts on this computer, they would come up with the document when I opened it.

As far as I know, that is not nor has it ever been a feature of either Affinity app. It would be very confusing to have the keyboard shortcuts change on a per document basis -- consider what it would be like if users had two or more documents open in different windows of tabs.

[Jim Monson]

Thanks. I know that color palettes cannot be saved, and someone from AD confirmed that with me long ago. I accept what you say but wonder why my specific shortcuts always came up previously as I opened various docs, but now they do not. Is there anyway to have a set of shortcuts come up every time I open an AD doc, no matter where they reside? Previously, when I added to my shortcuts (I have one set I use everywhere), the saved shortcuts came up with my changes. I guess I'm asking if there is such a thing as a "default" for shortcuts, i.e., the last one I saved, even by a new name? If this had not been the case before I would not even had started this topic. Thanks for your patience.

[R C-R]

The set of keyboard shortcuts that the app uses is the last one loaded. As I said, saving a set is useful for making backups, or to use a set on another computer (by loading it into the app), of if for some reason you need two or more sets for different tasks (again, by loading a different saved set as required).

[Jim Monson]

32 minutes ago, R C-R said:

The set of keyboard shortcuts that the app uses is the last one loaded. As I said, saving a set is useful for making backups, or to use a set on another computer (by loading it into the app), of if for some reason you need two or more sets for different tasks (again, by loading a different saved set as required).

 

Exactly. This is what bothers me. Even though I load the shortcuts or every save it under a new name, the shortcuts are not there when I reopen the same doc. I must reload them. Thanks for the clarification of what should happen. Next time I might try to "clear" the shortcuts and then bring them up again. That might clear up the problem.

[R C-R]

3 hours ago, Jim Monson said:

This is what bothers me. Even though I load the shortcuts or every save it under a new name, the shortcuts are not there when I reopen the same doc.

Again, it has nothing to do with opening any AD document, or with saving the current keyboard shortcuts to an afshortcuts file. You should be able to load any afshortcuts file you have saved & that set of shortcuts should be used for all documents from then on, including after quitting & restarting AD or loading any previously saved or creating any new AD document files.

 

3 hours ago, Jim Monson said:

Next time I might try to "clear" the shortcuts and then bring them up again.

If you click the "Clear all shortcuts" button, it will do exactly that -- there will be no application-specific keyboard shortcuts at all. I am not sure what you mean by "bring them up again," but you can load any afshortcuts file you have previously saved & the set of shortcuts that file contains will be used by AD from then on, unless & until you load another afshortcuts file, or clear or reset the keyboard shortcuts to the factory defaults with the respective buttons in AD Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts. The name you have given to the afshortcuts file does not matter; it has no relevance other than so you can tell it from any other afshortcuts file you may have saved.

 

Also, I noticed that in an earlier post you said, "I know that color palettes cannot be saved." This is not true. You have the option of creating document, application, or (at least on Macs) system color palettes in the Swatches panel's menu. Document palettes are saved in the current afdesign file & are not available for use in other document files -- they are document-specific. Application palettes are saved in the application's per user support folder & are available for use with any AD document file -- they are application-specific. System palettes (on Macs) are saved to the per user Library > Colors folder & are available to any app that can use system color palettes.