Apple Photos Affinity Extensions Question

[Amosjl]

Hi,

 

I’m trying to figure out the most streamlined way of editing my imac stored photos with Affinity. I prefer apple Photos as my main catalogue software but Affinity as my main editor and therefore want to save my edits back to the same position in the Photos library on completion. I’ve found the Affinity extensions in the editing options of Photos but have two questions. When using the Develop, Liquify, Retouch etc extensions I can click ‘Save Changes’ upon completion and the edited file will be updated in Photos. This is great but the toolset in these extensions isn’t as comprehensive as the main Affinity suite. I can access the full power of Affinity by selecting ‘Edit in Affinity Photo’ instead but then the option to ‘Save Changes’ back to Photos has disappeared and the only option is a tedious export of each edit from Affinity. My questions are:

 

1- Is a ‘Save Changes’ option ever likely to be added to the full ‘Edit in Affinity Photo’ extension as with the others (Develop, Liquify, Retouch etc) or is this just asking too much of the software?

2 - If the above isn’t possible is there a way of replicating what I want to achieve by somehow (and simply) exporting the completed Affinity Photo edit back to Apple Photos to update its original?

 

Saving edits from affinity software by exporting to another file system (in documents or pictures etc) is fine if saving edits files for prints, web etc but I’m struggling to see how the FULL power of affinity can still be used to simply edit and save files from Photos back to where they came from. The editing suite within Photos is ok but I’d much prefer io use Affinity. Am I missing something?

 

Regards from a new by,

 

John.

[MEB]

Hi Amosjl,

Welcome to Affinity Forums

It's possible to save the changes back to Apple Photos. Here's the whole workflow described in detail:

• from inside the Albums View (in Apple Photos), double-click the thumbnail of the image you want to edit - Apple Photos will display the image in full size
• click the Edit Photo button on the top right (second button counting from right) - to enter edit mode (dark background)
• click the extensions icon on the right (the last one) and select Edit in Affinity Photo
• Affinity Photo opens with the image loaded ready for editing (RAW files will open in Develop Persona, processed files - JPG's, TIFF's etc - will open in Photo Persona)
• edit the RAW/processed image as usual - add new layers adjustments, filters, masks as you see fit
• go to menu File ▸ Close or close the document tab - Affinity will prompt you to Save the document. Select Save. Now close the document again in Affinity (menu File ▸ Close). The file will be updated in Apple Photos. (NOTE: Doing only a Save before closing the document will NOT update the image in Apple Photos. We must close the document tab/file in Affinity Photo to update the image in App Photos)
• click Save Changes on the top right of the interface in Apple Photos to save the changes.
• click Done to revert to View mode in Apple Photos.

 

The edited version is saved as JPG in Apple Photos (which can always be reverted back to the original if needed). Note that the process above if for Apple Photos running on macOS Sierra. In macOS High Sierra the extensions button has changed its position, along with other changes - please adapt as necessary.

[Amosjl]

That works. Fantastic! Thank you!

[Shoogles]

These instructions are very clear but unfortunately...  After doing the 

 

• go to menu File ▸ Close or close the document tab - Affinity will prompt you to Save the document. Select Save. Now close the document again in Affinity (menu File ▸ Close).

 

bit, all I get is the message in the attachment, to the effect that the save failed because the file was already open in another application.  I tried closing the picture on Photos and then even closing Photos itself but that made no difference.  Any ideas?

save2.tiff

[R C-R]

@Shoogles which version of Apple Photos are you using? If it is version 3, you must use this button to open the list of extensions where you can choose the "Edit in Affinity Photo" one:

You cannot skip MEB's first or second step & use the "Edit with" menu options -- you must enter Edit mode in Apple Photos (so the image is displayed on a black background & the menu bar includes the extensions button).

 

If you are doing that, make sure you have made at least one edit of some kind in Affinity Photo (so the window shows "[Modified]") & then do the first menu File ▸ Close step. The prompt to Save the document should now work. Click "Save" & then close the document in Affinity Photo. Return to Apple Photos & click the "Save Changes" button at the top of the window.

[Shoogles]

Thanks for replying, RC-R.  Sorry if the brevity in my post led to confusion.   I'm using Photos 1.5 

 

I am following each stage of MEB's description accurately (I believe!) and I'm attempting to do all the things you mention in your last paragraph except that I get the error message I mention, so I'm none the wiser I'm afraid.  

[R C-R]

22 minutes ago, Shoogles said:

I am following each stage of MEB's description accurately (I believe!) and I'm attempting to do all the things you mention in your last paragraph except that I get the error message I mention, so I'm none the wiser I'm afraid.  

Is your Photos Library.photoslibrary file stored in the default location in your Pictures folder or somewhere else? Is there any other user account on your Mac or on a local network that might have access to this library?

[Shoogles]

Ha!  I have the answer...

 

It's that old 'switch-it-off-and-switch-it-on-again' routine.  Sorted.

 

Thanks for your trouble.

[Amosjl]

Just a quick update to this topic....more of a warning. Only edit one at a time using the extensions.

 

I've noticed that if for any reason you drop out of an ongoing edit through the extension process mentioned above and do not save, then when you return to apple photos screen the image you began editing with will be replaced by the one you successfully edited before that (if you've been doing a few). If you click 'cancel' on the apple photos screen then no problem, but if you click 'save changes' then the original file you were working on has been replaced by the successful edit previously completed. If you don't realise whats going on (like I did the first time) then when you click back to the thumbnails screen in photos you'll notice all is not quite as you left it with files being overwritten left right and centre.

 

If you notice the error early enough you can rescue the by going back to the file that has been accidentally overwritten in apple photos (the one that never got to the point of being saved in affinity) and click 'revert to original'. Then click 'done' and order is restored and all is right with the world again. If you notice this a little late in the game after many edits then the only way to check which files have been overwritten and which haven't is to go through each one by one in apple phots, selecting 'edit' and click on the before/after button (to the left of 'revert to original) to see if there is actually a completely different file underneath.

 

One to be aware of. Hope this saves someone the headache I had!!!

[Denty]

Hi, I'm very new to the forum so apologise if this has been covered somewhere else but I haven't been able to find anything on the forum that covers my problem.

I have purchased Affinity Photo 1.6.11 (I think I'll love it when I get my head around how to use it efficiently, have immersed myself in the tutorials which are fantastic but I'm a slow learner) and installed it on my iMac running Mojave.  All applications are up to date.

I initially installed the trial version which worked fine before I purchased.  Since installing the store bought version the Edit with Affinity Photo extension does not work, it fails to open the document, but the other extensions do work.

I have run Affinity from the Admin account and the same problem exists there as well.  I have unchecked the extensions from the system preferences panel and rechecked them after closing and reopening photos.  I have also deleted the trial version of Affinity Photo using the Appcleaner application.

Have attached image of the error message I get after selecting the Edit with Affinity Photo extension below.

Any help greatly appreciated.