Not able to use Photo or Designer - "failed to open file" - "failed to save document" - sandboxing SkyFonts issue?

[joshmitchell]

Hello! I need help with 2 issues, which I think may be related to Apple's sandboxing and issue with having lots of fonts using SkyFonts?

 

Here are the 2 errors I am getting in both Affinity Photo & Designer. I can not edit files or start new ones without some sort of failure.

 

1. Failed to open file The file could not be opened because permission was denied.

2. "Failed to save document" Save failed because access to the file was lost. The document must now be closed. 

 

I have been using Affinity Designer for about a year without any issues. However, in the past several months, I have accumulated more fonts using the Monotype Library Subscription, which loads fonts thru Sky Fonts. To my knowledge, these fonts don't appear in FontBook the same way "regular fonts" usually do. (Running Monotype SkyFonts 5.9.2.1)

 

In FontBook, I have 1,900 fonts

In SkyFonts, I have a couple hundred (can't tell an exact number, but it's not 1,000)

 

Is there anyone here who has solved this issue and knows how to fix?

 

I saw on this thread in the Affinity Forum that I may need to disable a number of fonts? But I am not sure how to do that using SkyFonts -- or the best way to do this in general. Is this still a thing on High Sierra? 

 

About my computer/set up/troubleshooting so far:

• Mac Affinity Designer 1.6.0
• Mac Affinity Photo 1.6.6
• MacBook Pro 2017 i7, 16GB of ram with lots of free disk space
• I am running High Sierra 10.13.2
• I have done First Aid to the disk since there is no longer "Repair Permissions"
• I have ensured Sharing & Permissions is set to "Read & Write" for all files
• I have uninstalled the app and reinstalled from the App store with the latest version.
• I created an additional profile on my 2017 Macbook Pro (i7 16GB ram) and opened Affinity Designer and Photo with no issues (Actually loaded a lot faster in that account) and was able to do what I needed to do with no issues. 
• I returned to my main profile and started working on a new Designer file. When I went to save, this happened: "Failed to save document" Save failed because access to the file was lost. The document must now be closed. 

 

 

 

[Callum]

Hi Joshmitchell,

 

Please could you tell me the location that you are opening the file from and the location that you are trying to save to?

 

Thanks

Callum

[joshmitchell]

14 hours ago, Callum said:

Hi Joshmitchell,

 

Please could you tell me the location that you are opening the file from and the location that you are trying to save to?

 

Thanks

Callum

This issue happens in two scenarios:

 

1. Opening files

 

2. Brand new files not yet saved

 

When opening existing files, they are saved in folders in Google Drive  (MacHD/users/homefolder/GoogleDrive) but more often ... the desktop (HD/users/homefolder/desktop)

 

When I start a new project, I am dragging in an image from the Downloads or Desktop folder. I have been doing this for the past year or so without any issues. 

[joshmitchell]

I am not sure if this is related or not, but when looking at the Sharing and Permissions for the app, I noticed this: [see picture]

 

Is this correct? I have no problems accessing the same desktop images and editing them in other software. I only have the permission notice in Affinity Designer. 

 

I have uninstalled and re-installed the software, but the issue persists. 

[joshmitchell]

I just tried to create a new file. 

 

I created a blank canvas and tried to save it to a folder on my desktop. 

 

It does not save. 

 

I also tried to save it in the Documents folder and Home folder (just to test). 

 

No luck!

 

Very frustrating. I am going to try this on a different profile on my machine. 

[R C-R]

29 minutes ago, joshmitchell said:

I am not sure if this is related or not, but when looking at the Sharing and Permissions for the app, I noticed this: [see picture]

 

Is this correct?

Yes, or at least those are the same S&P settings I see on my Mac.

[joshmitchell]

Ok so I created a fresh profile on my Mac because I had a time-sensitive project that needed to be completed today. 

 

I had zero issues using Affinity Designer or Photo in that profile, making me believe the issue must be specific to my user profile. I checked to confirm that all the permission settings of the fresh profile match my profile. They match -- and back in my main profile, I still get the annoying permission issues. I am usually dragging photos or textures from my desktop or downloads folder. This is very random! I did this in my main account for the past several months using this app! 

 

The only thing I can think of it I have been downloading a set of new fonts lately. 

 

This further makes me believe there's an issue with the fonts because the other profile does not have all the fonts downloaded. 

 

Any suggestions???

 

 

[joshmitchell]

This morning, I decided to quit SkyFonts to see if that was the issue. 

 

Sure enough, after closing the app -- I was able to drag photos into Affinity Designer and Photo without permissions issues AND save files without any problems.

 

Now that I have confirmed the issue is specific to SkyFonts, I am reaching out to their team to see how to resolve. 

 

But this further makes me ask about this threat: I saw in the Affinity Forum that I may need to disable a number of fonts? But I am not sure how to do that using SkyFonts -- or the best way to do this in general.

[joshmitchell]

I went ahead and bit the bullet and purchased Adobe Creative Cloud... not having any issues with SkyFonts turned on -- but they still happen in Affinity Designer. Sigh.