Bug: AP iCloud Drive Folder appears only on my iPad

[iuri]

I'm trying to understand the Affinity Photo iCloud Drive setup...

 

• I've set to save all my files on iCloud Drive from Affinity Photo and its working fine, but...
• The Affinity Photo folder appears only on the Files app in my iPad;
• Its hidden and i can't access it on my iPhone (Files app), Laptop (iCloud folder) and even online (icloud.com)... the "Affinity Photo" folder is missing.
• So... if I lose my iPad... its gone? until i buy a new iPad? right?
  • I guess it must be a hidden folder for some reason (so i don't mess the files up?)
• I'm currently leaving my finished and unfinished files in the iPad's iCloud Drive / Affinity Photo Folder. But since this folder is hidden everywhere, i can't call this a proper backup, since i need an iPad to access it.
• BTW: I move my artworks into an external USB HB (with Backblaze backup) only once a year (in december) in a very arduous process that i know i have to improve. 

 

I used to work with Pixelmator, which i have for iPad, iPhone and MacOS, and its iCloud Folder is synced on all my devices.

 

My options/questions:

 

• 1) Isn't there a way to unhide this folder to actually be a shared iCloud folder?
• 2) Or an option to always save new files into another iCloud folder that i've created (and is shared everywhere)?
  • On the screenshot's below you can see i've already created an AffinityPhotoShared folder, but just exported some files, not sure how to best proceed here...
• 3) If I buy the Affinity for MacOS app, the Affinity Photo iCloud folder on MacOS would be the same / shared? So my files would appear there (guess it could/should be different... or have an option to be the same shared folder for macOS and iPad)

 

 

Screenshots:

 

a) iPad Files: showing the Affinity Photo folder (with the icon and 11 items)

 

 

 

 

 

b) Laptop iCloud drive, even showing the 'hidden folders' (CMD+SHIFT+.) it doesn't show AP's folder:

 

 

 

 

Thanks a lot!

[stokerg]

Hi iuri,

 

It's not a hidden folder, so it should show up when you view your iCloud folder via Files.  Can you make sure you are signed into the same Apple ID on all devices.  Perhaps try signing out and back in on all devices to see if it then shows up.

 

You can set the default save location under Preferences to iCloud but can't set a custom folder.

 

If you brought the Desktop version of Affinity then it would share Affinity Photo folder with the iPad version on the iCloud service.

 

 

[iuri]

Hi @stokerg , thanks for helping out!

 

So its an issue only for my account... i forgot to mention before that i was an Affinity Photo iPad beta tester for a while, and some months ago i removed myself from the beta via TestFlight. I think this iCloud folder saving feature came while i was beta testing.

• I'm logged into the same iCloud everywhere.
• I just created a new folder in iPad's Files, it appeared on my iPhone's files.
• I copied all 11 files from this hidden official Affinity Photo folder into this new folder, now they appear on my iCloud everywhere
  • But the official folder is still hidden, shows only on iPad.

 

I think my best option is:

• export all files into some proper iCloud folder
• delete Affinity from the iPad
• reinstall
• check if the official Affinity folder appears on all iCloud devices
• move the files to this folder.

 

Maybe it will also fix this weird bug that happened on one of my latest files.

[iuri]

Ok, problem continues... Affinity 1.6.7.76

 

• I deleted Affinity Photo from my iPad
  • It didn't delete the iCloud folder "Affinity Photo" (that has the icon on the folder)
• Manually deleted the iCloud folder "Affinity Photo"
  • Double checked that i was logged with the same apple id on all iCloud's
• Turned iPad off & on, just to be sure
• Resinstalled Affinity on the iPad
  • In Settings (cog/wheel on Affinity's home screen) > changed the Save Location from "On my iPad" to "iCloud Drive"
• "Import from Cloud" to open a file from another iCloud folder
• Closed the file, to go to homescreen, clicked the hamburger icon on the file > "Save"
  • It showed: saving ... to iCloud Drive
• Checking iPad's iCloud Files app, now it created again an 'official' Affinity Photo folder (the one with the logo), with 1 item.
• Created via the iPad files app, another folder called "TEST" just to see if it will appear on my laptop/iCloud folder & iPhone/Files app.
• The 'official' Affinity Photo folder does NOT appear in my laptop/iPhone. 
  • The "TEST" folder appears.

 

Please... 

 

Can someone double check if this 'official' Affinity Photo folder is really showing on your macOS/iCloud folder and/or on your iPhone Files app???

[DM1]

I can see two folders on iCloud. Both are named Affinity Photo. One has a logo in the centre of the folder icon. Both can be accessed from AP on my iPad, from Files app on my iPad and iPhone. Sorry, I don't have a Mac to check with.  My AP on iPad is set to save on local ipad. Hope this helps.

[stokerg]

Hi iuri,

 

I've been done some further testing with this and while our office iPads all show only the 1 folder for Affinity Photo on iCloud.  My personal one is showing 2.  One without the Affinity icon and one with.  I'm pretty sure i created the one without the Affinity icon a while back, before Affinity Photo could create it's own folder, the one that shows with the Affinity icon.

 

The way i've just resolved this on my iCloud, backed up the files from both folders and then deleted both of the Affinity Photo folders.  Then in the Preferences of Affinity i set the default save location to iCloud drive and then started a new blank document.  At this point, i tap back to the home screen of Affinity and tap the menu icon (the 3 lines bottom right of the blank thumbnail) and select Save.  This will create the Affinity Photo folder on iCloud and it should have the Affinity Photo icon.  This same folder will also be present on any other device that is signed into the same Apple ID.  I can see my Affinity Photo folder on my iMac and Windows PC here in the office, on my iPad and also on my iPhone 8 via the Files App.

 

If anyone tries the above, please remember to backup anything from both of the Affinity Photo folders on iCloud before you delete them  

 

[DM1]

1 hour ago, stokerg said:

I'm pretty sure i created the one without the Affinity icon a while back, before Affinity Photo could create it's own folder, the one that shows with the Affinity icon.

Uhmmm, I suspect I may have done this also during the beta testing program. To be honest I can't remember how it got there...

in practice I Save to IPad and if I need it to go to Cloud I just move it there.

[iuri]

On 5/16/2018 at 4:54 AM, stokerg said:

The way i've just resolved this on my iCloud, backed up the files from both folders and then deleted both of the Affinity Photo folders.  Then in the Preferences of Affinity i set the default save location to iCloud drive and then started a new blank document.  At this point, i tap back to the home screen of Affinity and tap the menu icon (the 3 lines bottom right of the blank thumbnail) and select Save.  This will create the Affinity Photo folder on iCloud and it should have the Affinity Photo icon.  This same folder will also be present on any other device that is signed into the same Apple ID.  I can see my Affinity Photo folder on my iMac and Windows PC here in the office, on my iPad and also on my iPhone 8 via the Files App.

Hi @stokerg,

i did the exact same thing as you described again just now, but i doesn't show up on my other devices, just on the iPad.

And i'm sure iCloud is ok, because i just created another folder afterwards via iPad files app, and i immediately appears on my Mac's iCloud folder. 

So the Affinity Photo (with icon) folder is the only folder that just appears on the iPad, all my other files and folders are synced.

 

I can see two possible differences between our environments:

1. Affinity's iPad version: i'm using 1.6.7.76 (and not any new beta version)
2. I don't have Affinity for Mac, just the iPad version. I imagine your icloud/apple id has both iPad & MacOS.

 

Hi @DM1, i definitely advice saving to iCloud for constant backup if you have space.

 

 

Edited May 20, 2018 by iuri

[R C-R]

On 5/16/2018 at 2:54 AM, stokerg said:

The way i've just resolved this on my iCloud, backed up the files from both folders and then deleted both of the Affinity Photo folders.

Apologies for being late to this topic but I am new to AP on iPad (& to the iPad itself) & still quite confused about where the badged Photo folder should show up, as well as which folders can be deleted from where.

From the beginning, I set AP Preferences > General > Save Location to On My iPad. With this setting, Files > On My iPad shows an automatically created Affinity badged "Photo" folder that does not show up in iCloud Drive on any of my devices (iPad, iPhone, & Mac). As I understand it, this is the way it is supposed to work -- the On My iPad location is local to the iPad & none of its badged folders or their contents are shared with any other device. Is this correct?

I also created an "Affinity Stuff" folder in the iCloud Drive location. This folder is unbadged & it & its contents are accessible from iCloud Drive on all my devices. I believe this also is how it should work.

Anyway, I underlined the 'then deleted' phrase in the above because I see no way to delete the Affinity Photo (or any other badged) folder from Files > On My iPad. I can tap "Select" & select any of these folders, but when I do so, the Share, Duplicate, Move, & Delete buttons at the bottom of the screen are all grayed out & tapping on any of them does nothing. I have no idea if this is normal, if there is something wrong with my iPad settings, or what.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.