Restore Tools Layout to Default Docked Tools?

[Mr. K]

How do I restore the entire docked windows setup to the default? I goofed it up, now I can't get it back. The "Dock Tools" command is grayed out.

[walt.farrell]

You need to click Show Tools before you can Dock or undock them.

[Mr. K]

38 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

You need to click Show Tools before you can Dock or undock them.

I still can't dock them. Still grayed out as you can see. Dragging them around and trying to get them to magnetically attached does not work either.

[walt.farrell]

That's unfortunate; that would have been the easiest fix.

Next attempt: View > Customise Tools... then click the Reset button at the bottom of the dialog.

[Mr. K]

Walt, I see you are on a Windows machine. I'm on a Mac. I have tried the reset to no avail. I'm thinking this may be an unimplemented part of the beta. In the meantime, can anyone tell me how to reset the configuration to default? Is there a pref file I can trash?

[Old Bruce]

Hold down Control while starting up, this will clear user settings, take a look at the screen and see if there is a specific mention of Tools there.

[Mr. K]

Found the file. Something must have gone haywire. I removed the com.seriflabs.affinitypublisher.plist file from my Library/Preferences folder. Now AFPub is reset to "factory settings." Dock tools is available again.

[Mr. K]

3 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

Hold down Control while starting up, this will clear user settings, take a look at the screen and see if there is a specific mention of Tools there.

I'll make a note of this for next time.

[Mr. K]

I reverted to the old pref file and tried the "Hold down Control while starting up, this will clear user settings." I did the reset based on what was checked and that too brought back the defaults AFPub settings. I move on from here. Thanks for your help.

[Old Bruce]

2 minutes ago, Mr. K said:

I reverted to the old pref file and tried the "Hold down Control while starting up, this will clear user settings." I did the reset based on what was checked and that too brought back the defaults AFPub settings. I move on from here. Thanks for your help.

I am pretty sure once the beta is finished we won't have easy access to the Prefs files, they will be buried deeper.

[Mr. K]

I would suggest to the developers that they test turning off "Dock Tools," move some Studio windows around and undock them, and see if the Dock Tools command works, basically to re-dock. I know I accidentally undocked a window, and that's when it went bad for me.

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, Old Bruce said:

I am pretty sure once the beta is finished we won't have easy access to the Prefs files, they will be buried deeper.

What makes you think so?

– I still hope finally the palette issues, especially with 2 monitors, will make them allow the user to save this setting to be able to restore it in case of a crash.

[Mr. K]

10 hours ago, thomaso said:

allow the user to save this setting to be able to restore it in case of a crash.

This would be a great time saver. I don't think any of the Affinity apps have this, but they should. Thee ability to save multiple workspace setups would be welcome.

[walt.farrell]

12 hours ago, Mr. K said:

I would suggest to the developers that they test turning off "Dock Tools," move some Studio windows around and undock them, and see if the Dock Tools command works, basically to re-dock. I know I accidentally undocked a window, and that's when it went bad for me.

If you can recreate it you should report it in the Bugs forum.

[Old Bruce]

10 hours ago, thomaso said:

What makes you think so?

Right now as betas the Preferences are in "/Users/<Your User Name>/Library/Application Support/Affinity Designer Beta/preferences.dat" I have no real idea where the Preferences are filed for Affinity Designer, Photo or where the Publisher files are going to be. I have learned over the years to leave well enough alone files and folders in cryptically named file paths. "/Users/<Your User Name>/Library/Group Containers/6LVTQB9699.com.seriflabs.extensions/Library/Preferences"

[thomaso]

Ah, by "buried deeper" you mean "more cryptic named". However, the prefs will/must be placed either in User/Library/Prefs or in User/Library/App Support, and they probably will not loose any more or less ovbious hint in the filename to the according app. So, I am not worried not to find those prefs but more that they seem to alltogether in 1 file, which results in a complete reset of users customized settings – different to f.i. indesign, where you have workspace palettes, keyboard-shortcuts, color tables etc in seperate files.

By the way: i'd say the .dat file you mentioned is not the complete prefs but kindof incremental backup only. As Mr. K. pointed out yesterday the user prefs are held in user/Library/Preferences/com.seriflabs.affinitypublisher.plist. (the .plist is ca 10x the size of the .dat)

[Mr. K]

4 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

If you can recreate it you should report it in the Bugs forum.

I'm moving on. I will report it as a bug if I see it happen again, but I'm not spending more time trying to reproduce the problem.

[thomaso]

p.s.: there's one more way to get the palette settings reset to default:  menu View > Studio > Reset Studio
(I'm not going to touch it, cause I don't want to loose my 2-monitor set – but at least it sounds to do what you asked for

 

[walt.farrell]

48 minutes ago, thomaso said:

p.s.: there's one more way to get the palette settings reset to default:  menu View > Studio > Reset Studio
(I'm not going to touch it, cause I don't want to loose my 2-monitor set – but at least it sounds to do what you asked for

 

That would affect the Studio, but Mr. K was talking about the Tools, which have their own Reset button elsewhere. And which did not help in this case.