Export Function in Resource Manager

[Steps]

I accidently deleted one of my photos used in an Publisher document.

Now it shows up as "Status" = "Missing".

I want to export the original resource thats embedded into the document.

So it would be nice to have a button to do that in the resource manager.

[thomaso]

1. In Resource Manager select the embedded file.
2. Then click on "Make linked ...".
3. You will get asked where you want to save the file.

If it is not embedded but missing then just export it. An .afpub document appearently contains all its data for linked files, too.

[Steps]

I don't know what you mean.

The "Placement" of all my files is "Linked" and I accidently deleted that file.

This makes it "Missing". I only can "Replace..." it with the opening the original file.

There is no option to export it from the file.

I know that the resources are always embedded and "Linked" is just a way to update them in the document if they are changed from the outside. On a side note this is a very useful feature as I often work of them in Photoshop after seeing the final result in a printable PDF.

So I still think there should be a "Export" button to get the file back.

[thomaso]

On 12/10/2018 at 10:12 PM, Steps said:

I want to export the original resource thats embedded into the document.

I must have misunderstood this.

20 hours ago, Steps said:

There is no option to export it from the file.

I meant the menu "File" > "Export...".

In export options you may choose "Selection", that will limit the exported dimension, regardless of page dimension applied in Spread Setup.

20 hours ago, Steps said:

So I still think there should be a "Export" button to get the file back. 

Serious?

APub is not a backup restore application, especially not for actions the user does exterior of APub.
But you might use a "get-file-back"-button on your computer to restore deleted files

[fde101]

If you double-click on the embedded object to open it in a separate tab can you save it from there?

[Steps]

1 hour ago, fde101 said:

If you double-click on the embedded object to open it in a separate tab can you save it from there?

Nope, I use the Windows build. It does nothing on double click. What does the Mac version do?

I can only double-click on the Image layer to scroll and zoom-to-fit (nice feature BTW), but there is also not a export function.

I think the only way right now is to copy the layer to a new document, adjust the document dimensions to picture and save it as new PNG.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, fde101 said:

If you double-click on the embedded object to open it in a separate tab can you save it from there?

That only works for embedded non-image objects (.pdf, .psd, .eps, .svg, etc.), not for image objects (.jpg, .tif, etc.)

Edit: However, if the OP did have a linked non-image object that had been deleted from disk, that method would (with today's Publisher processing) indeed allow for recovery. If Serif ever truly supports linked files that don't keep an embedded copy that will probably stop working.

[walt.farrell]

@Steps: You might try selecting the image's layer in the Layers panel, then right-clicking and selecting Copy, then File > New from Clipboard, then Export. (You might even copy it in Publisher and then do the File > New from  Clipboard in Photo or Photo beta.

[Steps]

 

1 hour ago, thomaso said:

I must have misunderstood this.

I meant the menu "File" > "Export...".

In export options you may choose "Selection", that will limit the exported dimension, regardless of page dimension applied in Spread Setup.

This works with more effort: I have to look up the original size of the embedded image and scale the layer to that first.
Otherwise it will be exported as scaled currently (what I also would expect).
After that I have to enlarge the page dimenstions if the image in original size does not fit because only the visible part is exported.

Even if "clip to canvas" is active the image is cropped.

1 hour ago, thomaso said:

Serious?

APub is not a backup restore application, especially not for actions the user does exterior of APub.
But you might use a "get-file-back"-button on your computer to restore deleted files

You are trying to make fun of me, but I'm serious. Why do you even say such silly things as one might use
APub as a backup application? Yeah, lets kick out Git and use this, yeah. Not funny.

Since the document contains even "Linked" resources with all metadata and filename I see a use in exporting
the resource back. This should be pretty easy to implement. If one day "Linked" is a real link to a file this will
only be possible for embedded files. That's okay.

And no, I have no "get-file-back" button on my computer. I usually don't need that because my NAS has nightly backups.

I just accidently deleted the original file after importing it into the document and realized that there is no easy way to get it back.

That's why I suggest to Affinity including this very easy function to just lets you export what you previously imported,
because this can be a real use case to others.

If you see no value in that I'm fine with that. Go ahead.

[Steps]

4 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

@Steps: You might try selecting the image's layer in the Layers panel, then right-clicking and selecting Copy, then File > New from Clipboard, then Export. (You might even copy it in Publisher and then do the File > New from  Clipboard in Photo or Photo beta.

Thanks for trying to help, but Publisher currently has no "New from Clipboard" option. At least not in my Windows build.

I do not own any Affinity products, so I'm limited here.

[walt.farrell]

2 minutes ago, Steps said:

Thanks for trying to help, but Publisher currently has no "New from Clipboard" option. At least not in my Windows build.

I do not own any Affinity products, so I'm limited here.

Good point. I had forgotten that Publisher doesn't have that.

You could install a 10-day trial of Photo or Designer, though. For example, at the bottom of this page you'll find a "Free Trial" link where you can register and download the trial version of Photo for either Windows or MacOS. Note that you have only 10 days of use from the first time you run the program, and you won't be able to get another trial until sometime after the 1.7 release of Photo becomes available for purchase.

[Steps]

It's okay. I recovered a copy of the resource doing it the long and hard way with the export function and going trough a lot of troubles.

Consider my problem at hand resolved.

But my strong suggestion to Affinity to think about a helpful "Export resource" function shall stay.

Maybe staff reads and considers this, because I really think there is a easy to implement function just missing.

[walt.farrell]

2 minutes ago, Steps said:

Maybe staff reads and considers this, because I really think there is a easy to implement function just missing

Except that, if they continue the development of Publisher in the direction we hope they will, linked files would no longer be exportable as you wish for. What seems easy now would be impossible later, and it's unlikely they'd implement it now if they're planning to make the change in linking that many of us have asked for.

However, only the Serif team knows what will come in the future for Publisher. If they don't go that direction your idea might remain feasible.

Glad you recovered your file, in any case.

[Steps]

4 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Except that, if they continue the development of Publisher in the direction we hope they will, linked files would no longer be exportable as you wish for. What seems easy now would be impossible later, and it's unlikely they'd implement it now if they're planning to make the change in linking that many of us have asked for.

I hope it comes for embedded files then.

The "Linked" aka "Watch for remote updates" thing was indeed a surprise for me.
I wanted the document to be smaller and changed everything from "Embedded" to "Linked". As the file size did not change this was a "WTF" moment, yes.

I'm on page 3 of my 50 page photobook and my document is already 150 MB in size. I wonder how big it will get if a pro designs a whole magazine with it.

[walt.farrell]

1 minute ago, Steps said:

I hope it comes for embedded files then.

It exists, in a way, for embedded files already. From the Resource Manager, select the file and "Make Linked...". That will either simply make it linked if the file exists at its original location, or prompt you to save it if it doesn't already exist.

[Steps]

3 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

It exists, in a way, for embedded files already. From the Resource Manager, select the file and "Make Linked...". That will either simply make it linked if the file exists at its original location, or prompt you to save it if it doesn't already exist.

Oh, yes, I tried that out... This works. Cool.

Ok, that helps me to elaborate further what I suggest to Affinity:
As long as linked files work the way they do now (being also embedded, just have a link for updates)
enable the "Embed" button to let people recover from the "Missing" status.

Of course, if keeping a copy of images in the document overall is considered a bug and
the resource should vanish shortly after deleting the file on disk this is nothing to think about.
I opened the topic with the knowledge that "Linked" really is "Embedded" + file change watching.

[carl123]

(Another Possible Solution)

Temporarily...

Resize the missing file to its full size as specified in Resource Manager (if it was initially placed smaller)

Edit > Copy
Edit > Paste Special (Paste as Portable Document Format)

A new file in Resource Manager will be visible and called something like clipboard1.jpg

It will be embedded, so change status to linked and you can export it to your required location.

Edit: the Paste Special options of PNG and Device Independent Bitmaps, seem to produce tiff files

(Works in Windows, Mac users' options may vary)

[Steps]

5 hours ago, carl123 said:

(Another Possible Solution)

Temporarily...

Resize the missing file to its full size as specified in Resource Manager (if it was initially placed smaller)

Edit > Copy
Edit > Paste Special (Paste as Portable Document Format)

A new file in Resource Manager will be visible and called something like clipboard1.jpg

It will be embedded, so change status to linked and you can export it to your required location.

Edit: the Paste Special options of PNG and Device Independent Bitmaps, seem to produce tiff files

(Works in Windows, Mac users' options may vary)

Thank you!

Yes, this is a very suitable workaround solution to recover missing resources.

Nice one. I will remember that. :-)