Moving all documents Desiger

[Angelos58]

Is there a way to transferring or recovering all the drawings in a single action?

[Callum]

Hi Angelos,

I'm not sure I've understood your question correctly. What formats are the drawings and what is it you are transferring them to?

Thanks

Callum

[DM1]

If you have saved your project files as .afdesign files or exported them in any format, you can move/copy etc those files collectively. If you are referring to your 'projects' in Design, then these are stored in Affinities sandbox and are only accessible through Affinities Project screen. Actions on the Project screen are limited to one file at a time.

Once I start a Project, I do a Document/Save a Copy, pick a folder I have made (not the Affinity folder) then tap arrow back to Project screen and close the project to get rid of it. Then I do Open from Cloud to load the project I had previously saved. Now when I make changes I have the option to do a Document Save action, which updates the .afdesign file (where ever I stored it). I can copy/move/backup that file with files or Documents, and don't have to worry about AD deleting them.

[LionelD]

@DM1  I wonder if you could elaborate, please or refer me to material on this subject.  I’m new to AD (iPad only); I’ve seen references to the notion of a Project, but I haven’t found any information about what a Project is, how the content of one Project is separated from that of others, and how one might manage shared content like Symbols.

Searches for phrases like “Affinity Designer Project” don’t lead to anything I recognize as relevant.

What is the Affinity Project screen?

Regards

Lionel

[DM1]

@LionelD Sorry, I'm a little loose at times with my terminology but this is how I understand it to work.

To clarify: What I call the Project screen is the screen where all your 'projects' sit, more accurately it would be called the Home screen. A Project is a folder created on the Home screen into which Documents are placed. Documents are in effect the individual 'files' we create and work on.

When we create a new document and open that document it opens into Designers 'Workspace'. For want of a better term I refer to this as the edit screen. These documents are 'saved' on creation (as are imported 'documents') into AD's sandbox and AD generates a thumbnail image in the Home screen. At this stage these files can only be seen/accessed by AD due to iOS limiting access to sandbox by any other apps for security reasons. They don't exist anywhere else.

If you backup your iPad your 'documents' can be backed up too. If you delete AD your Documents will be deleted from the iPad but depending on how you backed up they may be restored via iTunes.

Saving in iOS AD has several variations. From the Workspace, consider a new or imported Document, we make edits and tap the arrow to return to the Home screen. The thumbnail reflects the changes and sandbox stores the changes. If you close the thumbnail using the hamburger menu, your file is gone. To quote Affinity "Affinity Designer's Home screen acts much like a series of "tabbed" documents you would typically find in the desktop version. All documents are stored internally as part of the app‘s storage, but you can also save them out."

Let's look at Saving out: When we Save a new Document from the Home screen (Hamburger menu), AD creates a .afdesign 'file' and saves the file to local storage or cloud storage (depending on 'Settings') in a directory called Affinity Designer or Designer. You can view and access these files using iOS Files app.  Saving also adds a new menu entry to the Document Menu called Save. Using this Document/Save menu saves your edits to the AD folder. However, every time you tap the Home screen Document hamburger Save menu you create a new .afdesign file (a new Document) in the Affinity Design folder. 

When you make edits to a Document you can also Save a Copy. Saving a copy allows your to chooses a storage directory of your own choosing (eg backup). I use Documents by Readdle to create nested directories and Save there to a meaningfully named directory or subdirectory. This is where it gets confusing, any edits you now make are made to the original file (stored in sandbox) not the copy that you just saved. Whether you tap Save (or the back arrow to get back to the Home screen), any edits are saved back to the sandbox and or AD directory (not to the copy you just made).  

Fortunately AD allows you to import files (Documents) or Open (them) inplace. If you choose Import it’s effectively the same as previously discussed with a new Document. AD makes a copy in sandbox and creates a thumbnail image on the Home screen that you can arrange in Project folders.

If you Open in Place, AD works a little differently. Let’s consider the copy we made earlier by using Save a Copy in the Workspace Document Menu. On Home screen tap + sign, tap Open in Place, navigate to the directory where you saved your copy, (or to the Affinity Design folder if you saved from the Home screen hamburger menu), and select the .afdesign file. The file opens in the Workspace, a Copy is created in sandbox and a thumbnail generated in the Home screen. Now any time you tap Save in either the Workspace (Documents/Save). Or the Home screen (Hamburger/Save), the original file is updated.

More information is available in the Help file (I made a PDF version which can be accessed in Resources thread). Read pages 20 and 31 to get a good idea of what goes on.

The above description is based on my own experience with the app, and reading the Help Files. While I believe it is accurate, I cannot guarantee it is correct. Hopefully it’s not too confusing. Let me know what you think. 

[LionelD]

@DM1  Well, thank you very much for your answer.  That helps me a lot.  I’m transitioning from Photoshop on a MacBook, and the only vector “experience” I have is derived from what you can do with paths in PS, so I have a lot to learn.  I’m also new to the iPad, so I’m also getting used to the quirks of managing files under iOS, and right now it’s terribly unsettling.

I’m going to grab the PDF you made; thanks for that too.

I really like the iPad with the Pencil, and I find AD very powerful, just have to keep pushing that learning curve, and you just helped a lot.

Regards

Lionel

[DM1]

Hi Lionel, glad it was of some assistance. I came from a pc background and PS4. Then came an iPad. Talk about a learning curve!  

I no longer own a pc as the iPad can now do everything I want to do. iOS has it quirks and shortcomings but there are generally 'workarounds' that allow what needs to be done. It’s worth it for the security of iOS.

If you haven't already, check out Documents by Readdle (free on iOS store). It’s a brilliant file manager with all sorts of added capacity (think Swiss Army Knife). I'm also playing with Pixave (free on store) which is a DAM for iOS. I'm not sure how well it’s supported but it seems well designed and works well with AD and AF. 

Updated versions of AD and AP will be released shortly and bring some great new features, so have fun!