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[Designer 1.7.1, Win] Inconsistency of linked documents


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During the last days I've figured out an inconsistent behaviour of linked files within Designer.

At first placement it will be embedded automatically. I cannot choose between linking and embedding. But when I replace an image, than I can choose between linked and embedded, see attachement 2019-06-30_12-27-10.png.

Unfortunatelly there is no live update once a Designer file, containing a linked file, is open but a linked file will be changed. The only way to load a changed linked file is to close the Designer file an reopen it. This is better solved within Illustrator, there a message pops up and asks if I want to load the changed linked file.

Did I overseen something so that I can choose already in the first placement between both possibilities?

2019-06-30_12-27-10.png

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9 minutes ago, ReneCGN said:

During the last days I've figured out an inconsistent behaviour of linked files within Designer.

At first placement it will be embedded automatically. I cannot choose between linking and embedding. But when I replace an image, than I can choose between linked and embedded, see attachement 2019-06-30_12-27-10.png.

Unfortunatelly there is no live update once a Designer file, containing a linked file, is open but a linked file will be changed. The only way to load a changed linked file is to close the Designer file an reopen it. This is better solved within Illustrator, there a message pops up and asks if I want to load the changed linked file.

Did I overseen something so that I can choose already in the first placement between both possibilities?

2019-06-30_12-27-10.png

I can confirm this. I get the feeling when using 'place' the image is always embedded. No matter if you press 'replace image' and then load it with a different image and set it to 'linked' in the file dialog.

In Publisher there is a 'Resource Manager' which let us update our used resources. But that 'Resource Manager' doesn't seem to be available in Designer. I searched the helpfile on 'Resource Manager' in Designer, but it couldn't find anything, so I'm pretty sure it's unavailable in Designer. Which is odd to me if we can use linked resources. So how can we reload an image without restarting the software?

Guess you have a point for the bug-forum here. Or there's maybe something we don't know yet?

 

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  • Staff

Affinity Designer is not meant to allow linked images in 1.7.x, nor does it (should it) need to have Resource Manager in the menus, as all resources should be embedded (by design)

AFAIK Affinity Designer is not meant to offer linked on "replace image" dialog, but it currently does. Because it does you can also (accidentally) access Resource Manager if the linked image is missing! At that point you can locate the missing image and change to embedded  if required.

This incongruity should be fixed in my opinion. There are 2 solutions one of which is to allow linked images and have the "Resource Manager", the other is to remove the option from "Replace Image..." but leave access to "Resource Manager" when they are missing.

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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Linked images are working within Designer. It can also be seen that the file size decreases dramatically once the images are linked instead of embedded.

For me it is not clear why Serif does not allow a full support of it within Designer. Maybe the code is not yet complete or it is really a mistake (which works very good). I am very interested to listen what Serif is responding on this issue. 

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53 minutes ago, ReneCGN said:

I am very interested to listen what Serif is responding on this issue. 

As you're still relatively new here, and just in case you didn't recognize it, the response from @Patrick Connor is a response from Serif. With a wide enough browser window you will see that he is a Moderator, and a Staff member. With  a narrow window you would see his username in red.

So far the response has consistently been that Designer is not supposed to be able to Link files, and that the presence of the Embed/Link butons when replacing a file is an error that will be fixed.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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1 hour ago, Patrick Connor said:

This incongruity should be fixed in my opinion. There are 2 solutions one of which is to allow linked images and have the "Resource Manager", the other is to remove the option from "Replace Image..." but leave access to "Resource Manager" when they are missing.

If your first solution were to be implemented, we would also need the Preference (and code) to automatically update linked files in Designer when they are modified externally. I don't think I've seen that aspect of the support mentioned before.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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I do not understand why something has to be "fixed" and made unusable even it is already included and working. This is strange to me... Designer can handle linked images, users want this feature, the main competitor has it.

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46 minutes ago, ReneCGN said:

I do not understand why something has to be "fixed" and made unusable even it is already included and working. 

But it's not working, currently.

Linked documents won't refresh in Designer if they're changed externally.

You can't set a preference for linking them.

You can't invoke the resource manager to update them or change their status.

And possibly more that I've forgotten.

At this point Designer basically tolerates linked files, as it must for interoperability with Publisher. But it doesn't really support them.

It will be Serif's be decision whether to finish the development work to fully support them in Designer, leave things as they are, or remove some pieces that should never have been there. (Example: that choice of linking or embedding when replacing a file. That has been there even before linked files were supported at all, from sometime back in 1.6.)

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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