v420 - Changing file name in Finder didn't update file name within open file in APub

[nwhit]

Normally if you change a file name of an open doc in the Finder, the app automatically gets the new file name for the open file. Tried it on two open files. One that did not have any changes/modifications got the updated file name. The other open file that had not been recently saved did not update the file name. Thus when closing that file, APub asked if I wanted to save it, but it saved it as a new file with the old name.

[nwhit]

Still doesn't work in v442. If I rename an open file in the Finder, then make changes to the file in APub and resave, it creates a new file/doc. All other Mac apps I am aware of over the years will self-correct the changed file name.

[Jon P]

Hi nwhit,

This is by design as far as I am aware, we don't have a handle on the original file when opened and won't be monitoring if the filename changes.

Thanks

[nwhit]

I kind of assumed that. Really wished it worked like so many other Mac apps. The reason for this "desire" is that it is not uncommon to mistype (or even misthink!!) a file name when originally saving, thus requiring a file name change. Hate to have to close the file, go to the Finder to change the name, then manually reopen the file with the new name (since the Recent Files dialog won't work after a file name change. Also saves having to do a Save As, then remembering to trash the old file later.

Over the years, have had to do these Finder file name changes many, many times, and for a few other reasons as well. Always been simple on a Mac with apps automatically updating with the changed file name. 

The other worry I have is that if a person is not aware of this "limitation",  and they do change the Finder file name, they may not be aware that changes made to the open file from then on will be a a newly created file using the original name, which may be quite different than the original name. And while I cannot say for sure, that might possibly lose Undos and History in the process. And it could create confusion when later looking for the correct and latest version of the file if the file name change is significant, thus putting it out of sequence in the Finder and Open dialogs. 

Don't know how tough it is to get this to work, but seems other apps do it reliably, so perhaps worth thinking about. Or at least providing some type of warning dialog if someone does this, and before the app "secretly" creates a new file with the old name (you won't know this until much later when you try to open the new file name and discover it's not the latest version).

Thanks.

[garrettm30]

Perhaps this should be mored to the feature request section. As best as I can tell, what nwhit suggested is common, but perhaps not required as standard behavior. For what it's worth, I went through all the non Affinity apps that I have on this computer that I thought could save documents. Among them, these followoing were automatically aware of filename changes (ie. they do what nwhit is asking):

• Apple Pages, Numbers, Keynote
• InDesign (Affinity Publisher competitor)
• Chess (yeah, I tried everything)
• Coda 2
• Microsoft Word
• Pixelmator (Affinity Photo competitor)
• TextEdit

In contrast, these were not aware of filename changes:

• Microsoft Excel & Powerpoint (even though Word works - strange)
• QuickTime Player
• GarageBand (Finder responded with "TestFile can’t be renamed right now because another operation is in progress, such as moving or copying an item or emptying the Trash.")

Considering QuickTime Player in particular, an Apple app, functioned just like Affinity Publisher, I couldn't rightly qualify the behavior as a bug. I would rather say the change ought to be a feature request for the sake of ease of use. And I do think it is worth consideration.