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Affinity Publisher - large file sizes


Fordy

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I recently had an Affinity Publisher file that took about 15 minutes to open with the CPU at nearly 100%. The file size was about 80Mb (for a 140 page document). I have just recreated the same document from scratch and the file size is currently 8Mb (about 1/10th the size).

What seems to happen is that as the file is edited, it grows in size with each 'Save'. However, if a “Save As…” is performed on the same identical file, the size is reduced considerably. I am NOT saving history with the file and all placed objects are linked, not embedded.

So starting from scratch, I edited and saved the new file until it grew to 20Mb in size. I then did a ‘Save As’ on the file and it immediately reduced to 5Mb. I continued to ‘Save As’ until the file had grown to 8Mb. It is now in the same state as the 80Mb file which took 15 minutes to load.

What is going on? (Windows 10 x64, Affinity Publisher 1.7.2.471)

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A lot of programs do that with save. Save As will clean them up. It takes longer than the quick "save" but it does do that.

As for being large, 80MB is not large in Affinity files. Designer or Publisher will easily get to 1 GB files with a few pictures and some editing. Though they only take a second or two to open even when large. It amazes me how quick they can open.

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Yes, I am not worried about the file size on its own - but the 15 minute+ open time is a big issue. Also, the use of "Save As" keeps the file size under control whereas "Save" doesn't. It rather suggests that "Save" includes a lot of crud in the file which slows opening and increases file size. The Affinity Publisher process has been using 90%+ CPU trying to open this file for more than 15 minutes now. I recreated another file that has the same content, was built using the "Save As" function and is only 8MB (one-tenth the size) and opens in a flash. Something is seriously wrong with the Save function.

 

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19 hours ago, Fixx said:

That is when images are embedded, not linked. 

That is not true all the time.

The files can get massive even with files linked.

This document has 5 pages in it and 10 pictures and it's almost 2GB.

1501536960_ScreenShot2019-09-19at8_46_21PM.thumb.jpg.722ad626caf1d836febf6218558e11df.jpg

Yet here you can see in Publisher that they are all linked:

860173952_ScreenShot2019-09-19at8_44_59PM.thumb.jpg.1c54f8b24e2aa6ab742d11e847b4c84d.jpg

If you start doing any of photo effects such as masking, the files get very large. It still operates quick but they are not small. It does make me wonder if this is some sort of bug because they are so large.

The programs are still good though, despite a few minor flaws.

 

 

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33 minutes ago, Bryce said:

... The programs are still good though, despite a few minor flaws.

I personally wouldn't call a 2 gig file a minor flaw.

The last image-heavy book I did had 6 gigs of linked files, the working file is 38 mega  and produced a 384 meg print PDF. In ID. That's reasonable. And workable. 

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@Bryce There are at least 11 images used not 10. :) This file size is huge indeed and I never had this happen with JPG placed. Try a Save As (without History saving) with a new name or zip document and images and post here If possible. I guess Serif would be interested in this file, because this is not normal.

------
Windows 10 | i5-8500 CPU | Intel UHD 630 Graphics | 32 GB RAM | Latest Retail and Beta versions of complete Affinity range installed

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6 hours ago, Bryce said:

This document has 5 pages in it and 10 pictures and it's almost 2GB.

With just 5 pages I would be inclined to start a new document copy the 5 pages to it, relink the images and see what the file size is then

Something is not right with a 2GB document with just 5 pages and linked images.

Keep the original so Serif can, hopefully, see why it is so big.

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

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After much investigation, it seems that there is a problem updating linked files. My case is reasonably extreme; I have a 140-page document, 80 pages of which are links to external PDF files. I can create the links fine but, as soon as the external PDF files are updated all hell breaks loose in Publisher. It doesn't matter if the links are updated automatically at opening, or manually using the Resource Manager - the update takes an eternity and the resulting disk file grows exponentially.  It is basically unusable in a production environment.

I have now recreated the file using exactly the same PDFs, but embedded. The file is only 32MB in size (the linked file grew to be 82MB) and I can use the "Replace" function in the Resource Manager to update the PDFs whenever they change. The process works properly, time to update is short and the file size is smaller. The only assumption I can make is that the process of updating linked files is seriously broken.

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  • 6 months later...
  • Staff

Sorry.

Thank you for reporting a problem using 1.7.x . It appears that a member of the Affinity QA team didn't get round to fully investigating this specific report posted in the bugs forums. We are very sorry for this oversight. Yours is one of a number of reports that I am posting this apology to, using an automated script.

Now we have released 1.8.3 on all platforms containing many hundreds of bug fixes, and we hope your problem has already been fully addressed. If you still have this problem in the 1.8.3 release build, then the QA team would really appreciate you reporting again it in the relevant Bugs forum.

Each of those links above contains instructions how best to report a bug to us. If that is what you already did in this thread just copy paste your original report into a new thread. We appreciate all the information that you have including sample files and screen shots to help us replicate your problem.

This thread has now been locked as the QA team are not following the threads to which this automatic reply is made, which is why we would appreciate a new bug report if you are still have this problem in the current 1.8.3 release build.

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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