Affinity Photo not saving to Dropbox

[gangusCat]

Hi guys, just wondering if there is a problem between Photo and saving files to Dropbox (prior to iOS 13)?

I have experienced the issue where I have either created a file on the ipad, or open from the cloud and made changes and clicked on the save button, only to discover when I go to the desktop that for some reason, some of the changes I made are not there and or are multiple versions of the file, but none match the last set of changes I made.

Unfortunately, a couple of times I had closed the file on the ipad and lost everything on those couple files and now I have to backtrack my steps to reconstruct them.

I believe there was an issue at some point where connecting with Dropbox was questionable at best and or not supported by Photo and Designer, but now it seems like that issue was resolved.

Still, the question about solid connection with saving and opening files with Dropbox remains.

Please advise if there is a problem with saving to and from Dropbox and the iPad versions, since my workflow has made use of Dropbox integration since day one. If I need to change to iCloud, that would be a great inconvenience.

In any case, getting to the bottom of this is very important so as to avoid inadvertently loosing any more work.

Please advise.

Sincerely,

gangusCat

[Lee D]

I use Dropbox in my iPad workflow a lot with Affinity Photo and haven't had any and I've not heard of any issues occurring. I've also done some testing, opened a file on Dropbox, adjusted and then used the Save option and the changes where written back to the file.

Make sure the Dropbox app is fully up to date as if it isn't integrated with the Files app correctly it may not function as expected.

[gangusCat]

Hi Lee, thank you for responding.

I will check the Dropbox app and update as necessary, might reinstall it to be sure.

Thank you.

[JustMeJ]

I have the same issue as @gangusCat – can't really pinpoint when it started. Probably somewhen in the past weeks.  Maybe this will help shed some light on the issue:

Regular Workflow

1. I tweak my RAW images in LR on my Mac (10.14, not ready to upgrade to Catalina with all of its bugs yet).
2. I export the images from LR as 16bit TIF files to a folder in Dropbox.
3. On iPad (iPad Pro 12.9", 2018 Model, 512GB, current public iOS 13.2 release), I open Affinity Photo → + → Open from Cloud.
4. I select the photo I want to work on, it loads and opens in Affinity Photo.
5. I make my edits, then use < to go back to the overview where I see all the images I'm currently editing as little squares.
6. I tap the hamburger menu (three horizontal lines) and tap Save.

Until about a month ago, the changes I made on my iPad would now be saved back to the file in Dropbox. I just had to wait for a few minutes until the iPad had uploaded the change, then could continue edit the file on the Mac.

Recently, though, while I can still load files into the iPad app, changes are *not* being saved back to Dropbox via the workflow mentioned above.

Saving to Photos

What still works is opening the file in Affinity → tapping the documents icon → Export → Share and then saving the image to the native Apple Photos app. 

Save a Copy

This also no longer works reliably, at least in conjunction with Dropbox. When my regular workflow fails (virtually all the time now), I try Affinity → tapping the documents icon → Save a Copy → Save → (Dropbox folder) → Save.

Once I tapped Save for the last time and I'm being returned to viewing my image in Affinity, I switch to Files app on my iPad to check if the file is actually being uploaded. Quite often, it is not. Sometimes it takes until the next day for the image to be synced, often times it doesn't sync at all and I have to try "Save a copy" multiple times until something finally happens.

I'm quite confused as to what might have changed that broke the workflow that has been working fine for me for a few months. The issue started before the iOS 13.2 update, so I can't blame it on recent changes there. I didn't run iOS betas either this year, so there can't be any cruft from buggy iOS beta on my device either. From the release notes, it seems the last Affinity update was about a month ago (1.7.3), so I wonder if *that* might have got its wires crossed somewhere?

All my apps are up-to-date (there are no updates for Dropbox or Affinity that are pending).

I'm happy to provide more infos to help troubleshoot this as I am relying heavily on the iPad app for my image editing and right now, with the inability to save files back to Dropbox, it's quite worrying and cumbersome for me.

[JustMeJ]

Follow-up

I did some more checking into Dropbox app itself (not Files app), and it seems that if you don't launch it manually, it'll simply never update the files. I know that iOS 13 has become much more aggressive about killing apps in the background so many background processes don't finish properly anymore (and since private API's aren't allowed, devs are stuck with an app that seemingly doesn't work); maybe Dropbox app is also crashing in the background and not completing the upload, not sure.

Just weird that the content updates just fine on iPad's Dropbox app and Files app when pushed from the Mac, and Affinity can read fine from those apps on iPad  but does't seem to be able to write to Dropbox app on iPad.

[DM1]

It still works for me.

Workflow:  

Create a file, save a copy to Dropbox.

Close file and open from cloud.

Navigate to Dropbox and open previously saved file.

Edit and either Save from Document menu or back arrow to project screen and save with Hamburger menu.

Now open from Cloud, navigate to file and open the file. Edits are there in the file.

[JustMeJ]

@DM1 What's the size of your files when you test this? Mine are usually between 80-350MB. Just wondering if file size makes the upload time out in the background.

[DM1]

For my testing I used a 40MB raw file. Opened and processed, then Save Copy to place edited file back to Dropbox. Then open from cloud to open again and edits were there. Placed a square rectangle in middle of image. Back arrow to project screen, tap Save on Hamburger menu. Tap Open from Cloud and open file in Dropbox. Rectangle now showing on latest download.  Seems to be working as designed. My files size was 40 mb? Transfers were fast so not sure if the entire file is updated or just the edits. 
Your files are much larger and to be honest I really don’t know whether that would cause the issues you are having. Hopefully mods can help sort this out for you.