Do you have any plans to support the new file format introduced in OmniGraffle 3.14 for iOS?
My workflow involves creating documents on iOS and then opening them on the Mac via iCloud Drive.
This change in format breaks that workflow. I’d prefer not to have to pay for an upgrade in order to restore functionality that was working up until now.
Thanks for any guidance you can give on this!
So far, the new file format is supported in Mac versions 7.15 and higher. I don’t think they will do any improvements for version 6.x. Not their usual process.
It may not be their usual process, but breaking compatibility in this way in a point release is not their usual process either.
For those of us whose workflows were not impacted by the issue they fixed, this isn’t an improvement.
If they aren’t going to fix OmniGraffle 6.x then they should make the file format change into a configurable option on iOS.
Having to ‘export’ every new file in the legacy format completely destroys the usability.
Don’t know what iOS version options have. Only know the Mac version (this forum) and under 7.15+ it is an option. Maybe asking in the OG/iOS forum you can find where to set the file format option or how to export to the older format.
There isn’t an option unfortunately. Exporting is possible, but it means going to the share sheet, selecting export, choosing legacy, navigating to a location, saving the file in the new location, choosing a new name, then closing the original file, deleting it, and finally reopening the exported file. An 11 step process to reproduce what was previously the result of just saving the file, or rather doing nothing since the file is saved automatically once it has been created.
Turning ‘save’ into an 11 step process for every new file, is not an improvement.
But thanks for suggesting the iOS forum. I will look there to see if anyone has any suggestions.
Ick! Not good.
But good luck. I hope you find the answer. If you do, would you re-post here so we can know, too? Thanks.
That does sound difficult, but don’t forget that ‘improvements’ are other peoples work, and they have food and housing costs too.
I’d prefer not to have to pay
Perhaps that preference is costing you a bit more than it’s worth ?
OG 6 still works fine in the software environment for which it was built, and building OmniGraffle versions better suited to current environments is only possible, in a market economy, if the market is prepared to pay for that work and make it all sustainable.
If we ‘prefer not to pay’, then they will have no choice but to go away and do something else.
I bought all the upgrades between omnigraffle 3 and 6 including upgrading to pro every time. I didn’t upgrade to 7 because I didn’t need any of the new features, but I was assuming I’d look again when 8 came out.
I also bought all iOS versions including pro. I’ve also bought various versions of omnioutliner and omnifocus even though I don’t use those very much.
A week ago, the OmniGraffle versions I had paid for were working perfectly and interoperating as they did when I bought them.
Today they are not.
Now, the most basic part of the workflow requires an 11 step process which renders it unusable.
I am clearly happy to pay for new functionality.
It’s an entirely different matter to expect me to pay for something that worked just fine a week ago and which was taken away via an update I had no control over.
I don’t believe that this is reflective of the Omni groups’s intentions here.
My hope is that the current state is temporary and that they will resolve it, perhaps by allowing the legacy format to be created from the iOS version as a configuration option.
In a future iOS update, you will have the ability to switch between file formats for the open file which will greatly reduce your 11 step process to… 1 or 2 steps. This didn’t make it into 3.14 because we’re still working out sandboxing related issues with the format conversion that would hang the app. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Awesome! Thanks for the clarification and good news.
May I request that you include the a setting to create new files in the legacy format, rather than just the option to switch the formats once they are created?
The reason is that if I create a new file on my iPad but forget to switch it to the old format, when I get to my iMac there will be no way to open the file and no way to resolve the issue if I don’t have the iPad with me.
Having to remember to change the format every time a new one is created pretty much guarantees that this failure will occur sometimes.
It needs to be possible to change the default back to the legacy format in order for this to work reliably.
Thanks!
The way it works in 7.16 (and I think it worked in 7.15) is it creates the new document in the new format. However, you can change the file type under File -> File Type. There is currently no option to have it create documents in the old format instead of the new.
That makes sense - because if you are using 7.x on the desktop you have little reason to create the legacy format every time.
If on the other hand you are using 3.x in iOS and 6.x on the desktop, since 3.14, you have had no choice but to downgrade every file created on iOS if you want it to keep working.
I still use the legacy format. I have been upgrading to new versions as they have been released but have had some serious issues with them (esp 7.15). I will keep the classic format until things stabilize.
It would be nice if there was a preference for the type of file. Didn’t there used to be a preference for a flat, package or best fit file format in the inspector? There might be certain file templates that would work better with one type than another and it would be nice to be able to set the option somewhere.
I just upgraded to 3.14.1 on iOS. This is a huge step forwards - thanks to Omni for taking it this far.
I think that to close this chapter though, we do need a setting for the iOS version to allow the default to be changed from the flat file to the package.
Until we have that, we won’t be able to rely on interoperability.
If I create a file on iOS, even though it is now fewer taps to change the format now, if I forget to do this, the file won’t work.
Please give us a setting for the default!
