The choice of whether to open or import files is an important decision in Affinity Designer. Understanding the difference will help with file management and backup strategies.
Opening in place
You can open images and previously saved Affinity documents (plus PSDs) from local or cloud storage. When opening, the key point is that these files are kept in their original location and will be overwritten on saving. However, if you add layers to an opened 'flat' image, you can either flatten the document on saving (this overwrites the original image in its original location) or save the document to a new fixed location on local/cloud storage. The latter preserves all layer information.
Importing by copying
Unlike opening, importing always makes a copy of the original image or document and loads it as an 'internal' document. The imported file could be from your Apple Photos library or from local/cloud storage. On saving, the document will be added to cloud storage or On My iPad to a fixed location.
Opening vs. importing
Recent documents are shown as thumbnails at the top of Affinity Designer's Home screen for your convenience. They are actually open minimized documents, so saving and closing a document will create a physical file and remove the document's thumbnail from the app's Home screen.
To open an image or document in place:
From Affinity Designer's Home screen, tap the plus icon.
Select Open From Cloud to access your local or cloud storage (e.g., iCloud, Dropbox or other cloud storage).
Navigate to, then tap the file to open.
To import an image or document (by copying):
From Affinity Designer's Home screen, tap the plus icon.
Select one of:
Import From Cloud—accesses your local or cloud storage.
Import From Photos—accesses your Apple Photos library.
For either of these two options, navigate to and tap the file you want to open.
To display a document:
From Affinity Designer's Home screen, tap a recent document's thumbnail.
To open an image or document in place:
To import an image or document (by copying):