For many users, the starting point to your project will be to open or import an image and then edit it. Images can be accessed from local and cloud storage (e.g., iCloud), or from your iPad's Apple Photos app. Of course, you can also open already saved Affinity Photo 2 documents (iPad or desktop), Affinity Designer documents, PSD, and PDF files.
The choice of whether to open or import files is an important decision in Affinity iPad apps. 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; you cannot overwrite the original file once it has been imported. Imported documents must be saved as an .afphoto file. The imported file could be from your Apple Photos library or from local/cloud storage. On saving, the document can be saved to anywhere on your local or cloud storage.
Recent documents are shown as thumbnails at the top of the Home screen for your convenience. They are actually open minimised 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 the Home screen, tap Open.
On the pop-up menu, select Open Document to access your local or cloud storage (e.g., iCloud, Dropbox or other cloud storage).
Navigate to, then tap the file to open.
Alternatively, you can drag-and-drop an image or document from the Files app directly onto the Home screen to open it.
To import a document or image:
From the Home screen, tap Open.
Select one of:
Import Document—accesses your local or cloud storage. Navigate to and tap the file you want to import
Import From Photos—accesses your searchable Apple Photos picker.
Import From Camera—captures and opens a photo with your iPad device. You can shoot RAW, bracketed HDR, toggle face detection and display on-screen aids such as a histogram and vectorscope.
For the first option, navigate to and tap the file you want to open. For the last option, the photo you've taken using the iPad camera will load automatically into Affinity Photo 2.
To display a document:
From the Home screen, tap a recent document's thumbnail.
To open an image or document in place: