Serif Anmeldelser 54

The company refuses to give me a refund even though I barely used the software and have no need of it. Not even a partial refund. Very unfortunate. Poor customer service.

Ich schreibe diese Bewertung als enttäuschte Nutzerin der App Affinity Designer für das iPad. An sich würde diese App wirklich Freude machen und das hat sie auch für einige Zeit . Doch seit einem guten Jahr sind Bugs aufgetaucht, die nicht nur lästig sind, sondern regelmäßig meine Arbeiten zerstören - und zwar unwiderruflich! Nicht nur bekommt das Programm regelmäßig ein Eigenleben, in dem es Gruppen ungefragt rastert oder Ebenen zusammenlegt. Auch das Zoomen und Verschieben via Touch-Geste funkioniert so gut wie gar nicht mehr und wenn dann nur nach Wartezeiten von teilweise einer halben Minute.
Doch der schlimmste Bug passiert regelmäßig und jetzt eigentlich in jedem Projekt: Plötzlich gibt es einen Fehler - ausgelöst meistens durch die "Rückgängig-"Funktion (die als Touch-Geste übrigens auch nur zufällig nach x Versuchen reagiert), während des Zeichnens mit einem Pixel-Brush. Entweder, daraufhin wird die Ebene auf ein kleines Rechteck zusammengeschnitten und damit ruiniert (auch rückwirkend im Protokoll), oder aber es wird ein leeres Rechteck in das Bild hineingeschnitten und ebenfalls zerstört. Da hilft dann nur noch Löschen und alle wieder von vorne anfangen, bis der nächste Fehler wieder alle Arbeit zunichte macht. So ist das Arbeiten mit dieser App definitiv nicht mehr möglich und die Freude daran bleibt auch auf der Strecke. Auch das vor einer Weile angepriesene Update, welches die Performance revolutionär verbessern sollte, brachte nicht die geringste Veränderung, es ist eher alles noch schlimmer geworden.

I've been using Serif software for almost as long as I've had the Internet. I was a bit upset when they discontinued their website design program, and wasn't sure how I would take to the new graphic design and publishing programmes, but I love them!

Compared to other companies, their software is more affordable and very powerful. I'm still learning, but have no complaints so far.

Die Programme sind an sich sehr ähnlich zur Konkurrenz, was sehr positiv ist. Öffnen, speichern u.ä geht alles schneller als bei Adobe. Leider sind in Photo die Bereichsreperatur Optionen nicht so ausgereift wie in Photoshop. Das größte Problem ist allerdings, dass die Apps bei großen Dateien (und ich brauche sie nunmal für A1/A0 Plakatgrößen) häufig abstürzen. Änderung der OpenCL Einstellungen bringen leider auch keinen großen Unterschied.

Ich bin sehr zufrieden. Gute Performance und alles zu einem fairen einmaligen Kaufpreis. Ich habe Affinity Photo und Designer gekauft nach 90 Tagen Testversion, die es Ende Juni gab. Publisher habe ich auch getestet aber die Möglichkeiten brauche ich zurzeit noch nicht und die zwei Programme reichen mir erst Mal. Es sind komplexe Programme aber es gibt ausreichend Tutorials auf Deutsch und Englisch. Die Hilfe-Funktion im Programm ist auf Deutsch übersetzt, in der die Tools etwas erklärt werden. Erfahrung mit dem Support habe ich bisher nicht da ich Fragen oder Probleme bisher über eine deutschsprachige Facebook-Gruppe gelöst habe. Ich kann es jedem empfehlen der professionelle Grafikprogramme sucht und nicht die überteuerten Abo-Modelle von Adobe zahlen möchte. Updates sind bis zum Ende der Programmversion kostenlos. Aktuell ist es bei Version 1.10.

I love the look of the Affinity products, they look more professional than their Page Plus, Photo Plus, etc predecessors. Other than the odd photo enhancement I haven't really done anything useful with any of them in almost a year of owning the products. The reason is that I'm a long term (10+ years) user of Page Plus, and everything familiar in this has been thrown out. I tried putting my monthly magazine together using Designer but in the end I gave up as I was looking up how to do quite literally everything, even the simplest task such as adding columns to a page. If you have no experience with anything else and have the time to teach yourself how to use it then you will probably love Designer, Photo etc. In this case, previous experience is a distinct disadvantage, hence why the products have hardly been used.

Designer, Photo and Publisher, got them all and i'm very happy with all of them. There are some functions that i miss compared to Adobe Products but on the other hand, after using affinity products, its clear how much photoshop lacks an intuitive interface. affinity's UI is just so much better. and after considering that you can PAY for affinity (no stupid renting / cloud models here) i think its the far more better solution (if you can live with some restrictions (just DYOR before buying))

When i bought affinity i really thought i found an alternative to Adobe. I later found out that Affinity Designer does not have DWG nor DXF import function which is vital for my workflow. This was quite a disappointment. However, I give Serif a 2 star rating not for the lack of the functionality but for the inability to implement a function that users have been asking for, begging for, since 2015!

Life-savers: I'm struggling to understand why there are any negative reviews on here at all, bit shocked really! These guys are great; the software is amazing, what's going on? I can only conclude Adobe have been busy writing negative reviews.
If you really want awful service, useless customer service and over priced products - stick with Adobe. I have all 3 Affinity applications and used them every day. Over the last 2 years Serif have really upped the game with this triad and really tried to really raise the quality bar. There are a ton of training videos on-line (all free) so again, I’m not sure people are moaning. Keep up the great work, Affinity products rock!

I have just switched to using the Affinity suite of products after over 20 years of using only Adobe products, as I got sick of all the pointless additions to the Adobe applications, useless apps they bundle there main applications with, bugs that never get fixed and most of all the total greed of these out of touch Silicon Valley Pirates!

in the Middle of a Pandemic Adobe stick their prices up almost 50%, and Serif drop theirs by 50%.

That was the end for me, and although I have heard the Serif customer support is a bit useless ( I haven't experienced it yet so it's only what friends have told me) Compared to Adobe they seem like my kind of company.

For me I was happy with photoshop from 20 years ago, all the additions in the past 20 years, haven't made a difference to the way I work!

Well done Serif, one thing though.... PLEASE DO NOT SELL THE COMPANY TO ADOBE!!! OR ANY OTHER AMERICAN TAX DODGERS!

Purchased their software for Windows 10 but wanted to use it on a Windows 10S machine which requires downloading from the Microsoft Store. Serif were uninterested and responded with a one line email saying there's nothing they are prepared to do

Terrible technical support.
Have used Serif software for years, fortunately I've never had to deal with technical support until now.
Asked if I could change the email address my account is registered to and received a blunt answer (basically no using a few more words) from an apparent tech support named.
I then explained that I do not have access to the email address anymore as the account has been removed, domain changed and that I have just taken over this department, to which I got a response of 'as suggested before, afraid not.'

Absolute joke of a technical support and I will be finding an reputable and friendlier company to spend my money with.

The experience with Serif Support was potentially one of the worst experiences I've ever had with customer service. My problem wasn't solved and they send me to deal with Apple Support. As far as I'm concerned, Apple Support is on top of their software, while apparently Serif is not. One other thing really got me thinking is that their representative didn't bother to say 'hello' or 'thank you for the message' or 'I'm sorry to hear this'. I know this is all secondary but, if you don't know how to solve the problem, it really pays off to be polite.

The credit where the credit is due – I was a happy user of Designer since 2014 and Publish since its early days. The development of all tools was really promising, sure it had its flaws but which software doesn't? But because of this experience, I suppose it's time to hang out at Adobe Cloud again.

To begin with as much positivity as possible, AFFINITY programmes are preferable to their major competitor in that they are purchased at very reasonable price rather than paying for periodic lease. In the hands of anyone adept in their use, judging by the fulsome praise on Facebook and other venues, they are clearly powerful creative tools. However, from the viewpoint of a beginner expecting ease of use comarable to similar graphics adesign and editing applications, Photo Designer and Publisher all suffer from the 'One Size Fits All Syndrome'! All three are available in either Windows or Apple Mac version. All come with multiple 'Persona' settings. Each Persona has a vast array of tools, settings and menus. Many menus are hidden 'Dropdown from Dropdown' format. All come with bells and whistles. And with bells and whistles on most such bells and whistles. All three programmes have been repeatedly updated, leading to changes in settings. Thus, anyone installing a programme for the first time, or follwing an update, is assumed to know intuitively how to navigate a virtual 'Hall of Mirrors' labyrinth.
Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer both offer an (optional) accompanying hardcover 'Workbook'. Serif has evidently gone to great expense to produce these elegant publications. Each opens with tens of pages of 'Welcome' (Designer~71pgs, Photo~85pgs). All doubtless factually irreproachable, but totally lacking an iota of explanation. Neither context nor application intelligible to any user lacking intuitive insight is offered. Knowing what CAN be done is of very little use without finding out HOW to do it!
The 'Welcome' pages are redolent with self-congratulory 'Buzzwords'. For example(s); 'amazing''exciting''powerful''unique''copius''ideal''dynamically''comprehensive''inspiration''award-winning''impressive''wealth of''global standard' etc. Who is Serif trying to convince?
True, the 'Help' tab does offer 'Tutorials'. However, these are presented in seemingly random order. There is little or no 'Where to go Next' gradation from 'Entry Level' to 'Grand Master'. The demonstrations are usually Apple Mac expositions, and while the Windows version frequently performs the function in question somewhat differently, no emphasis is placed on this. Again, tutors seem supremely confident of their ability to install their skills in the brain of tutees, regardless of their level of prior experience. They tend to move rapidly from point to point, menu to (frequently subsidiary dropdown) menu as if to say 'Look! I know how to do it, I've shown you I can do it, now you can go and do it too!'. Space does not permit examples of attempting to follow the Workbook instructions for Designer in particular. Suffice it to say I dimly remember my (1990s) introduction to Photoshop. I was in a classroom. The tutor introduced graded exersises demonstrating the scope and capability of that very complex software. But with Affinity it seems that no such 'Entry Level' > 'Improver' > 'Expert' graduated tuition was thought necessary. What a pity. Otherwise I might not have felt the impulse to write this very negative revue! As it is, I feel like a learner glider pilot whose Fairy Godmother, with the all best intentions in the World, has turned a pumpkin into a Jumbo Jet, sat me in the pilot's seat and shouted 'You're CLEAR FOR TAKEOFF!'!

BEWARE DO NOT BUY SERIF THEY HAVE STOPPED MOVIE X6 FROM WORKING...........SCAMMERS.

I purchased Affinity Photo and I am totally satisfied with it.
It's a great product and I can now move away from Adobe!

The company is very helpful and accommodating.
Great work!

I'm new to Serif products. I hear they've changed. I purchased Affinity Photo which is a very good substitute for a certain other company's software. The one people have lost patience with as it is now subscription... I spent many days comparing images from many different programs at 200 and sometimes 400% resolution and then bought Affinity. I'm very satisfied with it. No degradation and accurate. It's also a fraction of the price of other programs.

Affinity Photo's image engine is excellent! I found no degradation of Tiff or JPG files after many changes, unlike many other alternative programs I looked at. Color seems slightly different and it's a bit slow with RAW, but I would not use the other program which-shall-not-be-named for RAW either- it did a worse job of it. I'd use Capture or DXO Raw editing programs first.

The interface isn't as slick looking as some others but after a day or two it is as easy and intuitive. I am much more image orientated than tech orientated and have problems with navigating some other image programs.

Most third party plugins I've used are compatible.

The only problem I have with the program is that Nikon's Capture NX will not recognize Tif images after processing in Affinity. This does interrupt my workflow, and hopefully Serif will fix this.

All in all it is an excellent product for the price- much better than expected and a very good substitute for that other program.

Really nicely made software! Love the workflow when you use all the software packages together. Oh and the software doesn't come with an awful Adobe subscription. Thank you, guys. Keep up the good work.

When you access the site from another country the site automatically decides that you will pay in the currency of that country BUT Stripe the payments processor of Serif cannot guarantee that you will be charged exactly what is on your invoice as they and overseas banks have yet another con which finds a way to amend the price and charge you extra ( it is always EXTRA!).

On questioning them about this practice the Company really does not seem to understand nor care that it happens and naturally blame any other third party. Now some Companies ( for example Apple) are able to guarantee the amounts charged in other currencies are exactly what is charged in other currencies. They make a special effort to ensure it.

Why ruin a perfectly good reputation for excellent software by not ensuring their payment processor ( Stripe) rope in this bad practice notwithstanding the fact that under UK Sales of Good Law it is an offense to claim something costs something but it turns out later it doesn't.

I've used Serif for years. I've used all the Plus range, from WebPlus through to the value for money PhotoPlus. I've always found the staff helpful whenever I've had to call. I now use two Affinity products, Photo and the beta Publisher. I've prepaid for the full Publisher.

Affinity Photo is superb value for money. I write articles, including for an online magazine, and it does everything I want with regards images. And more. Whilst I will continue using PagePlus for my books until I get the hang of Publisher's UI, the new DTP programme is an improvement on an already superb product.

Despite them being being old, I still use DrawPlus, even MoviePlus if I'm in a hurry.

I'm well pleased with their products. I don't recognise the poor service comments. I've always had good response, although I haven't called often. The software is excellent, even ignoring the low(ish) prices.

I take the criticism of WebPlus being withdrawn, but it did not affect me. Nothing lasts forever.

I've no connection with Serif/Affinity other than a well-satisfied customer. I've bought them all except Designer as I've got little use for vectored graphics.

Easily 5-star for me.