SimonF

Wish: Text Styles » Decorations » Rounded Rectangles, not just sharp cornered ones.
Maybe even be able to add any graphic to a paragraph’s Text Style » Decorations.

Publisher 1.9beta has PDF passthrough feature and it should work pretty well.

For me it is a BIG problem too. Sometimes clients send me prepared posters or business cards and I just need to set it for print on A4 or SRA3 format but when I place PDF file the fonts are missing. So another case when I must use indesign....

Being able to place a PDF with embedded fonts is a very important feature.
Publishers need to be able to place PDF Ads supplied by third parties.
These Ads will have the fonts embedded, and the advertiser will expect them to appear in print looking like the Ad they approved.
THIS IS A BIG DEAL. Please sort it out Affinity. I love your software. But discovering this problem may mean I have to return to Adobe...
UPDATE: This is how I am getting around this problem. I still have an old copy of Adobe Acrobat Pro. Going into the Flattener Preview settings gives you the option to 'Convert Text to Outlines'. This strips all embedded fonts from the PDF, text is now turned into 'curves' instead. This new PDF can then be placed into Affinity Pulisher because there are no fonts in it. Adobe Acrobat Pro is still the only Adobe product that I can't replace. Not ideal. But maybe this will help someone else.
 

Placing a PDF as "passthrough" is so normal everyday thing that I thought it certainly is in every PDF code library. Turns out, it is not.

Hi mmmccckkk,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Currently Affinity apps don't support embedded fonts and as such it's not possible to rasterise the document or import it as is without the fonts installed. We do hope to add support for embedded fonts later but this may still take some time until it's ready.

Hi there,
I have to say I really appreciate your effort and I do like your apps. I still hassitate about switching from CS6, but there are people around who made the step and rely on your apps. I was asked for help by one of those people with a relatively simple document in Publisher. We sorted things out, but then I looked closely at an advert that came from exterlan studio as a usual PDF and I could not believe my eyes. The document had all fonts substituted! It did a relatively good job and the difference was not huge, but still - it was different. I tried to import the file in a different way, looked in the preferences for some kind of a switch, that would allow to leave the PDF as is and not parse it on import. NOTHING. So I tried the other two apps, hoping for a way of at least rasterizing the PDF in Photo. NOTHING. I have not found a way of including the external PDF in the publisher document so that it looks as intended. If that is correct (and it is not my mistake of not finding a way) then it is a BUG hidden behind the facade of a feature. The software is unusable for everyone who needs to include external PDFs in his documents, because there is no way of having all the fonts included in any external PDF. And there is no way of having all texts in the external PDFs outlined. It might work with 50 % of them, but the rest...
Q1: Is there really no way of importing a PDF "AS IS" (without parsing is and thus substituting missing fonts and altering the look of the document)?
Q2: Is there really no way of rasterizing a PDF "AS IS" (without parsing is and thus substituting missing fonts and altering the look of the document)?
Suggestion: If the imported PDF had and option (at least in Photo and Publisher) to leave the PDF intact and parsing it only if the user needs it... that would solve the problem (it could be  rasterized and imported as bitmap (only a suggestion).
I understand, that designers who do not import PDFs from other designers do not encounter this problem, but for all the others (including me) it is rendering the apps unusable. If the above statements are true, PLEASE try to solve this very soon. Thanks.
Marek

Checking PDF's before I sent them off to the printers is something I've done for around 15 years, it's just a piece of mind thing just to check for errors and make sure spot colours and stuff are all intact - I can't imagine sending to printers without - it's flagged loads of potential errors over the years, stuff like missing spot colours, blacks with an ink density over 300% and vectors that rasterise - all easy fixes, can't believe theres nothing out there to plug the gap at a reasonable price 

Recently I came across Photopea. Runs in browser: NO INSTALL needed (there is even Chrome app to run locally without Internet access), it is FREE and you have the WARP functionality with a bunch of STYLES to choose from (arc, bulge, flag, shell, ...). Those are forms with handles for fine tuning. Since the option is a little bit hidden, I give you a quick guide:
1) All paths MUST be on one layer (take a closer look especially after importing SVG from AD - you should  merge layers if necessary)
2) Select the layer with move tool (all paths are now inside bounding box)
3) Click on the square handle in the MIDDLE of the bounding box
4) Click the WARP button from the upper toolbar (second from top)
5) Select STYLE from the same upper toolbar and shape your paths
6) Save as SVG and import back into AD
Don't be afraid of the pixel-like strokes in Photopea - those are regular paths.
I have nothing in common with Photopea - just helping AD community with workarounds. On another hand AD staff should bring this basic vector tool asap since this workflow sucks.
Hope it helps.
Petr

Clicking on Yes I get an Explorer window to my files. I would it more useful if the Resource Manager opened then I could see all the images that weren't properly linked.

I agree, and I've suggested that before.

This is so needed and a must have for any publishing program. 

@Alfred, got it.
I just need Publisher to show and print PDFs as they do in Preview, Acrobat, etc. If there is some other, more correct way of referring to this, please let me know.
Perhaps. We may just be using different terms to express the same idea; an output format that shares the layout without having to install fonts. I never said anything about the format originally being conceived for editing; in fact, I don't think that is the intent of the format at all; it is quite the opposite, as I believe the format is intended to lock down the layout so that when you send it to print houses or clients, they see it as it is meant to look, without having to worry if they have the fonts installed on their computer. Which belies part of my frustration with Publisher....

I thought this too. I think it’s caused in the approach of handling pdf as quasi exchange format (You can open PDFs coming from other programs like InDesign).
They should provide both ways: passthrough and editable.

In 8 of 10 jobs we have to place PDFs "as they are". If AP didnt get the abilitity to import them as "picture" we cant use AP. :-(

Absolutely!

There are two points here:
Firstly, I'm seeing errors in placed PDFs even when I have all the necessary fonts installed. 
Secondly, PDFs can be placed correctly in InDesign, Illustrator, XPress, Apple Pages, MS Word, etc etc, even if the correct fonts are not installed on your system.
 
Affinity's ability to turn PDFs into editable content is welcome, but the ability to place a PDF on a page as an 'image', accurately,  is paramount to a DTP app. 

That’s why I posted this suggestion …  
I want to push this topic because it is VERY essential for lots of people.

I agree for editing the PDF: Then the font has to be installed! But placing a PDF ‚as is‘ for later printing is not against licensing conditions! Otherwise QuarkXPress, InDesign and others could not do that.

Thank you for pointing that out, becreart! That’s exactly what I wish to have!

Try Placing instead. They can still be edited if/when desired by double-clicking on them.
Do note though that Affinity applications cannot use embedded fonts. This will likely screw up many/all adverts thus placed.
Mike

I need to be able to import/place PDF files as PDF files - at present Publisher seems to import PDF files and you can edit them (which in itself is fantastic for converting old files). However, you need to build in a option to import as non-editable files. In magazine production - adverts are supplied as PDF files and placed on the pages.

Hi George,
Welcome to Affinity Forums :)
Currently Affinity Designer/Photo doesn't support embedded fonts, so you have to install them on your system to see (and edit) the document correctly.
Adobe Reader does support embedded fonts that's why it displays correctly there. We hope to add support for embedded fonts at some point too.

Oh yes, I think this is very important for professional work

Hi randomjames,
Yes, we do intend to add support for embedded fonts at some point.