Brian_J

I'm confused by how Edit > Defaults works in AP and AD. I had the defaults set up the way I wanted them, but made a change and somehow messed them up. I've tried Edit > Defaults > Factory Reset, then creating elements how I want them and Synchronize from Selection, and Save, but can't get things back to how I want them. Are the color selector defaults independent from the defaults for shapes and curves? I want the color selector to default to black stroke and white fill, but when I set the default for the rectangle tool, for example, the color selector defaults to the rectangle too defaults in new documents. These are the defaults I'm trying to set: Color Selector: stroke black / fill white Shape Tools: stroke none / fill #EBEBEB Pen Tool: stroke #000000 / fill none

When I edit an existing text layer, the text snippet for that layer in the layers panel doesn't update until I preform an action other than editing an existing text layer. In Photo and Designer text snippet in the layers panel update as I'm editing the text. Windows 10 Affinity Publisher 1.9.2.1035 Affinity Publisher Text Edit Layer Update.m4v

In Preferences > Tools there's an option Select object when intersects with selection marquee. I think enabling this option will give you what you're looking for.

As StuartRc mentioned, the Table studio has what you need. You can also create a global color and apply it to the table borders... so if you decide to change the color you can edit the global color instead of having to go back into the table settings. Table Borders.m4v

In addition to what others have provided, when cropping, there’s a straighten option that may be helpful. https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/tutorials/photo/desktop/video/366761378/

Yeah, I didn't word my comment correctly. Ctrl and Shift keys do things, but I wish I had the ability to constrain cropping the way I can with objects via modifier keys.

Glad that helped. Yeah, if the main focus of your project is photos, Affinity Photo (AP) is your go-to app. Affinity Designer (AD) is best for vector work. But there is overlap between the apps — there's even a Pixel Persona in AD — so there will be times when working with photos in AD or vector graphics in AP is totally appropriate. There are more pixel-related tools and filters in AP, not to mention cropping and resizing documents is easier. I'm just stumbling out of the clumsy phase myself. 🙂 I switched to Affinity three months ago and have been getting help in this forum and watching YouTube videos like you.

I've wondered about this myself. The Ctrl and Shift modifier keys effect resizing of objects, like curves, but don't do anything when cropping. Affinity Photo Crop Tool.m4v

Glad you got the width issue figured out. I guess this isn't related to the width issue, but I'm not experiencing the same thing you are when saving a text frame as an asset. I created a text frame with multiple pinned objects (vector and a PNG image), saved it as an asset, then placed the asset in a new file. The contents of Frame Text asset layer is the same as the original... it doesn't consist of multiple, separate text frames. I've attached the APub file in case you feel like saving the text frame I created as an asset to see if you get a different result. Frame Text.afpub

Context toolbar https://affinity.help/publisher/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Workspace/uiAppearance.html?title=Changing the UI appearance#

@glennpalmer, Are you saying that in the old western town file, after extracting the building from the background, the dark areas at the top, sides, and tops of the buildings on the right were not visible? Then, after saving the PNG the result was the first image you posted? Did you do everything in Affinity Designer? A couple side notes... If you have Affinity Photo, it's better suited for working with photos. Rather than saving the western town image as a PNG, I'd recommend either bringing the sky/mountain image into the western town image, or copying the extracted western town image into the composite file. The PNG file format is best used for graphics without so much color variation — photos saved as PNG have an extremely large file size.

@mirabeau Peculiar. Are you saying you saved a text frame as an asset in the Assets panel? When assets are placed on a page they can be fully edited — i.e., the dimensions of a text frame asset aren't locked, so I'm wondering if by 'asset' you're referring to something else.

Thanks for the suggestions @thomaso and @Lagarto. I got sidetracked by other projects and am just revisiting this... and in the meantime learned a lot about APub. What ended giving me what I needed was a combination of Float and Text Wrap on the table, and understanding how to use the Pinning settings. The table can be added to and text will wrap to accommodate the increased table size.

You could try selecting the text frame and clicking the Revert defaults button in the toolbar to see if that clears whatever is causing the issue. Although, I think reverting to default will remove character and paragraph styling and text styles, so if the issue is text styling this won't solve the problem.

Zooming in to see the arrow (text flow button) was required because of the vertical size of the text frame — due to available space for the arrow between the handles. The text flow button will display at 100% preview for most text frames.

I'm assuming Data Merge is what you need to use. I've never used Data Merge so I can't offer any insight, but other's in here can help if you run into issues. Affinity help: https://affinity.help/publisher/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Advanced/dataMerge.html?title=Data merge https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/tutorials/publisher/desktop/video/494072789/

@roguefx, If you provide the file it would be easier to see what's going on, but based on your screenshot of the layers panel, it looks like there may be a fill color applied to the text frames on the master page. I know you mentioned you tried editing the master, but I'm wondering if there are edits that need to be made on the text frames in the master page. If an object's stroke is set to 'No line style' a stroke will not be applied to the object, even if there is a color is set in the 'Frame stroke fill.' Regarding the text that can't be updated, is the text frame only on that page ... i.e., not in a text frame from the Master A page? It could be that the text frame was created on a single production page but it was put in the Master A page layer. If that's the case, right-click the master 'Master A' layer and select Edit Detached, move the text layer outside the Master A layer, then click the red Finish button.

I'm not sure how the selection was made, but you could use the Pen tool to create a curve that outlines the subject mater of your photo. Give the curve layer a fill color, then Ctrl-click (command-click on Mac?) to select the curve, copy the photo layer, and paste it into a new file via 'New from Clipboard.' Creating the selection in that manner would ensure what you paste into the new file is only what you want ... i.e., no space around the subject matter. Then you could do any required straightening in the new file.

What issue are you having when printing? Not sure if you’ve already read the Affinity help page for printing: https://affinity.help/publisher/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Publishing/print.html?title=Print.

Is it possible there are stray, semi-transparent pixels included in the selection causing the extra space?

If the solid color is a curves layer you can cut another curves layer out of it. With the “text” layer (that has been converted to curves) above the solid color layer, select both layers, then Layer > Object > Subtract (or via the Subtract button in the Toolbar).

@Komatös I can only read/write one language, so you won't receive any judgement from me. 🙂

It is in the second file TimWo provided.

@Chillr2021 The four things you mentioned are among my top frustrations with Photo. I've been using the Affinity apps for four months now. It takes time to adjust to a new app — I'm adjusting, am getting comfortable in Affinity, and am overall happy with the apps. But each of the four things you mentioned are a source of frustration. Moving layers — totally with you on that. I'm getting a little better at dragging layers where I want them, but it can be a challenge. Snapping — I don't understand sometimes. You'll find that changing the snapping Candidates (Candidate List, Immediate layers, Immediate layers and children, All layers) or increasing the Maximum for Candidates list will often get things snapping to what you want, but not always, in my experience. Sometimes I have to select the layer an object is on before snapping an object on another layer to it. Other times I have to temporarily move a layer into the same group as an object I want to snap to it. Sometimes an object won't snap, but after continually moving the object around snapping does work without changing any snapping settings. I guess I don't understand snapping well enough yet. Ruler Guides — I wish they extended the full length of the document view too. Sometimes guides are easier to see when they're the full length of the screen. Sometimes I want ruler guides outside the canvas. Bounding boxes — Having to zoom out to find the center handle is a hassle ... for objects and cropping.

@TimWo That phantom text frame can't be edited because it's in the master page layer. To delete or edit the text frame, right-click the master 'Main part' layer and select Edit Detached, make whatever edits you want, then click the red Finish button. I'm fairly new to APub and have accidentally added elements to a master page layer when working on a publication page. I can't explain why it happens.