David Horsfall

See sample

Captain_Slocum. Could not agree more. Wow. I didn’t know that flowing tables was not standard in AP. I rely heavily on flowing tables in Indesign. Although, recently, I just identified a flaw, or rather a missing feature in Indesign. We return to the columns issue again!!! I will describe the flaw if anybody wants to reproduce the error. There is a workaround, but I will get to that. Describing the problem. If you have columns in Indesign and a table, you cannot span the table across columns. You can, but it is a mess. Create a table in col. A and span it across to col. B. The spacing of the text in col. A, before and after the table, is perfect. However, with col. B, this is where the flaw lies. The text in col. B overwrites the table. The spacing works for col. A, but not for col. B. If you make the table to be in col. A, it doesn’t look good. Workaround. Cut the table. It is now its own text frame. Paste the table back into the document (not in-line). Use the custom anchor option to anchor the table to text anywhere within the text frame, and apply text wrap to the table. Now it spans across the columns. The flaw with this is that you lose the 'flowing table’ option. Maybe there is a Indesign script or plugin? I have searched for a script, but there is nothing. If anybody knows, that would be really useful to have, and still have the feature of flowing tables from page to page. Why Indesign have corrected this feature, who knows. Also, for the last two years, it seems Indesign have stopped adding any significant updates. I think they have become complacent that they are the industry leader? David

I have had a whole flurry of responses to my columns request feature! Unexpected! I think the above sample is missing the point—it is not so much about spanning one line or lines, but (i) spanning groups of text across columns (ii) the ability to start multiple columns (generally 2 columns for me) half-way through text frame or apply multiple columns to selected text within any one text frame. So, for example, journal articles; on the front page, it is good practice to have single column for title, author, abstract and keywords. The introduction onwards, towards the end of the same text frame, I would start two columns. As an Indesign user, I use these features when creating my content. However, it seems, Affinity is quickly surpassing Indesign, but just seems to miss the mark on a few features. I suppose creating two text frames on the same page it is not unheard of, but it does break the continuity of the text, and if you have to add new content then you need to keep resizing the text frame, accordingly. Hope that makes sense. Take it easy

Within the columns option, you don’t seem to have a feature that allows you to change from two columns or however many, to one column. Put another way, there is no option to span text across all columns or to apply multiple columns to selected text from anywhere within the text frame. For journal writers, I think this is pivotal to have more controls over text in columns. Do you see this becoming a feature soon? David

In response to the comments above, not just ZOTERO & MENDELEY citation. Endnote is one of the best academic referencing tools on the market. So, in addition provide support for endnote. It is for the same reason, I cannot leave MS Word and Indesign. Affinity forum does not support footnotes, multiple indices and and a plugins for references. If Affinity, I would these platforms in a shot Best Regards David