Winsome

You speak of a distant past. Vectorstyler left the beta phase a very, very long time ago, and has been updated and improved incredibly and significantly over many updates since. And it continues like that. The improvements have mostly been based on customer feedback, and I've seen customers get their suggestions approved and implemented in days or weeks. So instead of walking away, I recommend joining that forum. There is listening, responding, reacting and implementing. The program has been significantly improved in 2022 alone. And since the program is developed so heavily on customer feedback, no strange or sadly simple tools have been implemented like in Affinity Designer - e.g. the contour tool. You really don't know what vector design CAN do until you've tried Vectortyler, Adobe Illustrator or Coreldraw and their many awesome features.
And then we just have the fact that Vectorstyler has almost every feature imaginable (And the rest on the roadmap), at least all the ones Affinity is missing and maybe 100 more (no kidding), and that the missing features on a roadmap that is public. I would guess that there are a lot of Affinity customers who can't afford not to try Vectorstyler, unless they want to pay for Adobe, Coreldrawor spend the rest of their lives on workarounds to do simple things. I don't get the impression from the typical Affinity customer that they have a big budget for software.
It's hilarious that people in here request features for years and hardly see a single one of these requests implemented by Serif (in recent years), while the same features exist in abundance in Vectorstyler or if features are requested, they end up visibly on a public roadmap. If not, the developer tells you directly; there is no uncertainty.
So, instead of the many blathering on in here over thousands of posts that don't make a single difference, I can recommend creatives to give Vectorstyler a try, there is a long trial, and even more recommend that you make your opinion known on Vectorstyler's forum, you can have an influence, e.g. you can get bugs fixed in a week. It's impossible to explain how liberating it is to get rid of software problems so incredibly fast. The license runs for a long time, so you're spoiled with Vectorstyler too.
Vectorstyler and Designer are a great pair, suddenly you have two excellent programs that together form a gigantic and versatile toolbox. That's how I as a creative, results-oriented person look at it.
While Affinity Designer has only the simplest and very few tools for vector drawing, and we have no idea what might come, and when, there are a lot of designers like me who NEED to supplement Affinity with a competent vector program. And that's where Vectorstyler comes into its own. Affinity Designer will never catch up to Vector Styler feature-wise. Keep that in mind too.
So no fanboy here; I use both programs separately or together and I like both programs. I could not here and now do without either of them on my macOS machine.
Still, whether one likes or needs a program like Vectorstyler is one's own business, but one should try the alternatives out there, and the Vectorstyler development is worth participating in as well as monitoring:
VectorStyler Roadmap
www.vectorstyler.com

I have thought about this, actually worried about it and the conclusion is I need to get out more. I have spent a fair amount of time contemplating the Studios or Panes or Panels term. I try to use Panel because the View menu item is called Studio, singular. If the Panels were to called Studios then the View menu item would be Studios, plural.
Regardless, I do not like having to navigate all the way through the list in a menu to check, uncheck several items. See my earlier comment.

Yes, he is a crazy genius, he could probably easily replace 2-3 developers in some companies, but he is an open minded crazy genius, so you can get a lot of influence through his forum, where others contribute to the suggestions made. It's not impossible to imagine functionality changing significantly within a reasonable time, because he himself has stated that he wants all the feedback he can get. And unlike open source forums, he doesn't wildly protect his pet peeves or anything, but curiously asks questions. And he's actually designed the architecture of the program right out of the software architecture book, so fixes are made incredibly easily. And according to himself, the architecture is designed to support plug-ins - but in a future release. It is IMPOSSIBLE not to be curious.
So bottom line is that not everything is carved in stone, but the program is in some places not easy enough to use, but not difficult either. The most important thing I've learned with software is to find a few programs and then get to know them thoroughly. I don't think VS is bad at all to get used to after I learned Blender 3D!
But for Affinity Designer users, it's not taste and preference, but the brutal math: do I want to make and adjust 200 nodes to simulate a long uneven line, or do I want to drag a special tool over it in 3 seconds and get the same result in, say, VS? Will I spend days adjusting a detailed illustration to make it look natural in a different perspective, or will I do it in 3 seconds with a special tool, without touching the original (non-destructive effect) in VS. And so on.
You can pay the expense for the big programs or do everything manually. We all live forever, don't we? Not really. So ... hello compromise. Free choice, of course, but I think there's a pretty strong opposition of principle in here. We could have got to know 3 features of VS better in the time we've spent typing on our keyboards in here.
I've probably tried all the alternatives on Windows and macOS with focus on what gets results, secondarily what's reasonably easy to use. Affinity and VS do that for me together. But only one program is moving and adapting to user feedback: Vectorstyler.

Only one way to find out. 
"Anyway, I hope when this is implemented in Designer, it lives up to the expectations." (Quoting you)
When? If! On the Affinity front, people are waiting for the equivalent to the fabled year of desktop Linux. I've been listening to that dream on repeat since the turn of the millennium or more, and it's nowhere near happening, and similarly I've heard people dream in here about all the things that will come in Affinity when the miracle happens.
It has to be released to be real. It needs to be more than elementary implementations and algorithms (think of the skinny discount contour tool again which you still have to make do with). And it must be released before the Sun enters its Red Giant stage.    Yes, some features have been added along the way, incidentally from a simple version 1, so I don't see it as a sunshine story. It's never a winning argument to make a virtue out of necessity. But it was almost all bitmap features, while requests for non-basic vector features have gone unrewarded.
Vector or raster, you decide
Switch between full featured vector and raster workspaces with a single click
Vectorstyler, Illustrator and Coreldraw have a "full featured vector workspace" - Designer has a bit more than the bare minimum. Despite this pompous and misleading claim.
That's my point. It's simply not good enough anymore. So, no more talk, features please. And while waiting for the year of Affinity 2.0 or the Red Giant Stage, Vectorstyler is there. Or the bigger boys. Or a billion mouse clicks extra that no customer wants to pay for when you invoice your work.

Arh man. OK, here are two pretty safe statements.
Version 2 is coming, and there will probably be a (public) beta before that. I can wait. I need version 2, not version "2". Absolutely nothing will come of this thread and the like. It's a big messy spaghetti that somehow runs in endless circles. It's worse than Italian politics and governments. I'm not wasting my time waiting for Affinity v2, I'm a creative, but damn I'm wasting my time reading these posts. And even more on posting in here.
I'm going back to the studio, my time there can at least be billed, to the delight of my family and of course the software vendors I purchase or rent my software from.
Maybe we'll meet in threads about solving problems or about inspiration.
Meanwhile, create, create, create.
🖼️🖌️

Serif throws around fancy marketing terms to make money and capture customers because it works. Simply put. It has nothing to do with the programs themselves. I myself - like several in here - think their marketing shoots way over the mark, but I'm used to so much bullshit and so many exaggerations from many players in the market, so I'm immune. I detect it lightning fast by practical use of trials, and so the contrast between word and reality is definitely not in the software manufacturer's favor. There I must admit that my impression of Serif is not good after visiting the website. It is too much.
There's just one thing I think is silly I see a lot of in here, it's the total illusion many have about the programs ability and Serifs possibilities with them on the market. And all the original talk about "Adobe killers" is pure nonsense. Click bait and fantasies. 
Serif themselves know full well they don't make programs for companies of any significant size, nor do they target their marketing at such. I've never seen them direct significant or medium marketing at companies, I've never ever seen their programs among professionals, and their books and other materials are clearly aimed at pure beginners and creative individuals and partly at small businesses where money is scarce and needs small.
That's obvious, and it's perfectly fine. The Serif company has always aimed at the market they are aiming at now, but now a bit more ambitious and shiny. Unfortunately, progress is very, very slow. But it's a lucrative market, I have no doubt. And it's beyond doubt that Adobe and Corel can't or won't live off small customers. If anything, their programs are aimed at heavy, commercial use. That's why they cost what they cost. Serif, Xara and others are fighting for the small customers. There is not much overlap.
So it's interesting what Serif can and will do at all in the customer segment they live off. It is possible that some requested advanced features will only be used by a negligible part of Serif's customers, who write a lot in here, but make up a small part of the customers. And that Serif gets more out of developing features for the vast majority of their customers who are happy with the simpler and cheaper stuff. And who can easily be hit with marketing.
We'll find out. I certainly enjoy Designer as a niche program for limited use, but I long ago took the above as my starting point and bought and paid for the software that can deliver what I need. Today. Therefore, I don't have to wait with a mixture of blind hope and hard manual work. I have rewarded the competition because they have long since delivered the features you miss, and I am using them today.
Until then, be happy that there is silence from Serif for a little longer than you are used to, because they may be building on something bigger than they usually are. Just get used to the fact that everything costs time, money and people. And it hasn't been that long since the last version, anyway.

What if Serif never add the features you need or does … badly. That happened before. You are nervous about what-ifs in a situation where you have nothing? You are probably not Coca-Cola, you can afford this gamble. Life is like this. All the way. We have next to nothing on shelf 1 and a ton on shelf 2. Further, do you remember Freehand? Several Google products now retired?
And what if Serif goes the subscription way, like Adobe customers had to deal with from one moment to the other. There is no safety net.
Anyway this user nuanced and described the subject elegantly:
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/116946-blend-tool/page/2/#comment-945176

Only one way to find out. 
"Anyway, I hope when this is implemented in Designer, it lives up to the expectations." (Quoting you)
When? If! On the Affinity front, people are waiting for the equivalent to the fabled year of desktop Linux. I've been listening to that dream on repeat since the turn of the millennium or more, and it's nowhere near happening, and similarly I've heard people dream in here about all the things that will come in Affinity when the miracle happens.
It has to be released to be real. It needs to be more than elementary implementations and algorithms (think of the skinny discount contour tool again which you still have to make do with). And it must be released before the Sun enters its Red Giant stage.    Yes, some features have been added along the way, incidentally from a simple version 1, so I don't see it as a sunshine story. It's never a winning argument to make a virtue out of necessity. But it was almost all bitmap features, while requests for non-basic vector features have gone unrewarded.
Vector or raster, you decide
Switch between full featured vector and raster workspaces with a single click
Vectorstyler, Illustrator and Coreldraw have a "full featured vector workspace" - Designer has a bit more than the bare minimum. Despite this pompous and misleading claim.
That's my point. It's simply not good enough anymore. So, no more talk, features please. And while waiting for the year of Affinity 2.0 or the Red Giant Stage, Vectorstyler is there. Or the bigger boys. Or a billion mouse clicks extra that no customer wants to pay for when you invoice your work.

You speak of a distant past. Vectorstyler left the beta phase a very, very long time ago, and has been updated and improved incredibly and significantly over many updates since. And it continues like that. The improvements have mostly been based on customer feedback, and I've seen customers get their suggestions approved and implemented in days or weeks. So instead of walking away, I recommend joining that forum. There is listening, responding, reacting and implementing. The program has been significantly improved in 2022 alone. And since the program is developed so heavily on customer feedback, no strange or sadly simple tools have been implemented like in Affinity Designer - e.g. the contour tool. You really don't know what vector design CAN do until you've tried Vectortyler, Adobe Illustrator or Coreldraw and their many awesome features.
And then we just have the fact that Vectorstyler has almost every feature imaginable (And the rest on the roadmap), at least all the ones Affinity is missing and maybe 100 more (no kidding), and that the missing features on a roadmap that is public. I would guess that there are a lot of Affinity customers who can't afford not to try Vectorstyler, unless they want to pay for Adobe, Coreldrawor spend the rest of their lives on workarounds to do simple things. I don't get the impression from the typical Affinity customer that they have a big budget for software.
It's hilarious that people in here request features for years and hardly see a single one of these requests implemented by Serif (in recent years), while the same features exist in abundance in Vectorstyler or if features are requested, they end up visibly on a public roadmap. If not, the developer tells you directly; there is no uncertainty.
So, instead of the many blathering on in here over thousands of posts that don't make a single difference, I can recommend creatives to give Vectorstyler a try, there is a long trial, and even more recommend that you make your opinion known on Vectorstyler's forum, you can have an influence, e.g. you can get bugs fixed in a week. It's impossible to explain how liberating it is to get rid of software problems so incredibly fast. The license runs for a long time, so you're spoiled with Vectorstyler too.
Vectorstyler and Designer are a great pair, suddenly you have two excellent programs that together form a gigantic and versatile toolbox. That's how I as a creative, results-oriented person look at it.
While Affinity Designer has only the simplest and very few tools for vector drawing, and we have no idea what might come, and when, there are a lot of designers like me who NEED to supplement Affinity with a competent vector program. And that's where Vectorstyler comes into its own. Affinity Designer will never catch up to Vector Styler feature-wise. Keep that in mind too.
So no fanboy here; I use both programs separately or together and I like both programs. I could not here and now do without either of them on my macOS machine.
Still, whether one likes or needs a program like Vectorstyler is one's own business, but one should try the alternatives out there, and the Vectorstyler development is worth participating in as well as monitoring:
VectorStyler Roadmap
www.vectorstyler.com

I totally agree. The only thing I miss with Vectorstyler is a more refined user experience and interface but it will come. The guy behind it is a genius, it’s amazing how much work he’s been able to do on his own. And, like you said, he listens to customers and cares and works his ass off to consistently improve the app.  There’s a public roadmap etc… I have huge respect for Vectorstyler TBH.

You speak of a distant past. Vectorstyler left the beta phase a very, very long time ago, and has been updated and improved incredibly and significantly over many updates since. And it continues like that. The improvements have mostly been based on customer feedback, and I've seen customers get their suggestions approved and implemented in days or weeks. So instead of walking away, I recommend joining that forum. There is listening, responding, reacting and implementing. The program has been significantly improved in 2022 alone. And since the program is developed so heavily on customer feedback, no strange or sadly simple tools have been implemented like in Affinity Designer - e.g. the contour tool. You really don't know what vector design CAN do until you've tried Vectortyler, Adobe Illustrator or Coreldraw and their many awesome features.
And then we just have the fact that Vectorstyler has almost every feature imaginable (And the rest on the roadmap), at least all the ones Affinity is missing and maybe 100 more (no kidding), and that the missing features on a roadmap that is public. I would guess that there are a lot of Affinity customers who can't afford not to try Vectorstyler, unless they want to pay for Adobe, Coreldrawor spend the rest of their lives on workarounds to do simple things. I don't get the impression from the typical Affinity customer that they have a big budget for software.
It's hilarious that people in here request features for years and hardly see a single one of these requests implemented by Serif (in recent years), while the same features exist in abundance in Vectorstyler or if features are requested, they end up visibly on a public roadmap. If not, the developer tells you directly; there is no uncertainty.
So, instead of the many blathering on in here over thousands of posts that don't make a single difference, I can recommend creatives to give Vectorstyler a try, there is a long trial, and even more recommend that you make your opinion known on Vectorstyler's forum, you can have an influence, e.g. you can get bugs fixed in a week. It's impossible to explain how liberating it is to get rid of software problems so incredibly fast. The license runs for a long time, so you're spoiled with Vectorstyler too.
Vectorstyler and Designer are a great pair, suddenly you have two excellent programs that together form a gigantic and versatile toolbox. That's how I as a creative, results-oriented person look at it.
While Affinity Designer has only the simplest and very few tools for vector drawing, and we have no idea what might come, and when, there are a lot of designers like me who NEED to supplement Affinity with a competent vector program. And that's where Vectorstyler comes into its own. Affinity Designer will never catch up to Vector Styler feature-wise. Keep that in mind too.
So no fanboy here; I use both programs separately or together and I like both programs. I could not here and now do without either of them on my macOS machine.
Still, whether one likes or needs a program like Vectorstyler is one's own business, but one should try the alternatives out there, and the Vectorstyler development is worth participating in as well as monitoring:
VectorStyler Roadmap
www.vectorstyler.com

Thank you!  That was really helpful. The locate button made me find an empty frame causing missing warning.
There is one issue that still remains. Publisher do set local formatting,
and just changing font in text-styles does not fix this. I need to clear all paragraphs for local formatting one by one.

change the font back to arial before deleting the font.
Lee

The point is: This is fonts I don't need.
I don't want to try 30 fonts and leave all of them on my system.
So, deleting them as I go is the desired workflow, but if that doesn't go well with Publisher I can make a list on my desktop and take it when I've found the fonts I need.

Don't delete fonts that you need?

Insightful post. I don't  think Affinity is just for beginners and creative individuals. But I certainly hope you're right about the positive side of Serif being silent a little longer.

Serif throws around fancy marketing terms to make money and capture customers because it works. Simply put. It has nothing to do with the programs themselves. I myself - like several in here - think their marketing shoots way over the mark, but I'm used to so much bullshit and so many exaggerations from many players in the market, so I'm immune. I detect it lightning fast by practical use of trials, and so the contrast between word and reality is definitely not in the software manufacturer's favor. There I must admit that my impression of Serif is not good after visiting the website. It is too much.
There's just one thing I think is silly I see a lot of in here, it's the total illusion many have about the programs ability and Serifs possibilities with them on the market. And all the original talk about "Adobe killers" is pure nonsense. Click bait and fantasies. 
Serif themselves know full well they don't make programs for companies of any significant size, nor do they target their marketing at such. I've never seen them direct significant or medium marketing at companies, I've never ever seen their programs among professionals, and their books and other materials are clearly aimed at pure beginners and creative individuals and partly at small businesses where money is scarce and needs small.
That's obvious, and it's perfectly fine. The Serif company has always aimed at the market they are aiming at now, but now a bit more ambitious and shiny. Unfortunately, progress is very, very slow. But it's a lucrative market, I have no doubt. And it's beyond doubt that Adobe and Corel can't or won't live off small customers. If anything, their programs are aimed at heavy, commercial use. That's why they cost what they cost. Serif, Xara and others are fighting for the small customers. There is not much overlap.
So it's interesting what Serif can and will do at all in the customer segment they live off. It is possible that some requested advanced features will only be used by a negligible part of Serif's customers, who write a lot in here, but make up a small part of the customers. And that Serif gets more out of developing features for the vast majority of their customers who are happy with the simpler and cheaper stuff. And who can easily be hit with marketing.
We'll find out. I certainly enjoy Designer as a niche program for limited use, but I long ago took the above as my starting point and bought and paid for the software that can deliver what I need. Today. Therefore, I don't have to wait with a mixture of blind hope and hard manual work. I have rewarded the competition because they have long since delivered the features you miss, and I am using them today.
Until then, be happy that there is silence from Serif for a little longer than you are used to, because they may be building on something bigger than they usually are. Just get used to the fact that everything costs time, money and people. And it hasn't been that long since the last version, anyway.

Hello
It's true that Affinity Designer doesn't have much to offer in terms of vector tools. There have been really many requests, complaints and frustrations about the lack and waiting time in here. It is also hard to know if we can expect anything at all. And what.
If you have an M1 mac, then I think you should take a look at Vectorstyler, which really offers many vector tools. Vectorstyler is the logical alternative to Illustrator and Coreldraw when you look at features.
Affinity Designer is probably better compared to Krita. I really get a lot out of Designer for pixel based work, but it's never going to replace or directly compete with Illustrator and Coreldraw. 
Workflows with multiple programs, file exchanges, clipboard and such complex documents are a nightmare - a slow nightmare, so I pay the price for the right tools, so the tool often chooses itself.

There are many roads to Rome, and you should probably google 'output sharpening' and 'enlarge for print' - especially output sharpening.
But I must mention Topaz Gigapixel, which is not the solution to everything that needs enlarging, but which has changed my relationship to size altogether in many contexts.
Gigapixel AI (topazlabs.com)

Hello
It's true that Affinity Designer doesn't have much to offer in terms of vector tools. There have been really many requests, complaints and frustrations about the lack and waiting time in here. It is also hard to know if we can expect anything at all. And what.
If you have an M1 mac, then I think you should take a look at Vectorstyler, which really offers many vector tools. Vectorstyler is the logical alternative to Illustrator and Coreldraw when you look at features.
Affinity Designer is probably better compared to Krita. I really get a lot out of Designer for pixel based work, but it's never going to replace or directly compete with Illustrator and Coreldraw. 
Workflows with multiple programs, file exchanges, clipboard and such complex documents are a nightmare - a slow nightmare, so I pay the price for the right tools, so the tool often chooses itself.

Yes, I know, but what you mention is the most elementary use case for trivial tracing that all design applications with layers support.
If, like me, you work with really complex designs with lots of layers and objects covering the whole page, and use several bitmaps as a starting point for what to draw, throughout the entire design process, then it is exactly this functionality I mentioned from e.g. Vectorstyler, where in outline view you see outlines and bitmaps in shades of grey, that I need.
In Vectorstyler, in outline view you see these bitmaps in grayscale regardless of how many vector objects are placed on top of them, covering them completely, and then I can trace or align with all objects visible. That's how it should work. Simple, easy and tailored for tracing.
But now I use Affinity Designer mostly, and I think this functionality is severely lacking in Affinity Designer. I spend too much time on the alternative workflows Affinity unfortunately makes necessary.

is there a way to preview art in outline mode (Draw Persona) while keeping the imported "template" image visible?

I'm looking for a convenient way to switch to a outline view so I can work to a reference image underneath. 

I am using a color template on the bottom layer and drawing over the top of it. Sometimes it's hard to see the details of the template. When I go into outline mode the template disappears. Is there a way to be able to see the template when you're in outline mode? Am on a Mac

Reinstalling doesn't always wipe user settings - but reinstalls and reconfigures program settings. It probably should also should offer to reset user settings - reinstalling is after all usually performed to solve issues that can be caused by program setting issues or user setting errors. Who knows what the root cause is, after all.