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Does this have to be done for every new document? I don't see why I have to change each document. Thanks for any advice.

Is there a resource somewhere to show how to do things in Affinity Designer that I'm used to doing in DrawPlus? For example, I just found out there is no trace feature. But how about PhotoLab and Cutout studio? And I am used to pressing ctrl-x to enable the crop tool which now does not have a hotkey. While I am interested in the answers to these specific questions, I don't want to have to come to the forum for every DrawPlus missing-or-equivalent feature I run into. Is there a help file or video or somesuch that has all these. It would make it much easier for DrawPlus users to cope with this Mac-inspired "improvement". Back in the day, Microsoft offered help to ease WordPerfect defectors over to msWord. That's the kind of thing I'm looking for since the jump from DrawPlus to Designer seems to be an equivalently wide span. I just purchased Designer and I am trying to decide whether to take advantage of the 14-day return and need some help. I don't want to have to use Designer + DrawPlus (to fill in the gaps) very long. Thanks.

+1 for option to lighten tools panels and toolbars. I feel like I am in a dark cave - kind of claustrophobic. I lightened the drawing area but still need more. Thanks.

I don't have time now to learn how to attach files so here it is on dropbox. I think my perception of speed is partly seeing the object move then seeing its representation move on the layers tab. Also, when I first wrote, I had zoomed in on some objects and forgot there were a couple of other objects on the drawing so they may have been adding to the "slowness". It still seems sluggish compared to DrawPlus. https://www.dropbox.com/s/4mjjr39jy4s6w5g/affinity%20designer%20-%20arranging%20objects%20on%20layer.wmv?dl=0

Feature request: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/22304-location-of-view-menu-not-windows-standard/ I just joined the beta today so I've missed out on previous backstory on this. As Bhikkhu Pesala pointed out, Serif has many longtime customers using the Plus products. I started with PagePlus 3 and have pretty much the full product line, several versions of each. One of the selling points and advantages of Serif products was not having to endure a major re-learning process across products and versions. Now the attitude seems to be "It was fun while it lasted, but that was then and this is now" (or "that was PC, this is Mac"). In general, as a consumer, I seldom worry about production issues, behind the curtain, to produce products I use. The fact that tutorial videos, help files, etc. might be a problem for Serif (or any supplier) doesn't bother me as much as how much hassle I have to put up with to use a product. The product has to be extremely useful and valuable to me before I agree to jump thru too many hoops to be a customer. Product and company loyalty only goes so far. I think the suggestion -- to ship Designer with easily-accessed profiles allowing PC users to feel comfortable and productive -- is an excellent and commonsense one. I think users could use Mac-like documentation about feature functionality even after swapping in a PC profile. But how much effort would it be to go thru the Help adding footnotes like "If you use the PC profile, press ctrl-shift-down arrow instead of Ctrl-["?

In every other windows program I use, the View menu is 2nd or 3rd from the left (File - Edit - View OR File - View). In Affinity Designer it is closer to the right on the toolbar. Is this some kind of Mac standard? Is there a logical reason for this positioning? I found it confusing. Can it be moved to a more windows-standard position? Can something like a profile be developed so a user could make Designer look more like DrawPlus? Having joined the beta somewhat late, I did not realize that maintaining windows standards are not very high priority (as discussed here: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/22296-location-of-view-menu-not-windows-standard/&p=104487). I have been using Serif products since PagePlus 3. I don't plan on every owning a Mac. I can understand the philosophy of maintaining mac-based look-and-feel for multi-platform design shops. But I don't think it is too unreasonable to expect some kind of continuity for us longtime Plus users.

Thanks. I guess I'm used to DrawPlus speed and nimbleness. Now I see that the hotkeys are working. I didn't realize everything happens in slow motion. If you say DrawPlus and Designer are not related I have to believe you. But Designer looks like a darker, more monochrome version of DP. The studio tabs are obviously very similar. I agree with Bhikkhu Pesala that easily-accessed profiles -- especially including one for DrawPlus compatibility -- should be shipped with the program. BTW - Here edit > preferences > keyboard shortcuts is truncated to "eyboard shortcul".

I opened a help topic but the text was small so I zoomed in with ctrl-mouseWheel. The index pane on the left disappeared. After a while, I clicked the button with 3 horizontal lines and the index opened on top of the contents pane, hiding some of the contents text. Clicking on the button again hid the index pane. I guess I could get used to this but it is not like any other windows program help I've seen before. I found it disorienting and confusing. Perhaps the default topic upon opening Help should be about using Help.

When I opened Help, the window has a dark bar across the top. It was not at all obvious there were search capabilities. There is a magnifying glass at the right -- that is clear with good contrast. But at the left, where you enter your search terms -- 2 purple arrows almost completely blend into the dark background and the tiny prompt "click here to search" is even worse.

Ctrl+[ and Ctrl+] don't do anything with selected objects that I can tell. I have a drawing with 3 quick shapes overlapping. I selected the object in the middle why I tried these key combos. Nothing. I agree with Bhikkhu Pesala in another post - that default hotkeys should match DrawPlus hotkeys rather than the hotkeys in the Mac version of Affinity Designer. And that shortcuts should be user definable.

Thanks. Your logic is correct. That's what I had in mind but badly mangled. If I have something selected, it always reverts back to whole document. That's the scenario that should be changed. I agree with your point #2.

In every other windows program I use, the View menu is 2nd or 3rd from the left (File - Edit - View OR File - View). In Affinity Designer it is closer to the right on the toolbar. Is this some kind of Mac standard? Is there a logical reason for this positioning? I found it confusing. Can it be moved to a more windows-standard position?

In DrawPlus you can order objects by the keyboard shortcuts ctrl-shift-upArrow (arrange > order objects > forward one) or ctrl-shift-downArrow (arrange > order objects > back one). This is very handy. In Affinity Designer, these shortcuts move a selected objects down or up on the drawing. How can I get the DP functionality in a shortcut?

I have 2 monitors (laptop screen + monitor). In every other windows program I use, I can press shift-windows-left arrow (or right arrow) to push the currently-focused program to the other monitor. This combo does nothing in Affinity Designer. Is this by design? Is something wrong here? Can this be fixed?

I exported a selection to PNG. Next time I used file > export the default was back to whole document. Do I have to repetitively change this every time? Can't I make my previous choice (e.g. selection) persist?

I agree. I feel like I'm in a dark cave, staring at fuzzy wall engravings (especially small font sizes - e.g. "Draw behind fill" on stroke tab) . I also have aging eyes.