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Here's a list of some of the bugs which have been fixed in beta build 2.5.0.2402, since 2.4.2 (2371)
Please reply in this forum only to comment on any fixes which are in this list (in particular to let us know if you notice that something we say is fixed isn't!) To report any new bugs please do that against the relevant new feature post, or if unrelated to new functionality in the Other New Bugs and Issues in the Betas forum.
(A) Bug fixes which affected all platforms 
User file- Importing PSD file fails to load and causes high RAM usage AF-2621 Select options in Photo Persona are offset based on bleed AF-1973 Cut and pasting Anchors creates a new Anchor, breaking Cross References to the original Anchor or Paragraph AF-1911 SVG rectangle with width="100%" height="100%" is imported incorrectly as 1x1 AF-1899 Eight digit SVG hex values not being parsed correctly AF-2152 Exporting to PDF with Tagging enabled fails when a text object is visually cropped with a vector mask, inside a group that is visually cropped with a vector mask AF-2112 Resource manager: OpenAsset image status shows as "Pending"  User file- Importing PSD file fails to load and causes high RAM usage AF-2621 Paragraph > Spacing > Leading can be set to a negative value  (B) Bug fixes which affected Desktop (Windows and macOS) 
Blur Tool: blur effect quite subtle if Metal compute acceleration is enabled AF-2268 Text Styles Panel not displaying decorations correctly with CMYK values  Text Style Editor: Shouldn't each Stylistic Set be a On/Off/No Change value rather than a number  Text Style Editor: Caps to Small Caps/Petite Caps shows as Normal Caps in Style Settings  Text Style Editor: Stylistic Sets and Character Variants are not capped to the font max  Text Style Editor: Deleting a Shear or Scale value will set it to 'No Change' but doesn't remove the value from the style  Text Style Editor: Desired Word (and Letter) Spacing is not capped by Minimum and Maximum Word (and Letter) Spacing options  Text Style Editor: Bullet List font cannot be removed (or added) by checking 'Use Selected Font'  Text Style Editor: Initial Words end characters cannot be set to 'No Change' after modifying Text Style Editor: Bullet List font cannot be removed (or added) by checking 'Use Selected Font' Text Style Editor: Desired Word (and Letter) Spacing is not capped by Minimum and Maximum Word (and Letter) Spacing options AutoCorrect - Capitalise first letter of sentences issue AF-2340 [User File] Placing .xlsx causes app to hang and never recover AF-2374 Running headers and paragraph style that is used in more than one paragraph in a row AF-1940 Hyperlink panel displays the same/first anchor for all if multiple are setup AF-1647 Find & Replace- Searching for words with an Anchor/note/index marker inserted will fail to find the word with 'match whole word' enabled AF-1928 Text styles panel doesn't show the text stroke outline unless you've also set the fill colour on MacOS AF-2186 Editing a TOC heading and updating TOC creates a new anchor incorrectly AF-1912 Develop Persona- Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C Lens profile not identified in the lens panel AF-2132 Importing a multi level list into Pub with various text styles AF-1832 HEIC files with transparency import with a solid black fill in place of the transparency  Table Format's text style appears blank if the original style has been renamed  [macOS/Win] Resource Manager panel doesn't update automatically  New Stack with images using 'bottom right' metadata orientation are stacked upside down AF-996 [User File] Placing .xlsx causes app to hang and never recover AF-2374 Linked multi-page PDF files default to Page 1 when re-loading the document, changing passthrough policy subsequently causes an app crash AF-2662 (C) Bugs fixed which specifically affected Windows 
LAB/Greyscale values are showing with decimals AF-2327 Edit Text Style dialog does not always fit on screen & cannot be resized, hiding OK / Cancel options AF-2351 When inserting a Cross-Reference the Search from start files is not active AF-1747 Email Hyperlinks with multiple email addresses (CC & BCC) fail to validate / export AF-1736 Brush Previews are drawn within the Colour Picker Loupe when using the ALT modifier with Brush Tools Clear User Data dialog does not fit on screen for smaller displays AF-2217 Undesired Colour Conversion when using 'Performed by Printer' AF-1633 Buttons disappearing from preflight panel AF-2643 Menu Edit > Fill...: pressing Enter to validate choice/close dialog no longer works AF-2232 Text Style Editor: Outline stroke style doesn't have the ability to set 'No change'. Text Style Editor: Scrollers on Alternates page have a different max value on macOS than Windows [Japanese] Multiple panels show clipping [Spanish] Multiple panels show clipping Edit Text Style: There is a red dot bleeding through under Outline Export Persona: you can lose the Variable and Description fields in the Token flyout Publisher When export to PDF the UI progress bar freezes but the PDF is exported Right click on Masked layer's icon on parent layer does not select mask layer  Edit > Copy Merged is incorrect for Portuguese AF-2188 Difficulty dragging a layer to the top of the stack  AF-2144 Grid and Axis manager always uses 3 decimal point values when adjusting using slider, regardless of UI setting AF-2450 Mouse Scrolling the Angle field in FX does not visually update changes on canvas when cursor is over the Angle value itself AF-2121 Overprint Swatches when Show as List enabled do not visually clip the ellipse used to denote the Overprint state AF-1323 Pressing Esc whilst dragging on Transform panel controls causes the controls to start reacting to mouseover Colour Studio in Slider view offers 16bit / Percentage options for HSL and LAB incorrectly AF-2424 Changing Colour Studio view from Sliders changes colour mode settings applied in Slider view AF-2423 Can't print multiple artboards with bleed AF-2358 Export Palette option is not greyed out in Swatches Studio menu with a Pantone Palette selected Show Column Guides and Show Pixel Selection toggles are missing in the pixel persona New Document dialog: No X to close documents in List View Overprint is not enabled when creating a Global Colour, and disables when edited 'Search' fields do not offer a right click context menu 'New from Clipboard' fails with SVG code on the clipboard AF-854 Stroke Well in Colour Studio cannot be clicked in the centre of the icon AF-2070 Layers Panel- Shift selecting multiple layers after using the Select > Select Bottom/Top command does not function AF-1820 Right click on Masked layer's icon on parent layer does not select mask layer Select all layers keyboard shortcut not set by default  Cannot reapply the highlighted text style to multiple paragraphs (D) Bugs fixed which specifically affected macOS 
Placing any multiple page PDF and setting duplicate to display a different page will always show page 1 when saved and reopened AF-1726 'Characters Including Spaces' only shows as 'Characters' in the Status bar AF-1958 Colour modes in Colour Studio Slider view incorrectly share display settings, causing incorrect colour values to be shown AF-2421 Edit Text Style - Position & Transform baseline jumps to negative value AF-1691 Procedural Texture- 'rgbtoi' function canvas rendering inconsistent with metal enabled AF-1963 Text Style Editor: Setting Outline Stroke style to No Change doesn't appear to fully revert the values Show Column Guides and Show Pixel Selection toggles are missing in the pixel persona AF-2119 Layers Release option in context menu becomes greyed out when you have more than 30 objects selected Copy To Category missing from Brush context menu AF-1666 MS Word doc with page range index references aren't supported AF-1618 CMYK Color sliders in colour chooser inconsistent AF-657 Chinese and Japanese characters fail to show on 'finger tooltip' Trash Can icon on Anchor Panel is too small on macOS Document Setup missing from File menu in Pixel Persona AF-839
  (E) Bugs fixed which specifically affected iPad 
Appearance > Options > Colour Wheel causes a crash  Korean Text does not get input/combined correctly on iPadOS AF-1268 Layers Studio menu missing 'Release' and 'Mask to Below' commands AF-1919 Top ruler is missing when stage manager is active  AF-1338 White flash shows on loading the in-app iPad help     Copy To Category missing from Brush context menu   pop-up dialogs from adjustments do not turn translucent when dragging the slider AF-595 Resource Manager Details page doesn't update automatically   Chinese and Japanese characters fail to show on 'finger tooltip'     iPad edit / document menus conflict with brush settings     CMD+S shortcut doesn't work on the magic keyboard with Zhuyin input AF-669 Able to set negative values on Corner Tool slider 
  If you have reported a bug and it is not yet fixed, please do not report it again. More fixes will be made during the 2.5 beta cycle.

Apps: Designer
Platforms: macOS, Windows and iPad
Affinity Designer now includes a new width tool which is available by default alongside the pencil tool in your toolbar:

The Line Width Tool gives you an on-document way of editing the pressure profile of any curve. For example the curve below has 3 pressure points (5 including the start and end pressure). While in the Line Width tool the position of those points are shown along the curve, and you have the ability to drag to change the width and position of them. 
You can also click to add a new pressure point, or double click to remove any pressure point on a curve.

There are various modifiers available which you can see in the status bar:
Shift + Drag - allows you to modify the width at any point without adjusting it's position
Cmd (Mac) / Ctrl (Win) + Click - manually enter the width required at the chosen point
Ctrl (Mac) / Ctrl (Win) + Drag - move the point position without adjusting the width
Double click - remove pressure point
Additionally you will find some other options in the context toolbar when using this tool:

Adjust Line Weight - if this is turned on then should you drag the width of any point to be greater than the current line width (i.e. greater than 100% pressure) the line width will be increased to allow you to drag the width unrestricted. If it is turned off then the maximum width you can drag to is 100% of the set line width.
Allow point reordering - This option allows to you to specify whether you want to allow the tool to drag one point past another along the curve, effectively swapping their order, or not.
Snap to curve nodes - This will show any nodes on the curve as small white dots and will snap any pressure points to those nodes
Snap to widths on same curve - this will snap the width at any pressure point on a curve to other widths which already exist on that curve. This only applies when holding shift (i.e. you are adjusting the width without altering the point position).
Snap to curve geometry - this will snap the width to the geometry of any selected curves (again if you are holding shift). 

There are a few other minor improvements to mention in 2.5:
1. Some new cameras have been added to LibRAW:
FujiFilm X100VI Leica SL3 Pentax KF (Rioch) Samsung Galaxy S23+ Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Sony ILCE-9M3 (A9 III) [improved] 2. As was requested in a few places before and on the last beta, when you have "Transform objects separately" checked and have a multi-selection, if you type a value in either the width or height field and precede it with an equals sign (e.g. H: '=100px') then it will set all objects in that selection to have that specific width or height value entered. This is opposed to scaling the other objects in your selection proportionally based on the key object which is he result you get without the equals sign.
3. DWG polylines import improvements
We have made some substantial improvements when importing polylines, which now ignores the cached points which AutoCAD creates. This simplifies the resulting curves substantially.

Apps: All
Platforms: macOS, Windows and iPad
A new QR Code tool is now available from the shapes flyout in the toolbar, making it easy to add a QR code to your documents. 
After creating or selecting a QR Code object you will find a 'Payload' option in the context toolbar. Here you can type whatever URL you want the QR code to link to when it is scanned.


In addition to URLs you can use other syntax as detailed below to have the QR code trigger other functions when scanned by a device:
SMS
Payload structure: SMSTO:number:text message
Eg. SMSTO:07513123456:Hello mate!
GEO location
Payload structure: GEO:lat:lon:height
Eg. GEO:40.71872,-73.98905,100
WIFI credentials
Payload structure: WIFI:S:ssid;T:type;P:password;;
Eg. WIFI:S:MyWiFiSSID;T:WPA;P:MyPassW0rd;;

Apps: Designer
Platforms: macOS, Windows and iPad
We have made some further improvements to the pencil tool.
Firstly we are now using a new curve smoothing algorithm which we believe gives general better, smoother, results when using the pencil tool.
Secondly as has been commonly requested we have now changed the "Auto-close" method so that when you have that option checked in the context toolbar the curve only closes when you are near to the start point of the curve being drawn. You will now get an indicator when you are in range of the start position of the curve so you know when a curve will be auto-closed.

We are adding variable support to 2.5 but is still going through some final internal testing. This should be available in a beta update next week.

Hi,
In photopea there is a search function for tools and filters. I think it's useful because I don't like to click through a lot of menus.

I like the place panel but I would like it to be persistent. If I drag 20 images and start placing them one by one (not autoflow), I cannot stop the process or switch to another tool to make a small adjustment, otherwise the place panel disappears and I loose track of what images have already been placed.
Making it persistent like any other panel would be very helpful when working with imported assets

Google has introduced JPEGLI, a new better type of JPEG that seems to be compatible with existing JPEG decoders. It seems to improve the quality of the JPEG images, and at the same time give a 35% better compression. It's also 10 bit, instead of 8 bit.
It's an open source library, so Serif could use it without license problems.
Could it be useful to implement JPEGLI in Affinity Photo etc. ?

I don't find the location for this option to be difficult to access, but I agree that you should be able to set metadata such as author and title in Designer and that you should be able to tab from field to field. Note that you can set the author name in Photo - it's in the Metadata panel.
Note that you can also set the default value for Publisher's Author field so that you don't have to keep doing this for each PDF. To set the default, enter your name in the Author field in the Fields panel and press Return when you have no documents open.
 

Unfortunately, as a user of Canvaffinity Designer, I have to go all the way into Publisher to find the functionality to set metadata about myself as the author of a file that is going out into the world as a PDF, and even more unfortunately, I have to go under "Window" and the submenu "References" to find the menu item Fields, where I can write Document Information. I could really use the theme music from Benny Hill while clicking my way to this illogical location in another program from the large Canva family.
But it becomes really annoying, on the other hand, when as a customer you discover that you can't tab from field to field in the dialog.
I wonder if you are ready to include document info with these lines also elsewhere in the program where you actually work with document information, where it is expected, and then with tab support in both places.
It's completely absurd because the most central and simple thing in a document - this metadata and logical addition of it for customers - has not been considered in the development of Affinity by Serif for 10 years. First things first. Not last.

Let me put it another way, I would like to hear the reasoning for why it has NOT been implemented yet, given how crucial both the functionality and the mathematical level and quality of the algorithm are for serious work.

Hi there at Affinity,
 
Just making the transition from Illustrator, and after doing help searches, I do not think Affinity has an option to Simplify Paths, like illustrator does?
 
Think this would be a really good feature to implement, as converting strokes creates zillions of nodes, and need to simplify these.
 
Thanks Huelo

I would like to request a simplify path tool. I do a lot of hand drawn vector art, it would be very useful to be able to select a shape and simplify and tidy up its nodes without having to do so manually node by node. 
 
I did a search before posting this and didn't see it in the list of existing feature requests, if I have missed it, please direct me to the post and I will add my vote there.

The tools we end up using in the grand scheme are not the be all, end all of what sets us apart professionally as designers. Those focusing on which tools were used ("I used these long before these other 4 things came along!") have missed the point entirely.
If an artist is exclusively using Procreate, for example, to make a very decent living, then it doesn't matter in the end whether it is considered "pro" tools to that person. They balk at these discussions because they're often maligned by the elitist crowd as if they're exempt from the industry overall because they use an iPad over Mac/PC, etc. That discussion happened earlier and it is ironic given what gave Affinity its head start.
Affinity benefited a great deal from embracing this crowd, but they risk falling into the same counter-productive rat race as Adobe trying to score points by packing on half-baked features but not refining the programs to keep intact what sets them apart from traditionally industry tools, practically speaking.
One of the major reason programs like Procreate are so popular are because they are snappy, simple, yet highly polished and help produce deliverable productions with great UX. It is very accessible to people who need a workflow that works best with their creativity rather than being hobbled down with overbuilt functionality, needless knobs, dialogs, bugs, etc.
I imagine its also why some people don't upgrade to V2. Just a thought.

Hi All,
We have just made a build available of a 2.4.2 beta live - version 2.4.2.2356 - This was created to address issues found after the release of 2.4.0 & 2.4.1  This is now available to you on auto update (except for 2.4.2 betas on iPad which are in review with Apple and should be available in the next 24 hours).
The fix list for this build is here 
There is one significant change to the Help on macOS that is described here
 
 
We are planning to start a larger beta of 2.5.0 that will include new features and improvements, but this new 2.4.2 build is just for these bugfixes.
Ash

A big thumbs up to affinity for pledging to offer perpetual licenses at reasonable prices. It's pleasing that they are aware of customer concerns.
 
Especially the perpetual licenses at a reasonable price part. Corel and Quark offer perpetual licenses, but they aren't reasonable. You still need a yearly maintenance subscription to use a lot of features or get upgrade pricing.  Their perpetual licenses are really designed to push people into subscription. 
 
Does the Affinity Pledges make me feel better about this buy out? No. Bottom line: Canva answers to investors. And investors love subscriptions. Down the road, I could see Canva rebranding Affinity as the "Canva Pro" range to get around the pledge for perpetual licenses.
 
I really wish Serif could have done their own IPO to remain independent. Or had been purchased by someone like Microsoft who have a (fairly) good (modern) track record for offering fairly priced perpetual licenses. I am happy that the Affinity team got the financial success they deserved. But I'm deeply heartbroken that my favorite app suite is in the hands of a company whose bread and butter is subscription. 

I've been following this topic now from the beginning on ... feeling seriously unhappy about the mutitude of personal vendettas going on here that distract from the core issues  (doing no good for this discussion).
Why do we all (or at least most of us) post here? I presume to express our insecurity with regards to the future of Affinity products. Many people involved here driven by a long term involvement in the product development process. Many users being scared of significant price changes or pricing models (subscription). Many people aware of the experience from former take-overs of sw companies - and the results. And - having general moral company integrity in mind - not trusting pledges and promises, since most companies did not keep those and betrayed their customers.
On the other hand, what do we try to achieve? Financiel decisions have been made. Affinity is no longer in the drivers seat. Marketing bullshit has been send out. Canva is aware of the lack of trust in them. Whinging around does not improve the situation! Lets ask Canva for commitment on their pledges. We will not change Canvas possible decision in the future to come up with a subscription model (what they announced already). We will not even be able to commit them on sticking to the promise to keep the perpetual license alive on a long term. Promises that have been broken in many other companies.
But for now, we can still try to get a better V2.5 and V3.0. (I hope the promise will last at least that long). Seriously - I don't trust, I don't believe. But since this decision is not in our hands (money is sadly not based on moral integrity). We still have things to gain! - The "No" is for sure ... the "yes" is an option.

And to make this clear: Serif: I'm very angry about you! You are jeopardizing the future of many creative people, since noone easily changes the design software like underware in the morning. To make it clear: giving up control just for the money! Just the opposite of the ideals you promoted for the last 10 years!
I just seriously ask Canva to keep the pledges! Don't try to copy Adobe, the original is always the better choice.
Cheers, Timo

People are suffering from shock. After moving to Affinity in good faith, there seems to be a possiblity that the software could suddenly become unusable if activation is cancelled. That makes us hostages. I don't like it. Bit Disappointed has pointed out that this happened with Capture One Express.
If Affinity is genuine about at least continuing to honour existing perpetual licences, they should make it so the activation code is enough to activate the software without needing online activation. People would at least be sure then that Affinity 2.4 would continue to work for them.

Let's remember well what it says on The Affinity and Canva Pledge page.

To followup on some of my comments yesterday, we are today enshrining our commitment to the Affinity community in 4 pledges made by the Affinity and Canva teams.
You can read about them here.

We do truly believe the coming together of Affinity and Canva is only going to be a good thing for our customers, staff and the development of our apps. We very much hope you will all continue to be with us on this journey.
All the best,
Ash

No.   When they push out a subscription model to the millions of Canva users, it will have two effects,
1 They will gain more Canva users than affinity users they loose. So Canva won't care about the original Affinity users.
2 Affinity/Serif will become Canva/amateur programs and move out of the pro/semi-pro market they were gaining ground in to stay firmly in the highly unprofessional market home user market.  
(and 3 Adobe will breathe a sigh of relief. )
It will be interesting to read the history of Serif /Affinity on Wikipedia in a year or two.
 
As suggested by others, I have now adopted the Angry Cat Avatar as a protest about all this.
That is why there are more angry cat avatars in this thread, I recommend others follow suite.
 

This is the changes post. There are no changes appart from Lessons.
but
 

I couldn't find a list of new features / changes / patches in this version anywhere.

I'm surprised everyone agrees with "That is not my experience.". Curious.
My steps:
1. in Firefox, copy an image
2. in AP, File > New from Clipboard
3. Select the Color Picker tool
4. Click on the image, let's say a red pixel.
    Result:
    A) the color circles at the bottom of the toolbar show "background: (Red circle)" (good, this is how every other software works)
    B) the whole image is tinted red (did not expect that)
5. Undo 4. (the color circle again shows "no color (/)"
6. Uncheck "Apply to Selection" in the tool settings bar
7. Click on a red pixel again.
    Result: nothing happens. The color circle still shows (/), the image is unchanged
Why?
 
P.S. @loukash, I did spend quite a bit of time with AP when Corona hit, I bought the books, I watched dozens of videos. Three years later, I still occasionally fail miserably at supposedly simple tasks that I cannot figure out.