Roger H

Exactly. It seems that everything has to be manually created on each page. Most disappointing.

Is Publisher intended for laying out long structured documents? Reports, novels, textbooks and the like. If so, it would seem there must be some easy way to manipulate hundreds of frames at a time. I favour the master page approach. Master page text frames populate frames on content pages. Change the master, change all dependent frames on content pages. But that feature isn't in the beta, is it?

It must be tough being a software developer to create a forum to engage with it's user base and them being told it does not listen to them. These kinds of threads and reviews must hurt.
This is the first beta, and things are not perfect yet, and stuff is missing which needs to be added to be a stronger product. BUT this is only the beginning and I think theyve already shown they can come up with well working solutions to problems that are better than the competition. The products are very accessible and work well for the most part. Designer and Photo have really give us some options beyond Adobe, which I highly appreciate. However they are not simple copies, and people will always complain about things they know from their workflow in other programs. Sometimes however these methods are not even the best way to do things, but it is the way it is done by most because the software dictates this workflow. If I wanted to add raster elements and multiple effects to a vector drawing I had to abandon Illustrator and jump to Photoshop. Designer has created a much more streamlined workflow for this. I hope Publisher will streamline parts of my workflow too, but these changes sometimes take some time and getting used to.
I think Affinity/Serif have shown enough to give them the time and patience to develop the app to its full potential. I also wish for a credible alternative to indesign (my most used program) because I don't like paying so much for the subscription. I have tested Quark but that is such a mess of a program, that Publisher actually suits my workflow much better already in its first beta, which is really nice! I will happily pay for a software like this.

Exactly. It seems that everything has to be manually created on each page. Most disappointing.

The problem these days is the enormous range of things published -- from greeting cards, novels, textbooks, to multi-volume encyclopaedias. This is compounded by print and digital versions. Therefore developing a program that functions ideally for everyone's work is always going to be difficult if not impossible. The features felt to be necessary will vary with each publisher and user.
My initial download copy was obviously buggy and I now realise it wasn't functioning as it should. Once I realised this and re downloaded it, all became clear. To my mind, I think of the Master pages as they currently are to be more like templates. Once you have created a template you can insert this into a page. These 'set-up' pages can then be used like masters and duplicated. If for example you are setting up a 12 chapter book, you can duplicate the pages for the chapter opening page and body pages and simply fill in the text boxes as you go. All opening pages for example will be set out exactly the same. 
Over all, this is good for a beta  entry and is workable especially I think for short documents such as magazines or booklets but perhaps not so ideal if you were publishing a set of 20 illustrated encyclopaedias! Hopefully, when other features are live and newer ones added this will be great.
I hope they add autoflow with pages and text boxes inserted to accommodate overflowing text, a preflight and the ability to import doc or docx and pdf files. I notice the 'place' feature is there but not operational at present. 
 
 

Exactly. It seems that everything has to be manually created on each page. Most disappointing.

Exactly. It seems that everything has to be manually created on each page. Most disappointing.

If your download is faulty, it’s unlikely that the installer will run correctly. Instead of wasting time and ‘bandwidth’ by fetching a fresh copy, hold down the Ctrl key while launching the installed app. When the ‘Clear User Data’ dialog appears, release the Ctrl key and press ‘Clear’.

Thanks Wosven. Very kind. That's how I did do it! And it didn't change with subsequent pages. That was my point - a master page that wasn't a master just a mirror image. I have deleted Publisher and have now re downloaded it from scratch just in case there is a glitch in my version and will try again. Thanks for advice.  

Firstly may I say that I didn't say it was 'unprofessional' You did! I said "as it stands it's not a 'serious commercial production tool". (Yet).
You obviously have misunderstood my meaning. My view was based on disappointment that having to draw text boxes on every page and for every heading from guides on a master page (advice I was given) means that it won't become the industry 'standard' software which after the long awaited arrival and much anticipation, many of us hoped it would be.  
For example, I setup a facing master page with a box for the page number. It correctly showed this on the master by numbering pages 1 and 2. When I applied this master to the document pages, they too were labelled 1 and 2. All of them! No page 3 or 4 - just 1 & 2! I really cannot see that having to draw a text box from a guide and number each page individually is in any way helpful nor that it would be welcomed by commercial publishers.  
Yes you can produce professional quality work on it just as you could using any number of applications by adapting to their nuances. My point is that commercially 'time is money' and the longer time spent drawing text boxes and numbering pages by hand means production costs rise. I was not trying to be negative so sorry if it came over that way. Indeed I would like it to be THE publishing platform but it has a way to go. It is only at the beta stage so there is plenty of time for the product to develop.
If users cannot give an opinion without harsh criticism for their thoughts and experiences, then the forum is not helpful and for me, probably best avoided.
 

Thank you Walt. That's very kind of you. I will have a look at that and play around but sadly as it stands, having to draw each text box manually on every page and fill headers each time means this isn't a serious commercial production tool. It is so disappointing as many were hoping that with links to AD and AP it could be a real contender for InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator.

I think you had a problem when you inserted your page numbers, try doing it again with menu Text > Insert > Page number
This will add a variable (can we have more and personalised ones?) that will change automagically on each page.

Perhaps a blog or tutorial by Affinity on how we should be creating 500 page textbooks would be helpful..perhaps were all going about it wrong and Affinity have a new better way?

For now we can use some tricks since Master pages behave like Symbols in Designer.
You need to:
open the Layers panel, unlock the "master_page_name" corresponding to your current page (there's one for each page you applied your master page to), select the frames you want to modify and open the Symbols panel [detach] or un[Sync] before modifying the frames. It's not easy and natural, and I'll need to do it more that twice to be at ease doing it…
I hope they'll improve it

* * *
I'm with you Roger. . .
Master Pages are pretty much useless IF they can't hold empty text and image boxes...
I might want to alter the size of a text or image box when I get to the editing part...
OR
ignore some completely on certain pages... IF they are there in advance...
Drawing them as I need them get tedious very quickly.
* * *
Aside from that, why would anything I do on a text page be allowed to alter the Master Page. . .?
* * *
Here's the problem I have...
I create a Master Page and when I bring that format into a document page, it alters the size of the box...
Images below...

(sigh)

On the Mac version I am having a problem with Master pages and document pages. I have set up master pages as for a text book--separate Masters for new chapters and a second master for subsequent pages. Whatever I write on the body page is mirrored onto the master page! Thus every chapter begins with the same chapter number and title and text and every subsequent page is the same. If I add an image, it also appears on the master.  And yes, I am typing on the page  and not on the master (at least the page is highlighted). I understand that whatever is on the Master will appear on the document page but it shouldn't work the other way round! As it stands, a 200 page book will require  200 Master pages!
Also, having created a master, with text boxes located for chapter heading and body text, these are not immediately visible when clicking on the body page; it's necessary to scroll through the layers to highlight where the textbox is which takes time.  If anyone has any ideas, I would welcome some help. I have tried re-installing but it remains the same. 
A pre-flight like In-Design (and PagePlus) would also be very useful. In fact,  I think it's essential for large complex documents like textbooks. Quark doesn't have this so in my opinion it would put AP ahead. Just a thought...
 
 

Exactly. It seems that everything has to be manually created on each page. Most disappointing.

Your point is well taken that text frames on a master page are not live on the actual page. What's the point of a master page then?

I wrote up a mini-review - trying to use it to prepare a few very simple pages of a textbook.
https://medium.com/@postenterprise/affinity-publisher-beta-hands-on-review-4f5f05c96c02
The main point is not about features but about the Affinity development process.