kazrbutler

Speaking as the person who wrote the PSD import/export code for Affinity - I can tell you that was a MAMMOTH task, and one that will never be complete - it has already taken up a huge part of the development time over the past six years.  It is also the most contentious since it is almost impossible to do a perfect round trip import/export via a third party editable file format.  But, PSD is probably the most used third party file format for us, so made the most sense to put the effort into supporting it to the degree we have.
 
Now, in terms of our user base of the Affinity range, the percentage of people wanting to import PagePlus files compared to other formats is probably low.  If we did write an importer, we'd open ourselves up to demands for it to be accurate to PagePlus, even though it would be impossible to do a one-to-one import of some features.  As has been said before - the Affinity code base has been written from scratch.  There is no shared code with the Plus range.  To this end, it is no different to the software being written by a completely different company.  The amount of work to support import/export of what is effectively a non-native file format is very significant.
 
Another thing to take into account is that PagePlus is effectively becoming a legacy format.  The code was written for an OS and style of application that is becoming outdated.  It also would not have been possible to port the code to accommodate platforms such as iOS in the way that we have achieved with Affinity.  This means that in future only existing user of PagePlus will be creating content in it.  That user base will naturally shrink. It also means that the future requirement for a PP importer will become less and less.  Compare that to an importer for a third party format that is staying "current" - you can see where the effort is better spent with regard to the wider user base of Affinity.

If I understand correctly, most of the developers of the Plus range left Serif long ago. It is a new team which is creating and maintaining the Affinity range. So who is gonna create those convertors?
I read the replies here on the forum and I respect the concerns of people who have a lot of documents created in PagePlus. I think the already suggested compromise before, maintaining your documents created in the past with PagePlus, use Affinity Publisher for the new documents will be a very good future proof idea. You can even use an older computer keep running PagePlus without updating the system. When it runs fine now on that system, what keeps you continue running it.
We can moan and  grieve about the funeral of the Plus range. However, if we use that same energy to adapt our ways of working to the Affinity range, we will travel a very long way in a bright future.

Page Plus users would be in a much worse position in the future if Serif weren't producing Publisher. Perhaps you would rather wait until some point in the future when some change outside Serif's control means the software is no longer usable, you haven't access to your Page Plus documents, and are without an affordable replacement available.
I  consider myself responsible for future-proofing my business. This means accepting that things outside my control are changing, and doing something about it. In my case, I will contribute what I can to the beta work, make suggestions as to what options I need. Then I will start producing new documents using Publisher once it is available for sale, and start to migrate the old ones. I find it preferable to see this as an opportunity to update my document styles and workflow, rather than burying my head in the sand, clinging to the old software and moaning about how I am being treated. 
Serif do listen to their users, which is more than can be said for a lot of the software producers out there.

Page Plus users would be in a much worse position in the future if Serif weren't producing Publisher. Perhaps you would rather wait until some point in the future when some change outside Serif's control means the software is no longer usable, you haven't access to your Page Plus documents, and are without an affordable replacement available.
I  consider myself responsible for future-proofing my business. This means accepting that things outside my control are changing, and doing something about it. In my case, I will contribute what I can to the beta work, make suggestions as to what options I need. Then I will start producing new documents using Publisher once it is available for sale, and start to migrate the old ones. I find it preferable to see this as an opportunity to update my document styles and workflow, rather than burying my head in the sand, clinging to the old software and moaning about how I am being treated. 
Serif do listen to their users, which is more than can be said for a lot of the software producers out there.

Even if Serif continued to develop Pageplus, it still has a limited lifespan. Operating system, software standards and computer architecture changes mean that any programme with years old core software runs the risk of being sidelined by not being able to run on new machines and/or operating systems. It's frustrating enough when you invest in a new computer, only to discover that it won't talk to your reliable printer. So not only to you have to buy a new printer, but you find it is much more temperamental. How much more frustrating to discover overnight that you can no longer use your DTP software, and worse than that have no way of even opening your existing documents.
Serif are doing the right thing. Page Plus is still available and stable for users to access their existing documents for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, they are working to produce new software, written to the latest standards for the future. They are making sure that Page Plus users have a way to future proof their work. Yes it's frustrating that it isn't possible to open Page Plus files, and certainly won't be for the near future. Once they have developed Publisher to a certain point, who knows, perhaps they may be able to find a way to migrate Page Plus files.
I would rather go with a plan which takes into account the risk of current software being unusable in the future, allowing me to plan ahead, than risk the alternative.

What I cannot understand is that people who made 500 pages book, did not write the text in an external wordprocessor and then import it in PagePlus. I started with Quark Xpress 3.0 on a Macintosh back in 1991. All my long text was typed in a wordprocessor then imported in textframes in Quark.
I really cannot understand why people are so difficult and don't accept the explanation from Serif which sounds reasonable. When you are happy with PagePlus, what keeps you from continue using it? I do not understand the disappointment because it is clear that Affinity Publisher is on the right track.
Many times it is better for long lasting documents to have a fresh make over. The advantage is that you can adapt them to the new features and possibilities. But also refreshing new techniques. Also in the convertion process there will be flaws and the risk of mistakes of the past taking over.
I also have many PagePlus documents which is the reason PagePlus X9 is still on this laptop. However, when I need them in Publisher, I will recreate them and import the text from the wordprocessor documents. This is also a good way to learn the ins and outs of Publisher.
I agree with Serif, NO PagePlus convertion. We live in the present, the past is done!

This thread is LOCKED there is a later beta build in a thread pinned at the top of this forum
Click here to download the latest beta for Windows
Status: Public Beta
Purpose: General Testing
Requirements: None
As this is a beta it is considered to be not suitable for production use. This means that you should not attempt to use it for commercial purposes or for any other activity where you may be adversely affected by the application failing, including the total loss of any documents. 
We hope you enjoy the latest build, and as always, if you've got any problems installing or running up, please don't hesitate to post here.
Any problems actually using this version please post to post in this forum and we'll get back to you as soon as we can. Many thanks for your continued feedback.
Please post any bug reports here. Please feel free to leave general suggestions and comments in the Discussion Forum.
Fix List
Installer
- Fixed failure to start on some systems due to font issues
Start up
- Reset Table Formats and Title Exceptions missing from Ctrl+Run on Mac
Document / Page Management
- Offer option to convert Artboard documents to Spread documents on open
- Bleed guides / visible bleed now available in the main view
- Fixed document bleed not being automatically applied to new spreads and master spreads
- Fixed bleed from masters not drawing on applied spreads
- Snapping grid now draws on current spread rather than always the first spread
- Transparent background is a document setting, not a per-spread setting
- Adding a pages to a facing page document generates the wrong page labels
General Tools and Menus
- Fixed Pop up Sliders not closing on Mac
- Fixed priority issue with Select Tool / Placement Tool
- Fixed Zoom Out causing unwanted Pan
- Fixed Gradient Tool to add stops correctly
- Added Paste FX to Layout Persona Edit Menu
- Added Geometry operations to the Customise Toolbar dialog on Mac
- Fixed applying style from Styles Panel when in list mode
- Rearranged View menu to separate guides and rulers
Text Tool
- Fixed diacritic entry via dead keys on Mac
- Drop Caps now have a 'Scale for Descenders' attribute
- Fixed Leading entry glitches on Windows
- Fixed Kerning entry glitches
- Fixed Tracking entry issue
- Fixed intermittent crash when adjusting the Fill and / or Transparency for Decorations
- Fixed spelling error highlights not updating whilst editing Text Wrap settings
- Fixed crash setting Text Wrap option on EPS images
- Text flow handles now hide when view is zoomed a lot, out to prevent view clutter
Text Style Editor
- Layout improvements
- Fixed Style description truncation in Text Style Editor on Windows
Tables
- Setting Table cell size from Table Panel not working correctly
- Fixed Keep with next lines breaking Table layout
- Table Save as Default could cause app to crash 
- Right click on table header not deleting multiple columns / rows
- Table Formats should include Frame fill, stroke and insets
Resources / Resource Manager
- Document policy for Embedding / Linking images available from File > New / Document Setup
- Better prompting when missing Linked Images encountered on Document Open
- Resource Manager now always shows resource thumbnails
- Placement sort in Resource Manager fixed
- Resource Manager columns are now resizable
- Fixed Resource Manager grid scroll issues
- Fixed Properties read out for pasted Affinity Documents
TOC
- Fixed glitch when TOC was deleted leading to incomplete removal
Print / Export
- Double sided prints always flip on longest side (partial fix)
- Fixed converting colour for PDF/X-3 export rasterising elements
 

Hi MJWHM,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
As you probably have read by now the Affinity suite is being developed from scratch - it is not intended to be an upgrade or direct replacement to the Serif Plus line. This was done because Serif's Plus software codebase was starting showing its age and imposing limitations on its expansion. Affinity apps were developed with cross-platform in mind from beginning, a common file format that can be opened in any of the suite apps and to take advantage of the latest technology/API available on modern hardware/OSs. Since there's no feature parity between the old and new suite some of its features don't have yet an equivalent function/match in the new Affinity line or were implemented in a different way so even if there was an importer a few things would be lost anyway. Exporting the documents from the Plus line as PDF (SVG, PSD where applicable etc) isn't certainly an ideal solution as it also leads to some loss but the difference from a dedicated importer isn't probably that big to justify the time spent developing it. So what we advise is to keep using the old line for projects you have started there (it still works as usual as long as the OS supports it) and slowly transition new work to the new Affinity suite whenever possible. Hope you understand.

We will make a roadmap available in a short time. 
We are a small team and there are 200 as yet unreplied to posts in the bugs forums (some/many of which are duplicates) but of the 80 that we have reported to the developers more than 50 fixes in already. Sorry but it would not be a great use of our time to report on progress, but when a new build is released we will post a fix list here. In quieter times later in the beta we will try to go back to where the problem was reported and ask them to retest, but honestly I will not be encouraging my team to do that for at least as long as we have the reporting backlog. 
As well as fixing issues, each release should include improvements and sometimes new features to review. 
The first update will be released this week (subject to passing internal testing first)