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I would love to see a feature similar to sketch's "exclude text values" option for symbols. This allows the user to have one symbol but stil be able to change the text content within the symbol without it changing the others. The text style, color etc... is still synced just not the actual value of the text. This would be extremely useful for buttons and inputs styles. Keep up the great work guys!

Hello, I was trying to create a button using symbols and each buttons has different labels, so what I did is I disabled sync for the text and re-enabled it again once I'm done updating the text content I then tried to change the font family of the text but the change is not being sync to the buttons I updated. Is there a way for me to re-sync the text layer again so that if I need to update the font family I won't have to do it for every buttons..kinda defeat the purpose of using symbols if I can't do that. Thanks!

I'm running into a new issue with symbols. When adding the same symbol to multiple artboards, pieces of the symbol are disappear on zoom. What's triggering it right now is duplicating an artboard and then zooming. See video below. Also, I can send my document if it helps, but would rather email it than post it here. https://www.dropbox.com/s/qy39o1mrxa3nxsz/Symbols%20issue.mp4?dl=0

I'm running into a strange bug when I try and duplicate a group within a symbol. If I'm working within a symbol and make a copy of a group, anything I change in that group affects the group that I copied it from. It's almost like groups inside a symbol are symbols as well. Here's a video to demonstrate. Note how the text updates in both groups when I edit one or the other. https://www.dropbox.com/s/dph901tingcbkjv/Symbols.mp4?dl=0

I am new to AD, I saw this cool Drag and Drop symbol for Ai on the "Creative Market" website and was wondering can this be done in AD. below is a link to a video of what the plug-in does. Any help or insight would be great! video https://creativemarket.com/ianbarnard/762525-Drag-Drop-WoodType-for-Illustrator

Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere. The new Symbols feature seems very useful, though I was very surprised when, after creating several while working in one file, the symbols palette was then blank when I started a new document the next morning. Are any symbols created limited to that specific document or have I missed something? I'm relatively new to AF after hundreds of hours with Inkscape. Thanks

3 feature requests for symbols: The ability to nest symbols within symbols (simply MUST happen) This will allow the user to create composable elements that can be nested inside each other, so any change that is made to a small symbol can only happen to that symbol, and that symbol can be re-used a other, larger symbols. This is an incredibly simple, yet incredibly powerful idea that can allow users the ability to minimize manual work and maximize productivity and creativity. This is an important feature that Sketch does not currently support. The ability to unlink certain attributes inside individual instances of a symbol (same shape, but colors, sizes, visibility, per instance can vary) Let's say the user wants a button to be used twice, but wants the color of each instance of that button to be different. If the user has the ability to link or unlink individual styles, then this would be possible. Another good example is size. Let's say I make a widget Icon and I want to use that across the mobile, tablet and desktop versions of an app design. I don't want to have to remake the icon at different sizes. I just want to use the same icon, but scale it to the appropriate size for the app design in question. Best way to implement request 2 would be to have a styles list for each instance with a green link next to each shared style. If the user clicks the green link, it turns into a red broken link, then that particular style can be changed in that particular instance, without affecting the other instances of that symbol.This is an important feature that Sketch does not currently support. The ability to change the master instance of a symbol in a project (because that sort of thing may change over time ). Sometimes I want to work on a symbol in one context and then have all other instances updated. But sometimes I want to work in a different context and have all other instances updated. As a side note, this forum rich text editor dos not seem to allow for line spacing or before and after paragraph spacing, or even tabs...so the lack of those things makes it difficult to edit posts and make them readable... Anyway, thanks for listening, Richard Nash Los Angeles, CA

In a file I'm working on, Designer crashes each time when I Alt-drag or Ctrl-J one of the elements. The crash dialog is not displayed on restart, so I don't think any report is being sent. I'm working with symbols. The crash is consistently happening, but only when syncing symbols is enabled.

Forgive me if this has already been asked. I didn't quite see the exact suggestion I'm about to ask below: Global / Shared Symbols: I'd like to have the ability to not only create symbols that are document specific, but in the form of a global library that can be shared or distributed in such a way that i can reference them from any document. I see the need for this in that I'd like to create libraries or packages that can be used across different teams within a company. If I update the symbols within, it would be nice to have all the symbols update accordingly provided the reference file was updated or something along those lines. I'm not necessarily suggesting some sort of cloud storage for the symbols because it would be nice to pass the libraries around without an internet connection as an option. I'm also not keen at all on Adobe's symbol sharing mechanisms and although it "works", it's a pretty bad experience imho. I just feel like as powerful as symbols are, as users we can extend that power and freedom to a level in which we can have an external or global areas that can be referenced. In our company for example, we'd even like the ability to save it to a file (doesn't matter the format) it can be committed into version control and backed up however we or anyone sees fit. In this way, creating entire design guide element collections can be grouped into either a global library or collection of categorized libraries that define an entire platform or range of products that are not tied to a single document. Again, i'm sorry if this is a duplicate feature request. Thanks for your time and patience :) Very Sincerely, Frankie Loscavio

Hello everybody, I would like to submit a bug that is related to Symbols feature. I use Symbols a lot in my project and sometimes I have symbol in symbol in symbol :) The problem is that the symbol are disappearing from instances. Steps to Reproduce. 0. Start AD create new document 1. Create rectangle make it a symbol (Create button) 2. Create circle make it another symbol (Create button) 3. Now in the layer panels put one circle symbol inside rectangle symbol (Sync enabled). 4. Notice Symbols window doesn't update symbol view. 5. Create new rectangle symbol instance to see there is no circle in it 6. Now click at the circle symbol instance (which is inside the rectangle symbol instance) and right-click -> duplicate 7. Notice circle appear in the both rectangle symbol instances and also in the Symbol window Variation 1: 8. Now delete one of the instances circle symbol instances (there are two) in the rectangle instance 9. Notice both circle instances will disappear also from all rectangle symbol instances. Variation 2: 8. Click on the one of the circle symbol instances which are in the rectangle symbol instance and hit "Detach" 9. Delete this new object which is not a symbol anymore 10. Notice remaining circle symbol instance stays intact. If you would like to make me a video let me know. There are also some other situations when the symbol in symbols disappears but I am not yet sure when it happens, but I guess it is the same problem. Good luck :)

Hello, I have created a few symbols that do not seem to resize as indicated by their constraints. Intended behaviour: In the icon "UML provided interface", the circle should not get stretched/resized, I only want to extend the line. I think my constraints are correct. Am I missing something? I attach my document. System_Context.afdesign

Hi, I am trying (and failing) to setup a symbol that would also have constraints. Is it even possible ? My goal is to be able to work on a design and see simultaneously the impact on desktop, tablet and mobile versions. As long as my layer is not a symbol it works as expected but once transformed into a symbol I loose the constraints. I tried adding the constraints to the symbol itself but doesn’t seem to work. Anyone could help me figure this out ?

Make live boolean with symbols please.

Hello, It was easy to create multiple symbols at once, but not easy to delete multiple. The other issue is when symbols are the same color as the interface

The attached image is a manipulated screenshot from an old screensaver called Whitecap. I really love aesthetics like this, and ideally I'd love to be able to recreate it in vector. I've been trying to think if it can be done with symbols, but I don't think so. Maybe others have some other idea. Or maybe even a lead on some third party program that could create something like this that I can then manipulate in AD. Any thoughts?

A simple example: I have a line made with the pen tool and I position ellipses over it. I'd like to be able to then manipulate this as an integral symbol, which still retaining editability of the line, and without expanding, so i can change it's shape easily. Can this be done? So in my simple example, when I bend the line, the ellipses would be locked to it, and bend also. Ideally, I would be able to remove the line at the end, after ungrouping the symbol.

I just heard about the new symbol feature in Affinity Designer, and I was wondering if that's going to make it possible to make symmetrical shapes. It looks like it would be great for designing, but it would be extremely useful to have the ability to make a symmetrical curve so you're not reduced to eyeballing a vector shape when you want something symmetrical. Would the Symbol feature make that easier?

If found something happening with symbols. -Start a new document size, background don't matter. -Open the symbols window -draw an ellipse fill with any colour (i used orange) -use this ellipse to create your symbol (you can see it in the symbol window) -Ctrl+C your shape (now symbol) Ctrl+V to paste your symbol as a new layer also named symbol -You can leave the same colour but I used a darker one for more contrast, changed my fill to dark blue -Now move one shape and select the 2 shapes ( ellipse for me) and here what I have noticed: -if you use the Add, Substract, Intersect or Combine functions THE SYMBOL ICON is not updated -When you use the divide function THE SYMBOL ICON is updated Is that the normal behaviour?

Hi, I'm loving the new 'Symbols' feature in AD1.5 beta. I'm wondering if it would be possible to save libraries of symbols that persist across sessions? Such that when one opens a new document, it is possible to have a default (or perhaps selectable by a drop down menu) library of custom shapes available to insert into the document? Cheers, Oliver.

I have successfully updated fills and layer effects on symbols but altering size or rotation does not take. *Edit* I've also tried to reshape but the node tool does not work. Are Symbols ready or are they still a work in progress?

Hi. I am trying to add an emoji icon to a text box but it appears as just a box i.e. no image. Can anyone help with suggestions to correct this please?

Hi Friends, I have felt the freedom for asking for some features to have into an implementation consideration, And of all of the. appearing on the road map, I feel that having a mesh fill tool, or fussin tool for gradients, a possibility for creting and having a symbol palette and a true custom rotation and centering anchor points would be just great. I am not pressing the developers. Just wish to share my "wishing well" with the reat of the tribe and being at the queue when expecting these up datings to come. Thanks a lot for your attention. Rosa

I am very interested in moving into Affinity permanently but so far I don't see any way to create symbols which can be edited as separate documents and then handled as self contained objects within a work document. This is critical to UI/UX work flow (a single change to a button can be instantly reflected in hundreds of documents) and can also be pretty useful for certain styles of illustration with repeating patterns. Dose Affinity handle this in its own way? If not is it on the roadmap to being implemented as a feature? In terms of this feature, it would be wonderful if these symbols can have many states - and each state can have property / behaviours added. In a best case situation this feature set I would be supporting the following: a symbol / object can have multiple states. each state is a separate page, each page has a properties panel to assign an action or variable. e.i. "click / swipe action trigger page [X]" or "if [variable x] is true / false trigger page [X]" symbols can be exported as SVG / PNG / GIF and each additional state is saved as a child file. e.i. button_X.png, button_X_focus.png, button_X_disable.png, button_X_hover.png symbols groups can be exported as an Axure RP library - this would be sooooo awesome but obviously difficult as the framework is very different in the Export Persona mode, symbols can be automatically spliced and placed into HTML for quick mockups

When I open an AI file that has symbols AD does show them, they are "hidden" but the art is there.

Would I be right in saying that Affinity Designer does away with the concept of symbols and smart objects, simply making files these?