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2.3 Features and Improvements This post is the list of all new features and improvements included in the 2.3.0 release, and the following post is a list of the main bug fixes. Features and improvements affecting all platforms Spiral Tool Choice of styles including Linear, Decaying, Fibonacci and Plotted Optional straight-line edges Spiral Tool tutorial: Pixel grid options in all apps Automatic Grid returns to Photo Pixel Grid tutorial: Place and export password-protected PDFs, including the ability to individually allow: Document printing Content modification Content copying Password protected PDF tutorial: Export PDF files to PDF 2.0 (ISO 32000-2) standard Change Asset Panel background colour (Publisher) Image tagging for accessible PDFs Tags Panel for Alternative Text: (Publisher) Find and Replace panel uses inbuilt and custom fields in search terms and replacement text (Designer) ‘Keep selected’ preference in Pencil Tool (Publisher) Independent formatting of cross-reference field In addition to those features on all platforms above, these are the Windows and macOS features and improvements Move Data Entry improvements Scale option to resize by a given percentage Insertion Mode options to insert duplicates in front of or behind the original object Edit object properties as you transform Improved Number of copies slider behaviour Data Entry tutorial: Brush names show by default on the Brushes panel Create new documents from assets by dragging from panel to title bar Create shapes of same type and properties from an existing shape selection In addition to those features on all platforms above, these are the iPad features and improvements Optionally deselect shapes after creation (Photo) Curves adjustment graph editor shows all coloured channel curve Localised versions of the changes in 2.3 (and those in earlier releases) can be found here Affinity Designer Feature List Affinity Photo Feature List Affinity Publisher Feature List As well as all those improvements above, listed below are the most important bugs that have been fixed

2.2 Features and Improvements This post is the list of all new features and improvements included in the 2.2.0 release, and just below it is a list of the main bug fixes. Features and improvements affecting all platforms OCIO v2 support added in Photo OpenColorIOSetup and usage tutorial: Custom text variables in Publisher Additional keyboard shortcuts for pixel brush tools Alt-click new layer automatically adds selection to that new layer Cross-references added in Publisher Cross References tutorial ‘Hide effects’ and ‘greyscale’ view mode options in Publisher and Designer Change guide colour Long press tool shortcuts Custom date formats available in Publisher All supported image files now available from File -> Open in Publisher ‘Find and Replace’ now includes scope and result count in Publisher Go to previously viewed spread in Publisher ‘Create symbol’ option added to Layer menu in Designer Additional options when creating indexes in Publisher Update table format from selection in Publisher Improved resistance to data loss when network connectivity is lost. Files are locked while they are being edited to avoid simultaneous edits by 2 users. In addition to those features on all platforms above, these are the Windows and macOS features and improvements MacOS Sonoma Support Object creation data entry Data Entry tutorial: Move data entry ‘Delete Node’ added to right-click menu ‘Select All on Current Layer’ option now available Grid presets and favourite fonts now sync between apps on device Data merge in Publisher now allows fields to set URLs, file locations, emails and anchors In addition to those features on all platforms above, these are the iPad features and improvements Decimal place accuracy preferences added ‘Prefer to keep selection’ preference added Localised versions of the changes in 2.2 (and those in earlier releases) can be found here Affinity Designer Feature List Affinity Photo Feature List Affinity Publisher Feature List As well as all these improvements over 2.1.1 listed above, listed below are the most important bugs that have been fixed in 2.2

2.1.0 Features and Improvements This post is the list of all new features and improvements included in the 2.1.0 release, and just below it is a list of the main bug fixes. Features and improvements affecting all platforms Balanced dashed lines and other stroke improvements Running headers in Publisher Running Headers tutorial: Show Special Characters added to Designer and Photo Adjusted Mask Behaviour Auto-select options in move tool Square bracket stroke width adjustment expanded functionality Blend mode keyboard shortcuts Alt / Option - drag to duplicate in Layers panel Alt / Option click to expand / collapse all in Layers panel Crop tool improvements Cropping in Photo tutorial: Auto clean added to paint mixer brush Double-click artboard label to rename Ability to create more complex dashed lines Paste inside picture frame Vector Flood Fill in Designer Vector Flood Fill tutorial Vector Flood Fill with Bitmap Fills in Designer tutorial: for button to appear, requires Resetting Toolbar using "View" > "Customize Tools" > "Reset" Guides improvements Vector warp nodes now obey snapping Brush panel improvements Raster perspective and mesh warp live filters added to Designer Search bar added to your add-ons Spanish Hyphenation Dictionary provided with the apps updated In addition to those features on all platforms above, these are the Windows and macOS features and improvements WebP and JPEG XL now available in batch export "Close All" added to File menu Asset panel reordering improvements Rename... added to Layer menu & tab behaviour Mask to below... added to Layer menu Measure tool now available in Photo and Publisher Measure and Area Tools: Place tool now available in Photo Zoom tool context options in Develop persona Drag / Drop bitmap fill to colour and swatch panel In addition to those features on all platforms above, these are the iPad features and improvements New left swipe options on iPad layers panel Redesigned edit menu Blend mode and opacity now available in main Layers Panel iPadOS Photos app integration "Show in Files" option from Live Document burger menu Style Picker tool added to iPad apps New keyboard shortcut options added Reset rotation in navigator with double tap Pencil double tap option to open quick menu Long press geometry operation to create compound Tapping warp group thumbnail now selects node tool Advanced PDF options when opening now exposed Modifiers now available for Select Object Hide Layer type icon now available Main view rulers added Rulers and Column Guides tutorial Localised versions of the changes in 2.1 (and those in later releases) can be found here Affinity Designer Feature List Affinity Photo Feature List Affinity Publisher Feature List As well as all these improvements over 2.0.4 listed above, listed below are the most important bugs that have been fixed in 2.1.0

I don't want to put a whole lot more effort into this, but just off the top of your head, what effects do you think I could make to some of these layers which will make an improvement to this picture? Such as applying textures here and there. P.S. The doctor is a royalty free png that I copied and pasted, and not broken into layers

It would be soooooo awesome if we could just get a simple tool setting that allows users to toggle automatic deselecting on at least pencil paths. I always find myself doing endless clicks on the deselect “x” button when I’m coloring. My process is; I pick a color for my path, then draw a freehand path with the pencil tool, I’m done and I want to draw my next path so I select the next color, oops the path I’ve just drawn is now a different color, gesture undo, click deselect, click palette and select next color, draw the next path. If could have just been able to have the path not be selected when I finished I could work a lot faster and save the excessive deselects and undo gestures. Designer still rock! Keep up the amazing work Affinity Team.😁

Hello my suggestion is for Photo to work with clipboards I also miss this feature. Another interesting feature is the intelligent object that helps in non-destructive editing, especially in the other personas of Photo. Another interesting feature to be implemented is a text distortion tool. In the selection part, a tool that allows selecting the main subject of an image is interesting. Another suggestion is to create your own font manager in a way that integrates with the affinity suite. I hope you can be helping with these suggestions, thanks in advance for being able to give feedback, The Affinity suite is incredible with tools that work in a precise way providing quality, congratulations to the entire team of developers.

Where are my export configuration presets? I have "Saved" some export configuration presets that I have created to export an image in different sizes, but when I want to use these settings that I have saved, I don't know where they are to choose from to apply to other images. If I know they are saved because when I create a new export configuration preset and give it the same name of the adjustment that I had previously created and saved, I get a dialog box with a message telling me that there is already a setting with that name and if I want to replace it with the new setting. What will be the error? Where do I select the export configuration presets that I have created in Export Persona? Please tell me what am I doing wrong? I hope it is not an Affinity Photo bug. I'll look forward for your answer Thank you

When I use "New Document", I can create a "Page Preset". There are at least four/five improvements that can be done here. 1. One should be able to update the page preset. Instead of creating new from scratch if there are needed change in some settings. As I needed this when I had to change it from RGB to CMYK. 2. One should be able to save and load presets from a file. Makes it easier to move them to another computer. 3. It should be able to handle two presets with same frame sizes, as long they have different names. Ex. I create design for different products on different sites, with similar sizes on their products. It is difficult to find the correct size for a product, when it is not added into the list. Then we are back to square one... 4. Under document setup, it does not remember the preset that was used to create it. The "page preset" returns to default "print". 5. Possibly some grouping would be nice... BTW Love your software

Publisher beta V1.7.249, I have just re-set a 200 page illustrated book I did a few years ago using Indesign. Typesetting requirements were about as demanding as it gets and Publisher passed with flying colours. Just a few refinements and Publisher would become my default pre-press system… 1. Scroll bars: Both Publisher and Photo: Yes, keeping down visual clutter is so important but depending on the view often these bars are almost impossible to see, appearing almost the same color as the background. I find I have to stop work to go hunting for them. 2. Guide Manager: I don’t like filled in columns as guides because it changes how images display. Unfortunately, the option to display guide outlines only works for the current session, upon reboot tit defaults to the filled option. 3. Resource Manager: If I remove images from a document and linked folder Resource Manager thinks they’re still there. Every time I boot it tells me they’re missing and asks if I want to locate them. 4. Move Tool: Shortcut ‘V’ will not work if I want to switch from Frame Text Tool mode, I must manually select it…slowing workflow.

I'd like to suggest a few improvements to the Swatches panel: Ability to convert swatches from and to normal/global/spot. For example, convert a normal swatch to global, or convert a spot to normal, and so on. Fills should automatically rename when colour is edited. For example, a fill named C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:10 should change to C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:50 if I do edit the colour to be a 50% black. Ability to group swatches into folders. Global colours names should be their values (for example C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:0) rather than "Global Colour %n" A command to select/delete all unused swatches. Perhaps create a document palette by default for any new document? A "Merge Swatches" command that works like in Illustrator Select multiple swatches at once to delete/copy them Global, overprint and spot colour indicators should be larger, they're hard to see when the swatch is selected (see attached) All these are to help us manage & identify the colours, plus correcting mistakes all designers make eventually. :P Thanks!

Dear Affinity Designer/Photo Team, Here is the second batch of some suggestions and improvements in Affinity Designer/Affinity Photo,based on my experience with the app so far. File: > We should have the ability to 'revert' a 'modified document that is not saved' to its 'last saved state' and then re-open it. This is sometimes a chore currently,as we need to close the document,choose don't save and then open the document again. This Will help in increasing productivity by reducing the number of steps required. Symbols: > We should have a context menu in the Symbol Panel where in we can right click any symbol and choose the number of instances to be created. Lets say if i wanted to create 3 instances of symbol,we right click on the symbol,provide the number of instances in the field and then click the 'Okay' button to create those instances on the canvas. This will make us more productive,as we don't need to drag and drop a particular symbol 3 times and on to the canvas. > Allow selection of Multiple Symbols from the Symbols panel,by using one of the modifier keys. Currently we can only select one symbol from the Symbols panel at a time. > Allow a mechanism to create a folder or other mechanism to group symbols into categories. > Ability to import and export Symbols set in any affinity Designer Document. Assets: > We should have the ability to drag and drop 'Sub categories' in a given 'category' to move them around. Currently we can move the one place at a time using the 'sub-category' menu which could be quite cumbersome,especially if the sub-category is to be moved at the top. > Two options in the sub-catgory could be quite useful: > Move at the Top > Move at the Bottom > In the 'Category' menu,we should have the ability to 'Expand' all sub-categories. currently we only have the ability to 'Collapse All' sub-categories. ___ > Can we get custom shapes,based on the vector shapes and save them as shape presets? > Close All documents opened in Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo. Currently we only have the option to close the currently selected document. > There is no 'drag and drop' feature in 'Panorama' creation in affinity photo. We need to click the 'Add' button to browse for images. Artboards: > Allow creation of presets that can be used for both New document creation and Artboards. > A manager should also be there for exporting these presets of sizes as external files,so that we may hand them over to teams working on it. > We should have the ability to import multiple images in a document in their own separate artboards in one go. This is especially usefull if you are working on a story board or initial thumbnail of images that are to be conceptualized into detailed conceptual art or when working with keyframes for an animation. Here size of the image should dictate the size of the artboard. Exports: > PDF export lacks the options for setting security features such document assembly,copying of text,printing not allowed or allowed flag,securing document by setting password. > We should be able to export Affinity Designer to .AI(Adobe Illustrator Files) Color Swatches(Palettes): > Should allow export of swatches or palettes to other formats as well like: > Color Table(.act) > Flash Color Set(.clr) etc compatible with other graphic applications.currently designer supports .afpalette(both import and export) and .ase(Import only). Keyboard Shortcuts: > We currently have the ability to customize keyboard shortcuts in Affinity Designer. We should also have the ability to export all the currently set keyboard shortcuts in affinity designer into a user friendly file like a text file,html file and a pdf file for reference purposes. History: > We should have the ability to playback the entire history from beginning to end just like we have video controls to control the playback of a video file. Even play,pause and stop would do. Painting with Brushes: (01)We should have the ability to sample and select a paint brush based on the strokes made on a canvas[Important,will speed up painting time and make us more productive]. I have faced this issue especially when painting in Affinity Designer. If i am using multiple brushes in a single painting i cannot select them by sampling them from the paint on the canvas. Lets say if i have utilized 7 brushes in my painting,then there must be a way for me to select any of them by sampling them and the brushes that can be selected should include both raster brushes and vector brushes. This mechanism is actually available in the mypaint software that i have used a lot. In order to select a brush from a painting in my paint,you move the cursor over the brush stroke and press the 'w' key to sample and then select the brush[along with its settings] without selecting and remembering the brush from the brush panel. Here is a short video demonstrating this feature as i do many brush strokes and select those by sampling them. A similar feature should also be available in affinity designer and photo,as if we are using close to a lets say 25 brushes in a painting,do we need to remember each of them?. This feature will boost our productivity.

Hi, So when it comes to colors, here´s a little suggestion what could be done to improve the workflow when you start your document and decide to use swatches and improve your colours. dont look at the design of my idea, rather look at the idea... When you creat colour chords, right now , you can select a colour and right click, select from some possibilitys like Complementary, Triadic and so on.. I would like a funktion to open a window like shown, get an optical representation inside of the color wheel and adjust my colors by just rotaiting in this example my colors, to change them, than just move some triangles or points, to adjust the amount of the color split, and than just klick load them to my palette.. only maybe, could it be possible for the program, to use my underlaying actual image, and interactive while rotating, moving and adjusting my Color Chord , somehow change interactive also the most corresponding olors of the opend image ? not sure how this could be possible.. but the first part, just creating color chords this way, as it is allready possible in many video edditing programs, would be an improvement.. maybe put it to your whishlists.. greetings

Dear Affinity Team, Here are some suggestions for improvements, based on the experience i have gained while using Affinity Designer. __________________________ (01)We should have the ability to "move" or "copy" a style from one style category to another,in the context menu. (02)The search feature should also allow usage of regular expressions such as: * etc. e.g: fire*flare* it should bring in a list like for example: fire_flare_01 fire_flare_02 fire_flare_03 (03)If we can get a summary of which attributes are saved withing a style,that could be quite useful,and all the elements impacted by it e.g: Layer,object properties,effects,adjustments etc. e.g: layer->alpha = 50% effect_applied->GaussianBlur effect_applied->GaussianBlur->Properties > Radius = 0.4 px > Preserve alpha = false > Scale with Object = true object_properties > stroke_color = red[#CC5555] > fill_color = white[#F8F8F8] (04)Generating Cascading Styles sheets from styles,so that they can be utilized in websites. (05)Live Preview of Styles when an object is selected and the cursor is hovered over a style. (06)Styles with longer names are cut out. We should at least have the ability that when we hover over a style,we can get the entire text of the style name as a tool tip. (07)A Zoom slider to "increase" or "decrease" the size of the style preview thumbnails,just as provided in the "Navigator" panel. (08)Ability to show or hide "style name text" in the "Styles" panel menu. Exporting Images as Outlines or wireframes: > We have the outline view mode that gives us wire frames of the underlying graphics in affinity designer. Can we get the ability to generate wire frame of the entire graphic as an image,with options for changing wire frame like: > wire line size[e.g: 0.54 px] > wire line style[e.g: dotted] > wire color[e.g: white] or is there a way to apply an effect to do the same thing Layers Panel: (01)Ability to search layers[just like the search mechanism in "Styles" panel] by: > (a)Name > (b)Type[e.g: vector layer,pixel layer,group,masked etc] > (c)Layer Effect[e.g: Gaussian Blur] > (d)Adjustments[e.g:Levels] > (e)Locked/Unlocked Layer > (f)Visible/Invisible Layer > (g)By Symbols[e.g: wheel] (02)Ability to convert "group" to a "layer" and vice versa. __________________________

Hi, I'm Gary Bouton, author and mediocre illustrator, and instead of taking my own advice to lurk before posting to get the Lay or The Land, here goes: • I love the abilitry to use the mouse wheel push to pan the page. Now, can the mouse wheel be set to zoom instead of scrolling, or offer the option? I'm a Windows Guy, apologies in advance, and don't care much for Adobe Illustrator, never have, because it takes something like 5 moves to do something that can be done in 2 in CorelDRAW, and one in Xara Designer. So mouse wheel Zoom as a feature request, please? • As long as there's a right-click Context menu, do you think you could put anchor (node, connector, knot, the guy a path travels through) changes on the Context menu? You know: cusp, smooth, perhaps even symmetrical? This saves a trip up to the bar on top, and I'm sure I couldn't memorize Ctrl, Alt, Shift, or combinations thereof. It's an absolutely fantastic "One oh" program, and I love the examples you've chosen from artists to promote the product. The work in one of the biggest reasons I signed up for the Beta! My Best, Gary

I’ve been using Serif products for many years now and I know the quality has been improving all the while. I’m now using Affinity Designer (Beta) for Windows. Although I use DrawPlus, I also use Inkscape and Illustrator. I use Inkscape for drawing and node work, the controls and flexibility are far superior to DrawPlus and Illustrator. I use Illustrator for envelopes, mesh work and perspective. For everything else I use DrawPlus, and now Affinity Designer. For a look at the kind of stuff I do go to greenflydesigns@gmail.com I know from using your products that you are constantly keen to improve your products. However. I also know that in a design timeline it’s hard to slot-things-in without major redesigning work. But I thought I’d give you some suggests any way, if it’s impossible I’ll understand. Any hoot, I feel Affinity Designer could really do with - Undo / Redo Arrows ( I know you press Ctrl+Z But still my mouse pointer whizz around the interface looking for Undo button) Being able to move things to the canvas – without them becoming invisible. And also being able to draw on the canvas little designs away from the bigger more complex drawing would be good. Same curve line after deleting nodes – Inkscape has a great feature when you delete nodes it not only maintains the curve… it improves it. Brilliant! Envelopes & Perspective features – illustrator wins this one hands-down it would be great to see them appear in Affinity Designer in some form. Customisation of the interface. Always a favourite go to feature of mine. I’m new to Affinity Designer (as are most Window users) so if these features do already exist, I apologies. However, they are too well hidden – a tutorial video would help. Having said all that. Affinity Designer is in itself a work of art and I have highly recommended it to my friends. So keep up the good work. I salute you Sirs ( and the ladies) of Serif.

When I used the original beta: 1. Calculating the export size took a very long time with a large image. 2. I was typing text into a text frame and it just stopped letting me do it. I couldn't type a question mark on the end of a sentence. I tried saving the document because it had taken me several minutes to type -- the file menu opened and I clicked 'Save' but nothing happened except the file menu closed again. I tried 'Save As' and the same thing happened. Then it just froze and beeped at me if I clicked anywhere. I had to kill it with Task Manager. 3. Working on an image I got the dialog: 'An Unhandled Exception has occured. Code: 0x80004003.' Clicking on it killed the program. I downloaded the new version this morning: 1. Both versions are very slow to start. In fact, the lag when doing several things is annoying. Okay, I don't have the newest, fastest machine in the world, but it has 8GB RAM and runs things like Android Studio, Netbeans and Eclipse fine. 2. It doesn't notice that I have a Trust graphics tablet connected (okay, again it isn't new, but it works fine with PagePlus, DrawPlus, etc.). 3. When you check an option in 'Layer Effects' the sliders, etc. for that option should show without aving to click on the right hand side of the option. 4. Paragraph leading doesn't seem to work correctly. I adjusted it in the Paragraph popup and sometimes something seemingly random happened, but mostly nothing did. I don't know why it is listed there if you have to use the override in the Character popup. 5. I completed a document with three text boxes and printed it. Extra characters appeared obscuring one line. These characters did not appear in the exported pdf or when I printed the pdf. 6. When typing text into a text box, the box keeps appearing and disappearing. This is quite irritating.

Hey guys, while i see the benefit of converting to curves for shapes that have editable parameters(such as cog, star, etc.), i don't see why you would have to convert a square or circle/ellipse to curves before being able to edit them. Those shapes being basic should be editable from the start, convert to curves just adds one more click and can become annoying. The facebook moderator told me that rectangle could be merged with rounded rectangle tool in the future. Perhaps is best having the rectangle be an editable curve by default and only turning into non-editable when you set rounded corners. Even though, rounded corner radius could be applied on a corner point even if the shape is not a rectangle. What do you think?