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I want to create a multi-page document in AD. How do I create a master artboard so that I can use a layer for each artboard page?

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

To be ignorant of world happenings is forgivable - to be willingly ignorant is unforgivable.

Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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Designer doesn't have the concept of Master pages (or pages at all, really).

Each of your Artboards will be a Page if you export to PDF using File > Export, but they won't inherit things from a Master like to can do in Publisher.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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You can set up an artboard to the same size as your document, create the master elements on it, rename it to "Master", then duplicate it as many times as you need and rename the duplicates to "Page 1", "Page 2" etc.

The duplicates can then be edited, but as @walt.farrell says, any subsequent changes to your "Master" won't be inherited on the duplicates (unless you get very clever with symbols). And as far as I'm aware you can't automatically number the pages.

 

146274634_Screenshot2019-11-26at22_42_49.thumb.png.31a9b24dd4656c4511a3a03ca663e1ee.png

 

Here are the "Master" and "Page 4" artboards expanded to show the layers within them:

1623761637_Screenshot2019-11-26at22_47_33.thumb.png.54fe713b30a9590c48f29f694c2e9b92.png

 

When you come to export, select all the artboards in the Layers panel with the exception of the "Master", and in the export dialog under Area choose "Selection without background" or "Selection with background" according to your needs.

36405886_Screenshot2019-11-26at22_36_30.thumb.png.72c8e46b98502794355761e0d81ea2f8.png

One odd thing is that in the document above, I created the "pages" in the order 1-2-3-4. But in order to get them to export in the correct order, I had to rearrange the artboards in the Layers panel into the opposite order: 4-3-2-1. The position of the "Master" isn't crucial as it doesn't get exported.

All in all, AP. has a lot more options when it comes to multi-page documents.

Affinity Photo 2.0.3,  Affinity Designer 2.0.3, Affinity Publisher 2.0.3, Mac OSX 13, 2018 MacBook Pro 15" Intel.

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31 minutes ago, h_d said:

I created the "pages" in the order 1-2-3-4. But in order to get them to export in the correct order, I had to rearrange the artboards in the Layers panel into the opposite order: 4-3-2-1.

If you created them in the order 1, 2, 3, 4 they should have been in the proper order in the Layers panel automatically, from top to bottom, as 4, 3, 2, 1.

You need to remember that the layout in the workspace means nothing to Designer. All that matters for page ordering is the order you created them, and the first one created will be on the bottom of the layer stack, and will export first.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

If you created them in the order 1, 2, 3, 4 they should have been in the proper order in the Layers panel automatically, from top to bottom, as 4, 3, 2, 1.

Ah but I didn't create them - I duplicated my "Master" artboard four times, and each duplicate was created immediately above the "Master". At the end of the process, 1 is at the top, followed by 2,, then 3, then 4, then "Master". I should have been more careful with my terminology in my original post.

If I create new layers as opposed to duplicating them from one original, then they do indeed appear in the order 4, 3, 2, 1

MacOS 10.15, AD 1.7.3

Affinity Photo 2.0.3,  Affinity Designer 2.0.3, Affinity Publisher 2.0.3, Mac OSX 13, 2018 MacBook Pro 15" Intel.

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8 hours ago, h_d said:

Ah but I didn't create them - I duplicated my "Master" artboard four times, and each duplicate was created immediately above the "Master". At the end of the process, 1 is at the top, followed by 2,, then 3, then 4, then "Master". I should have been more careful with my terminology in my original post.

If I create new layers as opposed to duplicating them from one original, then they do indeed appear in the order 4, 3, 2, 1

MacOS 10.15, AD 1.7.3

Duplicating would appear to be the best choice for me.

I have done this before but by accident! I started out with a load of pdf pages and wanted to add more using AD. I was able to make the existing pdf pages into artboards and then as I progressed with more pages I 'copied' a previous page and deleted its content and added new content also I added a page number.

When I finished my work space contained 40 artboards corresponding to the layers. If I needed to edit one page I just zoomed in to it and edit it. This may not have been the most efficient way to have done this but I did get a good result.

However with the above advice I could do it again only more efficiently.

If voting made any difference it wouldn't be allowed!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.

To be ignorant of world happenings is forgivable - to be willingly ignorant is unforgivable.

Truth does not need to be protected only lies do.

Mac OS Monterey 12.6.4

AD version 2.3.0

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