Bug or 'by design'? Artboards to spreads looses objects

[dominik]

I came across the following during reading this thread and doing some tests:

My goal was to understand how layers in AD work when placed outside and across artboards.

I created a very basic AD document with three empty artboards. Above and around all three of them one layer (rectangle) with three artistic text objects above each artboard (but not inside of the artboard). See attached AD file.

I then opened this document in APub and converted the artboards to spreads when asked for it.
The artboards translate into spreads as expected. The overlaying rectangle and the three text objects get lost. There is no hint that some of the document's content is going to be lost during this operation. I consider this not desireable.

I wonder if this is by design or a bug? Or perhaps some unfinished feature?

Method:

• First open the attached file in AD to see it's structure
• Then select 'Edit in Publisher...'
• Confirm 'Do you wish to convert artboards to spreads?'
• Notice: the dotted rectangle and the three artistic texts are lost

d.

artboard-to-publisher-test.afdesign

[Gabe]

Hi @dominik,

This is not entirely a bug, but more of a missing feature. 

These layers are not part of the artboards, so will not make it into a spread. However, we should not just discard the extra info. I will log it as an improvement. 

[walt.farrell]

As dominik mentioned using Edit in Publisher as part of his recipe, and this is about artboards, I'm curious about something.

In 1.7.3, and (I think) in earlier 1.8 beta versions, if you had an artboard-based .afdesign document, the following were true:

1. If you use File > Open from Publisher it would offer to convert the artboards to spreads.
2. However, if the document was open in Designer, and you used File > Edit in Publisher, the document would open in Publisher as artboards, with no offer to convert it.

In beta .549 #1 is still true, but #2 is not. Now, Publisher will ask to convert the artboards to spreads in scenario 2.

This is not mentioned in the release notes, as far as I can see. @Gabe: Do you know if this change was intentional? I am torn between considering the prior behavior a safety feature, and considering it an inconsistency, so I'm not completely sure how I think it should work

[Gabe]

I believe the correct behaviour is the one in the current beta. When you File > Edit in, you should have a choice. I don't see any benefit in opening as artboards over having a choice. At least with the current option, you can decide if you want artboards or spreads. 

[walt.farrell]

38 minutes ago, Gabe said:

I believe the correct behaviour is the one in the current beta. When you File > Edit in, you should have a choice. I don't see any benefit in opening as artboards over having a choice. At least with the current option, you can decide if you want artboards or spreads. 

Thanks, Gabe. My thinking on the former behavior is that if you're in Designer, and use Edit in Publisher, it is likely that you'll want to come back to Designer at some point. And the conversion from artboards to spreads is a one-way conversion; you can't get back to Artboards.

In a way, it would be safer if the behavior were modeled after the behavior of opening a non-Beta document in the Beta, with Publisher offering to make a copy if you agree to convert the artboards to spreads.