indesign plugin on affinity publisher

[serge]

I was wondering if it is now possible (with the new version 1.9) to install indesign plugins on affinity publisher?

Blurb.co.uk has a blurb indesign plugin as book creating tool to facilitate creating books and magazine up to their specs : 

blurb bookmaking tool

Would be wonderful if it was possible. Otherwise, I will try to lobby to them for adding templates and specs specifically for Affinity Publisher users.

[Callum]

Hi Serge,

There is currently no plugin support in Publisher I'm afraid.

Thanks

Callum

[james948]

This is depressing,. Keep coming back and googling for the same answer years later. 

 

[visarts]

Very frustrating. What about V2?

[firstdefence]

1 hour ago, visarts said:

Very frustrating. What about V2?

No nothing in V2, the thing is, these plugins probably aren't like Photoshop plugins, they need a proprietary connection, kind of like the Panels plugins for photoshop or the extension type of plugin. So, I doubt you will see any of the indesign plugins being able to work with Affinity Publisher.

[mopperle]

Coming back to this.

I know the Blurb Plugin for Indesign is extremly helpfull and I also miss it, but Blurb gives a lot of help to create books with Affinity Publisher. Check this article from their knowledgebase:
https://support.blurb.com/hc/en-us/articles/360044955872-Affinity-Publisher-PDF-Dateien

And if you would like to use White Wall, they are offering something similar:
https://www.whitewall.com/uk/editor/pdf-coffee-table-book/create

[Chills]

On 1/19/2024 at 9:55 AM, mopperle said:

Coming back to this.

I know the Blurb Plugin for Indesign is extremly helpfull and I also miss it, but Blurb gives a lot of help to create books with Affinity Publisher. Check this article from their knowledgebase:
https://support.blurb.com/hc/en-us/articles/360044955872-Affinity-Publisher-PDF-Dateien

Yes, coming back to this year after year 😞 !

@Ash I have over the last week jointly emailed Affinity and Blurb asking that between them they add the three Blurb Trade books to A.Pub, both in the page set up and a profile on the PDF set up.    So far zero response from Affinity and Blurb just send me the "PDF set up"  I even suggested that  with 3 million users it is a strategic win for Blurb to have profiles in A.Pub and a sample of each trade book in A.pub.   

The problem is as we all know if you are laying out a book in A.pub you can be working on it for weeks before you turn it into a PDF.  Also Blurb don't check PDf's so getting it right when you set up the page sizes, bleeds etc weeks before you get to the PDF is crucial

If both Blurb and Lulu can do this with InDesign why not Affinity, for that matter Affinity could do it themselves.      

[MikeTO]

@Chills Plugins aren't possible with Affinity Publisher at this time but Serif has announced that an API, which will enable plugins, is under development.

More information here:

 

[Chills]

8 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

Plugins aren't possible with Affinity Publisher at this time but Serif has announced that an API, which will enable plugins, is under development.

Thanks for that.  I mentioned the plug ins in passing, as both Blurb and Lulu have them for InDesign. However, a scripting API would be great, Though probably not for me these days.  

All that is needed is for Affinity is a Blurb section in the new document page set-up dialogue.  I have and to add A2, A1, A0 myself after Affinity took them out!  Also, there should be Blurb settings in the PDF expert dialogue.

This isn't difficult, but it would make a LOT of sense if Blurb And Affinity got together to set them up accurately and I assume test them.  This really is a win-win for both companies.

With Adobe loosing subscribers and Affinity/Canva gaining them, it would make a lot of sense for both parties.  Not just blub but Lulu too and there are a few others.   

[mopperle]

1 hour ago, Chills said:

Also Blurb don't check PDf's

Are you sure? When I send a pdf to Blurb they do a check an you additionally get a visual preview.

So far every pdf I sent to blurb resulted exactly in the book I wanted.

[Chills]

15 hours ago, mopperle said:

Are you sure? When I send a pdf to Blurb they do a check an you additionally get a visual preview.

So far every pdf I sent to blurb resulted exactly in the book I wanted.

I wil re-check.  I am just nervous, swapping from using bookwright and InDesin to A.Pub for this.

It would not take much for Affinity and Blurb (and/or Lulu) to get together and add Blurb trade books to the New Page section and a Blurb profiles in the PDF expert section.

 

 

[Chills]

19 hours ago, mopperle said:

Are you sure? When I send a pdf to Blurb they do a check an you additionally get a visual preview.

So far every pdf I sent to blurb resulted exactly in the book I wanted.

from page https://support.blurb.com/hc/en-us/articles/360044955872-Affinity-Publisher-PDF-files

"Are you using Affinity Publisher to create a PDF to upload via our PDF Uploader? If so, the steps below will help you create and upload a correctly sized file. The most common error we see is an incorrect inner bleed setting for pages. The inner bleed setting must be 0 points, which is different than the top, bottom, and outer bleeds. 

Always carefully review your PDF before you upload it to Blurb. We don't review files before they go into production--that's up to you, as the author of the book."

So they say they don't review the file. Now this may mean just for spilling, gimmer and page layout, poor font choices etc, or it could mean that as long as it dosn't have a PDF error when they feed it to their printer they are happy.  

[mopperle]

Yes, but this applies also when you use their plugin, as you can read here:

https://support.blurb.com/hc/en-us/articles/214844043-Preview-your-PDF-before-upload

And yes, they do a preflight as this page for error handling shows:

https://support.blurb.com/hc/en-us/articles/207792976-PDF-uploader-preflight-errors

I would also like to see something like the Blurb plugin for Adobe Indesign, but only because it simplifies your workflow.

Currently I use their calculation page and this works like a charm:

https://www.blurb.com/make/pdf_to_book/booksize_calculator