Master pages to pages: forcibly unlinked attributes & no way to re-link them

[ETC]

Hi, Affinity Developers,

I think this is a bug that perhaps hasn't been reported in this forum. Please see

 for the original post and some responses.

I suppose this is by design, but I hope not. The problems I see are …

(1) elements on a regular page that come from a master page are unlinked by Affinity without the user actually knowing it's happening. By comparison, in InDesign one must use Cmd-Shift (Mac) or Ctrl-Shift (Win) to override items from a master page. I think it's important that there be some way of forcing the user to make a choice so he or she knows what's going on. Just doing it behind the scenes without even notice seems pretty bad to me. Reason: one later changes the master and assumes the changes went to the regular pages, but they didn't.

(2) Even worse, in my opinion, is that once the master page are unlinked on regular pages, there is no way to re-link them (best I can tell). One can see that they are unlinked because of the orange dotted vertical lines in the layers panel next to affected elements. But it seems that links of elements to the master page cannot be restored at all.

Here's my example:

1 hour ago, ETC said:

I'm working on a calendar and had a table on the master page (the table is just the dates, which, of course, have to be in different boxes for each month). Text, Text Frame and Baseline grid are all unlinked attributes, so all the tweaking I've been doing to the master page table to get it right has been wasted, since it won't update the regular pages. Ugh!

 

[Jon P]

Hi,

Your first point is by design, we don't ask the user about unlinking objects we just detach them so content specific to that page can be added. I can maybe see a notifcation popping up being useful, but I don't think there is a bug here as such.

In 1.8, you are able to re-apply a master page and choose it if it migrates the page content onto the new master, so you could re link by re-applying the master page? It is probably worth noting there have been a few tweaks around this area in 1.8, and if you  re apply a master page we will try migrate what content we can, unless you choose not to (this to done by right clicking the master page to re-apply it, not by dragging on the pages panel)

[ETC]

On 3/18/2020 at 5:31 PM, Jon P said:

Hi,

Your first point is by design, we don't ask the user about unlinking objects we just detach them so content specific to that page can be added. I can maybe see a notifcation popping up being useful, but I don't think there is a bug here as such.

In 1.8, you are able to re-apply a master page and choose it if it migrates the page content onto the new master, so you could re link by re-applying the master page? It is probably worth noting there have been a few tweaks around this area in 1.8, and if you  re apply a master page we will try migrate what content we can, unless you choose not to (this to done by right clicking the master page to re-apply it, not by dragging on the pages panel)

Thank you, Jon P, for your explanations and for improvements in 1.8.2. I'm no Affinity Publisher power user, and at this point the only thing I'm trying to do with it is make a calendar, which I just come back to periodically to work on.

I just updated to 1.8.2 and when I applied Master A to a page of the calendar; a note did come up about something being detached, but it disappeared before I got it read through. Now I've used Undo and gone back, and here it is (image below). Interesting that although it has an "X" to close it and a "Close" button, it disappears all by itself.

Seems to me that Affinity Publisher should let you chose which elements you want to re-apply from the Master Page. At is it is not it's all or nothing (best I can tell).

To me the "Clear" or "Migrate" options under "Replace Existing" are anything but clear. I think where it says "Content:" it perhaps should say "Non-Master Content:" or something like that; also, the logic of "Migrate" escapes me: Master Page content is migrating to the Regular Page with both options (with "Clear" and with "Migrate"), but with "Clear" Master Page content is replacing the Regular Page content, but with "Migrate" it is being placed over (being appended to) the Regular Page content. Just seems very unclear to me.

I hope my observations are constructive. You've (plural) made one nice piece of software! Thank you for your time and help on this.

Edited March 19, 2020 by ETC
changed "is" to "it"

[drkanukie]

This doesn't work for a simple use case 1.8.2 windows. I change the master heading colour, migrate the page and the heading colour does not change. Why not?

[Avicennia]

On 3/19/2020 at 1:31 AM, Jon P said:

Hi,

Your first point is by design, we don't ask the user about unlinking objects we just detach them so content specific to that page can be added. I can maybe see a notifcation popping up being useful, but I don't think there is a bug here as such.

In 1.8, you are able to re-apply a master page and choose it if it migrates the page content onto the new master, so you could re link by re-applying the master page? It is probably worth noting there have been a few tweaks around this area in 1.8, and if you  re apply a master page we will try migrate what content we can, unless you choose not to (this to done by right clicking the master page to re-apply it, not by dragging on the pages panel)

Hi Jon P, thanks for the explanation. And thanks ETC for raising the issue. I'm having exactly the same problem with tables (coincidentally, I'm also trying to create a calendar). That is, when I make changes to the format of a table in the Master page (cell fill, stroke and text colour are the changes I made) the formatting does not apply to the table in the pages. Strangely, I changed the fill colour and opacity of some cells and this did get updated on the pages, but when I made similar changes to other cells it didn't get updated on the pages.

It might not be a bug as such, but it is definitely something that could be improved upon.

Jon P, I tried your suggestion of reapplying the Master page. I tried both the "clear" and "migrate" options in the Apply Master dialogue box and had the same result each way. Doing this actually created a second copy of the table underneath the original table. The new copy of the table had the new formatting as per the amended Master page but it did not have the existing text from the original page version of the table. 

I can detach the page and then cut and paste (without format) the text from the original tables into the new table and then delete the original table. It works, but having to manually update each table on each page completely defeats the purpose of having Master pages!

I'd be really keen to find out if there's a better way to deal with updating table formatting in the Master page.

Thanks

[Restauro]

 

I have the same problem. I created a data sheet using a table on the master page. I am making condition reports for a large numer of objects. Now I made changes to the table on the master page (inserting new rows, size changes...) which are not applied to the regular pages. I tried both ways of reapplying the master page via the dialogue box an get the same results as Avicennia: A blank table when I try "clear". Or a second blank table that is added over / under my text-filled table when I try "Migrate". The tables on the regular pages all are already filled with text. >200 pages so far. Do I really have to edit each one manually now...? 

Edited February 8, 2021 by Restauro
spelling

[Antony W]

I'm having the same issue. What is the point of master pages if they don't update the main pages? I'm not doing anything complicated, I'm just using master pages for headers, and I've changed the font in my master pages but only some of the headers on the main pages have updated with the new font. In some cases, there is no text in the corresponding text box at all!!! F**king annoying.

I can't see any indication that elements have become unlinked from the master page. All master page layers are marked in the layers list with a vertical orange line whether linked or unlinked, and I can't see anything different about the way the unlinked ones are displayed.

I just think this is a bug.

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, Antony W said:

I just think this is a bug.

It's probably not, but without some screenshots and (ideally) an .afpub document that we can examine, it's difficult to say anything further. I'd also recommend starting your own topic, and providing more information on your OS and the release of Publisher you're using.

[Antony W]

11 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

It's probably not, but without some screenshots and (ideally) an .afpub document that we can examine, it's difficult to say anything further. I'd also recommend starting your own topic, and providing more information on your OS and the release of Publisher you're using.

Hi Walt,

Thanks for your reply. I was about to attach a document demonstrating the issue, but things seem to be a little different now! I can see that on the pages where the master page elements are not updating, the dashed orange line is showing, indicating that these elements are unlinked from the master page. I'm absolutely certain that wasn't there before - I was specifically looking for it once I'd read about it here. I don't know how those elements became unlinked - I've not edited them. Anyway, I won't waste your time by uploading anything at the moment. I'll come back if I encounter the issue again.

Cheers for your help.

[Catshill]

When I update a master page that has already been applied to a page, in order to get it to adopt the change, I clear the master page on the page and reapply it. I don’t know if this is a bug but I have always had to go through this “refresh” process with Publisher.

[Antony W]

2 hours ago, Catshill said:

When I update a master page that has already been applied to a page, in order to get it to adopt the change, I clear the master page on the page and reapply it. I don’t know if this is a bug but I have always had to go through this “refresh” process with Publisher.

You shouldn't have to do that. That totally defeats the point of master pages. Mine usually do update the document pages automatically, but I sometimes find something has become unlinked, for reasons I've not yet worked out. 

[Old Bruce]

On 10/28/2021 at 1:33 PM, Antony W said:

I've changed the font in my master pages but only some of the headers on the main pages have updated with the new font. In some cases, there is no text in the corresponding text box at all!!! F**king annoying.

Is this  a case of the master page has some text with 

This is an Example Header. in Gill Sans Bold Italic and you change to Gill Sans Bold : This is an Example Header.

The pages that do not update, have they had the text changed from "This is an Example Header."  to... well... anything... ? This will break the link between the text on the Master Page and the text on the Actual Page.