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This is to follow up earlier questions about using Affinity Publisher documents for books printed via MagCloud. Making the template hasn't been difficult. The unknown information (so far) has to do with the PDF settings. MagCloud has instructions for InDesign but none for Affinity Publisher.

I see from other threads that there are people here with experience producing books on MagCloud. I would be much obliged for feedback about this if your time permits.

The rest of the post concerns MagCloud's recommendations for InDesign's PDF export settings. The comment I'll add below it contains my guesses about PDF export from Publisher.

Settings here are in order of their appearance in the MagCloud instructions. InDesign options for which there don't seem to be equivalents in Affinity Publisher are marked "**" below. (I'm using v. 1.8.2 for Windows.)

Pages: All
Spreads option: Disabled
** Created tagged PDF: Disabled  [But so far PDFs I've exported from Publisher don't seem to be tagged]
Export Layers: "Visible and Printable Layers"
Hyperlinks: Include [optional]
** Include interactive elements: Disabled

For both color and greyscale images:
Bicubic downsampling to 300 ppi for images above 300 ppi
Compression: JPEG
Image quality: High [presumably meaning 80+]

For monochrome images:
** Bicubic downsampling to 1200 ppi for images above 1800 ppi
** Compression: CCITT Group 4

The instructions draw particular attention to these next two options, which don't appear in the Publisher export dialog:
** Compress text and line art: Enabled
** Crop image data to frames: Enabled

Compatibility: Acrobat 5 (PDF 1.4)

Bleed: Include

Color conversion: None
Profile Inclusion Policy: "Include RGB and all tagged S..."
[The screen shot does not display the full setting.]

Fonts: Subset fonts when percentage of characters used is less than: 0%

All security features appear to be disabled.

Affinity Publisher and Photo 1.8.3 (Windows). Lenovo laptop with decidedly sub-optimal monitor. At least it works.
“The wonderful thing about standards is that you can have as many of ’em as you want.”
– Anonymous cynic

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Best guesses so far concerning Publisher's PDF export settings — in order of their appearance within the export dialog and its "More..." sub-dialog.

Raster DPI: 300
Include bleed: Enabled

Area: All pages [not spreads]
Rasterize: "Unsupported properties"
[But should "Everything" or "Nothing" be selected instead?]

Downsample images: Enabled
Above DPI: 300
Resampler: Bicubic

Use document resolution: Selected
Allow JPEG compression: Selected
Quality: at least 80

Compatibility: PDF/X-3
[Exporting from Affinity Publisher using the "PDF/X-3" setting produces the same compatibility setting in a PDF output file, per Acrobat Reader's "Properties" dialog, as MagCloud specifies in its instructions.]

Color space: "As document" [it will likely be CMYK]
ICC profile: "Use document profile" [likely the default that appears when you select CMYK color space]
[Above two selections automatically select "Embed ICC profile."]

The following 6 options are all disabled:
Convert image color spaces
Honor spot colors
Overprint black
Include hyperlinks
Include layers
Include bleed
[Neither the hyperlinks or layers option is accessible in this dialog; they cannot be selected at all.
Why is that?]

Include printers marks: Disabled

Embed fonts: "All fonts"
Subset fonts: Disabled

Allow advanced features: Disabled
[Is there a reason to enable this option for book publishing?]
 

Affinity Publisher and Photo 1.8.3 (Windows). Lenovo laptop with decidedly sub-optimal monitor. At least it works.
“The wonderful thing about standards is that you can have as many of ’em as you want.”
– Anonymous cynic

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MagCloud requests no spot colors, so that will definitely remain unchecked. I will change the 'overprint black' setting in the output preset.

If I create a document from my test .aftemplate file and add a hyperlink, even then the Include Hyperlinks option in the PDF output dialog is inaccessible (and it is unchecked despite the presence of the link within the .afpub file).

This would matter to people who make MagCloud books: MagCloud provides customers who buy a book on the site an electronic copy along with the printed copy. Any thoughts on what is needed to make the Include Hyperlinks option become available in that output dialog?

Thanks again.

Affinity Publisher and Photo 1.8.3 (Windows). Lenovo laptop with decidedly sub-optimal monitor. At least it works.
“The wonderful thing about standards is that you can have as many of ’em as you want.”
– Anonymous cynic

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20 minutes ago, MikeA said:

This would matter to people who make MagCloud books: MagCloud provides customers who buy a book on the site an electronic copy along with the printed copy. Any thoughts on what is needed to make the Include Hyperlinks option become available in that output dialog?

You need to choose PDF 1.4 (Acrobat 5) or higher for your Compatibility Level if you want hyperlinks. Assuming that Affinity does not have a bug, that would indicate that PDFs at the lower compatibility levels simply don't support hyperlinks.

-- 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:

You need to choose PDF 1.4 (Acrobat 5) or higher for your Compatibility Level if you want hyperlinks.

You are right. I'd started using PDF/X3, which produces PDFs that Acrobat Reader's "Properties" dialog describes as compatible with PDF 1.4 (Acrobat 5). But that setting in the Publisher export dialog disables hyperlink creation. The one you're recommending supports it. Thanks once again.

 

Affinity Publisher and Photo 1.8.3 (Windows). Lenovo laptop with decidedly sub-optimal monitor. At least it works.
“The wonderful thing about standards is that you can have as many of ’em as you want.”
– Anonymous cynic

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You're welcome.

-- 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, Lagarto said:

You would typically create a separate PDF for digital use. E.g., if you use bleed and/or crop marks in your print version you would not want them in the digital version.

As I recall, when you upload a PDF for printing by MagCloud, they automatically create a digital version for you from the same PDF. They don't want crop marks that I know of. I've just gone to my account on MagCloud to have a look at the electronic (PDF) version of the print book I bought there a few days ago. It looks a wee bit dull compared with the print version, but that's likely my monitor, which is not what I'd call sterling and is left at 75% brightness (the setting recommended by the software I use to profile it). If I were to crank it up to 100% the PDF version of the book would probably look much better.

Thanks.

Affinity Publisher and Photo 1.8.3 (Windows). Lenovo laptop with decidedly sub-optimal monitor. At least it works.
“The wonderful thing about standards is that you can have as many of ’em as you want.”
– Anonymous cynic

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33 minutes ago, Lagarto said:

Note however that the MagCloud instructions (at least those I found) do not have hyperlinks included:

Interesting. The InDesign-related instructions I downloaded for a MagCloud 8"x8" book show the Hyperlink option checked. (I'd include the screen shot, but this forum isn't allowing me to attach images. I dunno...maybe it doesn't like the browser I'm using — Vivaldi for Windows.)

 

33 minutes ago, Lagarto said:

An important thing to notice is that i.8.2 release version of Affinity Publisher has a bug that forces CMYK conversion of images in all print export setting so they do not honor "Convert image color space" setting

Oh. That's a bit frustrating. How stable is beta 1.8.3 at the moment? Then again perhaps the Publisher document (for now) could be RGB, with certain colors set (using the CMYK sliders) as you recommended in the other thread—to avoid setting "full" black—for example, if a page's background is black. Then again I don't know if colors set that way would be sufficient in a document whose "native" color space is RGB.

They do say that during production the whole business is converted to CMYK, anyway.

I'm not finding specs in the instructions I downloaded (InDesign template, 8"x8" book, perfect binding) that pertain to the color profile for the document, overall. They do say: For the best output, we recommend using images that are 300 dpi with the original color profiles embedded in the PDF. Text should be CMYK with the fonts embedded.

 

33 minutes ago, Lagarto said:

Note that the instructions that I found specify non-symmetric bleeds

Yes, true at the least for the 8"x8" perfect-bound book format. I haven't looked at instructions for other formats yet.

 

Affinity Publisher and Photo 1.8.3 (Windows). Lenovo laptop with decidedly sub-optimal monitor. At least it works.
“The wonderful thing about standards is that you can have as many of ’em as you want.”
– Anonymous cynic

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Viewed locally in Acrobat Reader, the flower in the "magcloud.pdf" file has extremely vibrant color. Viewed online here, though, it's quite drab—likewise the green patch. I'm using the same monitor to view both. (Acrobat Reader doesn't seem to display any information about the color space or embedded profile, if any.)

Affinity Publisher and Photo 1.8.3 (Windows). Lenovo laptop with decidedly sub-optimal monitor. At least it works.
“The wonderful thing about standards is that you can have as many of ’em as you want.”
– Anonymous cynic

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Thanks for the link. I guess I should try the beta.
The unknown remains whether this export-to-PDF for MagCloud should be done with

•  An RGB Affinity Publisher document converted to CMYK during export with images left in RGB color space
•  An RGB Publisher document whose color space is left as-is during export (in which case MagCloud does the entire conversion to CMYK)
•  A CMYK Publisher document with images in RGB color space that are left in RGB during export

MagCloud's tech support seems a bit wobbly in its replies about color spaces, and the one guy I know who's actually made such a book said he just dragged and dropped stuff into InDesign and didn't pay much attention to any tech specs (so not much info there). It's all b&w images and MagCloud did an excellent job with it. But what are the bloody settings he used. This stuff could make a person crazy...

Affinity Publisher and Photo 1.8.3 (Windows). Lenovo laptop with decidedly sub-optimal monitor. At least it works.
“The wonderful thing about standards is that you can have as many of ’em as you want.”
– Anonymous cynic

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Then I'll go with that for now (CMYK / images left in RGB).

It's been interesting using both the RGB sliders and the CMYK sliders for black text. This monitor being what it is (alas), I don't see the subtle changes on-screen as I cycle through the various color settings that MagCloud recommends (and some it suggests be avoided). This surprised me: if the RGB sliders are set to 0,0,0, the CMYK sliders show 74C, 68M, 67Y, 90K. And what MagCloud suggests for black text — 100K and CMY=zero — becomes RGB 35,31,32.

Affinity Publisher and Photo 1.8.3 (Windows). Lenovo laptop with decidedly sub-optimal monitor. At least it works.
“The wonderful thing about standards is that you can have as many of ’em as you want.”
– Anonymous cynic

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Well. This is curious. I'm talking about book publishing in a Facebook group and someone who's been using Blurb as his printer says they request PDFs that are in RGB color space, not CMYK. MagCloud is a division of Blurb but is not Blurb "proper." Could their processes be that different? I suppose it's possible.

 

Affinity Publisher and Photo 1.8.3 (Windows). Lenovo laptop with decidedly sub-optimal monitor. At least it works.
“The wonderful thing about standards is that you can have as many of ’em as you want.”
– Anonymous cynic

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23 hours ago, Lagarto said:

but in the InDesign instructions at least for the 8" x 8" book they recommend CMYK text, and probably mean then K100 text, as using four-color black in small print is not sensible.

The instructions I downloaded (one of their KB articles, not the documentation that comes with the InDesign template) gives sundry recommendations for black type and expanses of black. They definitely warn against CMYK=100 across the board.

More mail from them today notes: ". . . I can let you know that our instructions for other programs such as InDesign state that whatever color space you choose to use will need to be embedded into the file."  [emphasis theirs]

Affinity Publisher and Photo 1.8.3 (Windows). Lenovo laptop with decidedly sub-optimal monitor. At least it works.
“The wonderful thing about standards is that you can have as many of ’em as you want.”
– Anonymous cynic

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Thanks. I don't recall seeing that referred-to in any of their messages. They must have forgotten about their own blog post. Unfortunately, the link in the post to a profile for soft proofing the PDF on-screen is no longer working (it's in one of the comments). I'll see if I can get an updated link from them, along with instructions on just how users should apply the profile to a PDF.

Yes, I plan to set both text colors and black backgrounds using the CMYK settings they have supplied in one of their KB articles. These seem like ideal situations for Publisher's swatches or even its Styles feature (for assigning a color quickly to, say, a large black rectangle).

 

Affinity Publisher and Photo 1.8.3 (Windows). Lenovo laptop with decidedly sub-optimal monitor. At least it works.
“The wonderful thing about standards is that you can have as many of ’em as you want.”
– Anonymous cynic

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