(Affinity Publishing) applying a default style

[pete hoag]

Greetings- I hope you all are well!

I have a question regarding styles. How do you apply a style as a default and how do you apply a style to an open document.

[SaltyClownShoes]

I may be wrong, because I am not using a lot of the power of the program.  However, you can configure most of the basics out of File > Document Setup & Spread Setup.  I make an excessive use of Master Pages to apply any kind of overarching templates to my documents look and feel.  You control your table of contents by your headings.  Not sure if that's what you are asking about.   

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, pete hoag said:

How do you apply a style as a default and how do you apply a style to an open document.

In the context of a complete document, Pete, what do you mean by a "style"?

[pete hoag]

I'm assuming a syle is how you set up a document with the font, spacing, etc. I have a letterhead that I applied these items to and saved it. However, the style only shows up on my stationary and I want to apply it to other documents.

Does this make sense?

[walt.farrell]

8 minutes ago, pete hoag said:

I'm assuming a syle is how you set up a document with the font, spacing, etc.

It's not, or at least, Style is not a term generally used for that here. Style (in Affinity) refers to the stroke(s) or fill that you might assign to vector objects in your design. There are also Text Styles, which can apply to paragraphs of text, or individual words or letters of text.

First, a document usually won't have just one font or font size, one spacing, etc. It may have headers that will be a different font or font size from the paragraphs of text, for example. Or the first page may have a letterhead that subsequent pages don't have. Some pages may have text with one layout, while other pages will have text with a different layout.

You can cater for all of that in the way you lay out documents, but calling it "Style" risks confusion with other uses of the term. So, perhaps, layout would be better.

Affinity Publisher documents start with a default font (Arial) but you can change that. They have a default set of Text Styles (Base, Body, Header 1, etc.) with certain characteristics for font, font size, line spacing, etc. but you can change that.

It sounds like perhaps you want to setup a Template for future files. And you can do that. You create a new file, and setup the page sizes and margins. You can setup master pages to get certain items present on every page or selected pages, and in general get it structured and laid out like you'd like it to look in terms of the fonts, font sizes, letterhead, text styles, text placement, text flow, etc. Then you can export that as a template. 

When you create another file, you can select the template as part of the New Document processing.

 

[pete hoag]

So Walt, I have migrated from Page Plus to Affinity and I'm still a little stuck as there is SO much more to Affinity. I think I understand what you are saying, however the style that I saved work for my stationary, but that may be because I set up the text styles at the same time. But where are the styles saved? Do they only save with the document that you saved them to? Thanks.

[walt.farrell]

Generally, Object Styles (aka "Styles", but not in the way you are trying to use the term) are saved as part of the application-user data that applies across documents. Text Styles are saved as part of a document, but you can have a default set of them that is different from the defaults shipped with the application.

Again, I think you probably want to setup a Template, which s a sample document that includes a combination of page layout information (page size, margins), as well as document information (master pages, with letterheads, the Text Styles you want to use for that kind of document,  where you want text to be entered, how it should flow from page to page, etc.)

Templates are saved wherever you want to save them, after you create them.

[pete hoag]

Ok, great thanks for your help. Just to let you know I downloaded a free version of Page Plus when the company was in New Hampshire USA- I think it was back in the 80's. I couldn't use the program at the time since my computer wasn't fast enough... you can imagine every time you tried to do anything it would be one frame taking its time to display. Love Affinity!

[walt.farrell]

You're welcome.

[tcdaly]

Is there any way of changing the factory default text styles that are used when a new document is created, without using a template?

[walt.farrell]

3 minutes ago, tcdaly said:

Is there any way of changing the factory default text styles that are used when a new document is created, without using a template?

1. Create a new document.
2. Setup the Text Styles you want. Delete the ones you don't want.
3. In the Text Styles panel, click the panel options icon (3-bars) and choose Save Styles as Default.
4. Then, File > New will have those Text Styles, and no others.