Document Window Arrange

[Paul Batty]

One of the things I really miss in Affinity software is the ability to quickly arrange open documents, yes I know you can Float and Dock them, but wouldn't it be nice to have the option to arrange tabbed 2up Vertical or Horizontal, or even 3Up, 4 up etc. What about adding the option to 'Tile' tabbed windows that would be a start!

As it is now I have to float the windows, move them around and resize them to suite, which is tedious! It is like going back in time!

Maybe I have been spoilt by other software that offers this facility; but I think it's time Affinity had this feature, especially since most people now have bigger monitor/displays and can make use of such a useful feature. 

 

 

[Pšenda]

Required for a long time, unfortunately nothing yet.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Window+Arrange+site%3Aforum.affinity.serif.com

[chessboard]

I don't get why this is a problem on windows. The Mac versions can do this since version 1 (I think). Almost any software on windows offers the ability to arange subwindows in the application window. Even Serif Draw Plus could do this.

This is a really important feature, please, please implement it in the Windows-Version, too!

[Paul Batty]

I have Affinity software (Photo, Designer & Publisher) on both Mac and Windows and the ability to 'Tile' or quickly 'Arrange' open tabbed document windows is not available in the Affinity software on any platform. Other software has had this feature for many years (or decades)! It's about time this facility was added to all Affinity software. It's now 2 years since I broached the subject for this useful and time saving facility. Unfortunately with every update to date I have been disappointed. 

[ygoe]

Yes, that feature would be very helpful. I'm currently designing a rollup banner that should look good besides an already existing one. 2up view left/right is the thing I need. I could only get there halfway. I can manually arrange the two windows up to almost the available size. If I make them too large, they want to dock to the full view again.

It shouldn't be too hard to automatically arrange the windows so that they use exactly the available space, and are locked from further movement by the user.

These undocked windows are also completely free top-level windows! They can be moved to the second screen or above the AD UI. That's not something I want in this case. The docked and arranged document windows should still be a part of the main window.

 

[Walkaboutphotos]

On 8/22/2020 at 8:55 PM, Paul Batty said:

I have Affinity software (Photo, Designer & Publisher) on both Mac and Windows and the ability to 'Tile' or quickly 'Arrange' open tabbed document windows is not available in the Affinity software on any platform. Other software has had this feature for many years (or decades)! It's about time this facility was added to all Affinity software. It's now 2 years since I broached the subject for this useful and time saving facility. Unfortunately with every update to date I have been disappointed.

I can only agree with this. I work in an industry that is tied to the other brand because, 'Arrange>Tile>Match Zoom' then 'Consolidate All to Tabs' is used repeatedly day in day. Shortcuts can also be assigned to these features. A whole segment of the photographic industry is lost without these functions.

[ashf]

+1

[Gavin]

+1

Really annoying that with lot of documents (windows) opened, they all get stacked on top of each other...

[prophet]

+1 from me. Handy when color correcting a group of photos to match each other.

[Pšenda]

Personally, I think this is such a basic and simple thing that there can be no problem in its implementation (every Hello Word for MDI application can do this), so it was probably postponed until version 2.

[Talkrabb]

Not only arranging open windows but also sort the photos alphabetically would save me a lot of time.

In the current Windows version of Affinity Photo the images appear in a random order and not as they are sorted in the file folder.

I haven't found a way to sort the windows in order to get photos in a alphabetical or chronological (EXIF Data?) order.

[transwagon]

Just bought Version 2 with high hopes that this feature is now integrated. To my disappointment it isn't. I really need this. Please

[Paul Batty]

I just bought Affinity V2 Universal licence as it is such a bargain, plus I wanted to help support your Company in its endeavours.

I was hoping an earlier suggestion by myself and others would have been implemented in the latest version of the software. But unfortunately it looks like you have again missed the opportunity to add a really useful feature used by many commercial Photographers and other creative professionals when going about their daily work.

May I once again suggest you add the option to automatically arrange multiple tabbed images/documents, which would be a massive improvement on the 'Float View to Window' option. Which to be honest is just totally rubbish and time consuming to use!  As we all know time is money and your software when dealing with multiple open images, or documents is lacking! 

Please listen to the suggestions of end users, who are only wishing you to make the Affinity software better than it already is. 

I look forward to exploring the V2 software and hope further improvements will be implemented as and when required. 

As words have not had an effect on your development team, maybe a picture would help prompt them to add this feature to all the Affinity software/Apps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[IGHulme]

I have just downloaded the trial of V2 in the hope that this and other omissions have been fixed.

Sadly, this is such a fundamental part of my workflow I still can't make the move from Photoshop.

This, and being able to right-click with the move tool and select a layer from a dropdown list.

Would so love to have moved away from Photoshop (already use Affinity Designer).

Fingers crossed that these get added someday! 🤞

[homeyJay]

This is still (jan 2023) not available. Please make this happen

[loukash]

Don't know about Windows, but on Mac you can have the "2-up vertical" window arrangement out of the box as a MacOS feature:

Note that with apps/windows that support the full screen mode, you have to hold the option key to bypass the full screen mode.

[homeyJay]

This doesn't seem to work with AD..

 

[loukash]

21 minutes ago, homeyJay said:

This doesn't seem to work with AD..

In Affinity 2, first you have to activate Window > Float View to have separate windows.
In Affinity 1, you need to activate Window > Separated Mode.

[Paul Batty]

7 hours ago, loukash said:

In Affinity 2, first you have to activate Window > Float View to have separate windows.
In Affinity 1, you need to activate Window > Separated Mode.

While that feature is available on Mac it is not really a useful feature! For a start I have to press the option button and then float individual image windows. Using the Mac work around (if you can call it that) the windows resize to cover all the Affinity Photo tools, so I have to resize them. Plus if I have 4 images I can only see two images. So to be honest thanks for the suggestion but it is not what is actually required by many users.

As I explained in an earlier posting the ability to arrange multiple images (or documents) inside of the Affinity workspace is what is needed, using commands such as Tile or Arrange. I and many other users of Affinity Photo want or need this feature because it is something we used in our daily working life when using Adobe software. That fact that Affinity does not have this simple feature makes it less appealing to those in a commercial environment. If Affinity want to make further inroads and encourage others to use their software, they need to listen to suggestions which would make it an even more professional piece of software.

What takes me about one second to arrange 4 similar photos in Adobe Photoshop (using the Tile or Arrange command) took me about 5 minutes in Affinity Photo and then because of the limitations of the Affinity Photo software the document windows will not resize to fit the application interface! To be honest it just looks a mess compared to what the competition can do! If other software can automatically arrange multiple open documents in to grid or columns, how come Affinity does not offer this?

All I am suggesting is a feature which is sadly missing, which would make the Affinity software more appealing to many others.

[loukash]

2 minutes ago, Paul Batty said:

it is not what is actually required by many users

Of course not.
That's why they call it… wait for it: a workaround.

3 minutes ago, Paul Batty said:

All I am suggesting is a feature which is sadly missing

… and I'm not questioning that by any means.  
All I am suggesting is simply what you can already have right now. That may be useful for some.

If you have a macro utility like Keyboard Maestro, you can also set up a macro that will arrange your v2 floating windows within a second via keyboard shortcut or menu action. For example, a 4-up is easily possible by using a KM preset, or better by using your own coordinates to leave space for the panels and the toolbars. The only limitation for a 4-up on my MacBook is that the minimal height of a floating Affinity document window is hardcoded to 584 px (duh!) so a 4-up will be more useful on larger displays, not necessarily on mine.
Here's a quick 4-up KM macro I just set up while typing this:

 

 

This should be also possible via Automator and UI scripting, but that requires AppleScript skills.

It won't work that easily in v1 Separated Mode because if you have Affinity's studio panels active, they will mess up the MacOS window hierarchy index… Duh. Sloppy UI programming, Serif.

~~~

Speaking of which:
This is an archived v1 feedback thread.
As confirmed by Serif staff, there won't be any new features in v1, so there's no point in bumping this thread with further requests.
If you're stuck with Affinity v1, workarounds is all you can get.

[Paul Batty]

Thanks for the info, I'll be sure to post it in the V2 request posting, in the hope that someone listens. Also your info that the window size is hardcoded to a  minimal  window height of "584 px (duh!)" shows that Affinity need to improve its newest software to catch up with software that is more capable in tiling/arranging multiple document windows. Shame they seem to ignore this basic functionality.

Edited January 22, 2023 by Paul Batty

[loukash]

38 minutes ago, Paul Batty said:

the window size is hardcoded to a  "584 px (duh!)" fixed size

I said "minimal window height". Vive la différence.

[BBG3]

I really need a window tile feature, too. Please use CHAT GPT to make this happen😉.

[homeyJay]

5 hours ago, BBG3 said:

I really need a window tile feature, too. Please use CHAT GPT to make this happen😉.

Ok, what has Chat GPT got to do with it? May as well ask Burger King to fix the problem!

[Pšenda]

10 hours ago, homeyJay said:

Ok, what has Chat GPT got to do with it? May as well ask Burger King to fix the problem!

Apparently an attempt at a humorous remark to get ChatGPT to generate the corresponding program code.

Edit: Perhaps the author of the proposal could generate applications functionally identical to ASuite - it shouldn't be a problem after all 😉

Edited June 19, 2023 by Pšenda