Flowing tables, span all columns

[captain_slocum]

Sorry to keep banging on about this - which I have been doing ever since the first beta, see many posts - but I was so disappointed these two were not in latest update. Perhaps if I give you a hard example of what I have to do on a regular basis in my job producing magazines, the people at Affinity - who I have the utmost respect for - will see why it is impossible for me to give up InDesign for Publisher.

To take just one community magazine I produce, typically 48pp A5.

Tables: Every month there will be service timetables for 3 churches. There is also a calendar of local events (a bit thin at the moment! But normally running to 3 pages). The information is supplied as tables. The tables import easily into InDesign and of course will flow from one page to another. Impossible in AF Publisher. Even if I could spare the time to break the table into two and paste the second half into a different frame if (when!) the editor requests extra rows, I would have to do it all over again.

Columns: About half the articles are in two columns. They look like this: A centred heading spanning both columns followed by some text in two columns for that section; a sub heading for the next section centred across both columns followed by some text in two columns for that section; and so on. Very easy in InDesign using the Span All command. Impossible, in any practical sense, in AF Publisher.

I would love to ditch InDesign, but alas, AF Publisher is not up to it yet. If only the designers had asked real world publishers like me right from the beginning what was essential.

[andre_floyd]

I agree. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of features missing that make it impossible for me to completely move on from inDesign. At the moment, I wouldn't risk designing a magazine or any client project in Publisher just to later find out that some essential feature is missing and that I would have to start over again in inDesign. We just need to give it time, I guess.

[Wosven]

On 5/10/2020 at 11:25 AM, captain_slocum said:

If only the designers had asked real world publishers like me right from the beginning what was essential.

It's not that they don't know what they are doing, it's that you ask for more advanced features they didn't implemented yet, since they are working on other ones important too.

[TimChinn]

I'm still using PagePlusX9, which has flowing tables, although it took a long time for this feature to be included from memory. I would hope that the developers would learn from their previous product, and replicate it's key features in AF Publisher. The sooner the better.

[Stillstanding]

Flowing tables across pages - partial workaround

I too have been using the table features of InDesign for many years to format an 8-10 page index at the end of a publication published 6 times a year. But I have found a partial work around for some features that may be helpful to others. Basically you format the table in MS Word, save as a pdf, then import those pages into Publisher.

MS Word has features such as headers every page, and it flows from page to page too. I have set up a Word document with the same text area as my Publisher document. Start off by setting the Word doc margins the same. Don't forget to save as a pdf at scale 100%, not fit to page etc.

Word tables are a bit fiddly and annoying, but with care and patience you can get the cell and border formats, cell margins etc. to what you need. In my case I then end up with a multi-page pdf. You can then use "Document/Add pages from file" to insert the pdf table. I set up a different master in Publisher for my index which has the page header and footer, page numbers etc. You have the option when you import the pdf where to add it. Minor typos can be edited of course, but any reformats etc. you have to go back to the Word doc.

Now for the next problem...

Mike W

[captain_slocum]

As you can see, I first flagged up the problem with tables 18 months ago. So I thought it was time for a bump.

If there are any moderators reading this who have inside knowledge, could you reassure me that this is in the pipeline?

One post above says "It's not that they don't know what they are doing, it's that you ask for more advanced features they didn't implemented yet, since they are working on other ones important too".

I stand by my statement. If the developers had asked real life users who make a living from this sort of thing what was important, they would have realise how important flowing tables (and spanning columns) are to a busy book and magazine designer. Flowing tables are NOT an "advanced feature", they are as essential as flowing text frames.

At the very least I would hope they are holding this back for the next paid upgrade. But despite me posting this, and also elsewhere several time in other posts, never once has a developer so much as acknowledged me. I find this bizarre behaviour frankly. I have customers and readers who take the trouble to point out how I could do better, and I welcome it, and am pleased they take the time to care.

[Catshill]

If you look through the posts on this forum you will see that Serif do not respond to future development requests.

[feitelberg]

Let add my vote for better table handling. Specifically: A single table should flow over pages and alternate row shading is a must. And converting tables to text and text to tables is also a requirement. I realize this is a v1 product but if you want to compete with indesign, you'll need these features.