Publisher not honouring groups / layers on export

[homeyJay]

This is proving a bit of a deal breaker for me as I'm having to go back to using illustrator again. 

If I group all red objects / text in one layer, all blue objects / text in another layer etc, when I export to PDF and choose 'keep layers', none of the groups are honoured. Everything is just a mess and I have to go back and group them all again. This takes a long time to do as sometimes I have to deal with well over 100 layers / groups. The frustrating thing is that even after I've re-grouped all the objects & text in colours, there's no way to just save the pdf again without re-exporting the document and guess what happens to all my newly created groups on export? Yup, Publisher rips them all apart again and chucks every thing all over the layers pallet.

Not happy at having to go back to Adobe but there you have it. 

[Gabe]

Hi @homeyJay,

We are aware of this and it has already been logged. It is not exactly a bug, but a missing feature. 

[homeyJay]

Just now, Gabe said:

Hi @homeyJay,

We are aware of this and it has already been logged. It is not exactly a bug, but a missing feature. 

Hmm, that's a novel approach. So, what exactly does the 'save layers' button do?

[Joachim_L]

2 hours ago, homeyJay said:

So, what exactly does the 'save layers' button do?

"Include Layers" include the layers, although not mentioned in the help section. So I don't know why this is a missing feature?

But there are layers (elements) and layers (layers). Sounds funny, but it is like that. If you want to preserve layers in the PDF, hit the "Add Layer" button at the bottom of the Layers panel. By doing so a layer appears in the Layers panel with the description (layer). Now move your elements you want to have in a "layer" into this layer. If you export with "Include Layers" you'll see the layer in Acrobat.

Maybe it is misleading, that we are talking about layers in the Layers panel being not layers, but elements and having layers that are layers by description visible by the text in brackets. Argggghh. Sorry for my crude English, but I don't know how to express better.

EDIT: Perhaps this gets clearer with the attached files?

Layers.afpub Layers.pdf

[homeyJay]

I think this reply made my head explode...

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, homeyJay said:

I think this reply made my head explode...

Every object is in its own layer. A set of layers that you've grouped can be operated on all at once, but the Group is not a layer, and so is not saved in a PDF by the "include layers" option.

There is also a special kind of layer known as a Layer (capital L). The purpose of a Layer is to hold other layers. In a way, you can think of it as working like a Group, but it is different.

You create a Layer by using the Add Layer icon in the Layers panel (see below) or Layer > New Layer from the menu, and when you have one it will show in the Layers panel as a (Layer). My guess (and it is purely a guess) is that "include layers" may end up retaining Layers (capital L) that you have in your project. And, if that is true, rather than grouping your objects you should add a Layer and move them into it.

[homeyJay]

OK, thanks guys but none of this seems to work properly!

If I create a new layer via add layer and drag some shapes into it and then choose the layers option on export, those objects show up in their own separate layer in the pdf. However, if I drag any text into a layer created by 'add layer', the layer does appear separate in the pdf but for some reason, it drops the layer name and calls the layer 'image' and inside it is the text, now called 'curves'. It's not fab because usually you'd do this to call the layer something like 'gold text' or 'left hand text' or something useful like that! I can't rename the layer because exporting to pdf drops the layer names again..

[CLC]

15 hours ago, Joachim_L said:

"Include Layers" include the layers, although not mentioned in the help section. So I don't know why this is a missing feature?

But there are layers (elements) and layers (layers). Sounds funny, but it is like that. If you want to preserve layers in the PDF, hit the "Add Layer" button at the bottom of the Layers panel. By doing so a layer appears in the Layers panel with the description (layer). Now move your elements you want to have in a "layer" into this layer. If you export with "Include Layers" you'll see the layer in Acrobat.

Maybe it is misleading, that we are talking about layers in the Layers panel being not layers, but elements and having layers that are layers by description visible by the text in brackets. Argggghh. Sorry for my crude English, but I don't know how to express better.

EDIT: Perhaps this gets clearer with the attached files?

...

Layers.afpub 1.72 MB · 0 downloads Layers.pdf 1.68 MB · 0 downloads

This is yet again a classic example of a bad and misleading Affinity ux, sadly.

"Layers" and "layers" - erm! Just renaming "layers" to objects would do the trick and clear the confusion easily.

 

15 hours ago, homeyJay said:

I think this reply made my head explode...

And you're not alone. Serif should really do something about this.

[homeyJay]

Thanks for the download! I've just recreated it on my own and it now seems to work. I'm doing exactly what I was doing yesterday but today it works. I guess the fates are smiling at me today! Many thanks all!