Cross reference support

[PaoloT]

On 10/14/2021 at 7:32 AM, posterizer said:

If the criticism of InDesign's running headers is that they don't capture heading hierarchies (bread crumbs) like FrameMaker

May you explain better what this missing feature from InDesign is?

Paolo

 

[RussC]

Any updates on when cross-references is likely to happen? 

I get that there's lots going on in the background, but x-ref (and footnotes - hellooo footnotes!!) are an absolute must. 

I've just spent 3 days setting my book up in Affinity Publisher, copying and pasting in, and now I come to go through and tidy up, I find all my table and image captions and cross-references are not supported. Utterly gobsmacked, in all honesty; especially given this thread's been asking for this fundamental for well over a year.

[walt.farrell]

6 hours ago, RussC said:

Any updates on when cross-references is likely to happen? 

Serif generally does not comment about future development work.

[HenrikM]

I'm working on a book on photography, and the lack of cross-references is becoming a larger and larger problem the further I get.

I'm hoping we'll get it in the next release. Preferably something at least as powerful and flexible as you get with FrameMaker.

[Ali]

3 minutes ago, HenrikM said:

I'm hoping we'll get it in the next release. Preferably something at least as powerful and flexible as you get with FrameMaker.

No chance. You might get something (but nobody knows), however it will not be as sophisticated as it will be in apps that have been in development for many, many years longer. Keep your expectations realistic.

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, HenrikM said:

I'm hoping we'll get it in the next release

Unlikely. The next release should be 1.10.5, and as a "point" release (.5) we'd expect mainly bug fixes, not significant new functions.

I wouldn't expect a significant new function until 1.11, at the earliest.

[HenrikM]

On 1/22/2022 at 2:31 PM, Ali said:

No chance. You might get something (but nobody knows), however it will not be as sophisticated as it will be in apps that have been in development for many, many years longer. Keep your expectations realistic.

Back in the day when I was a software developer, I designed and built a cross-reference system for XMetaL. It's not that difficult.

Serif does not have to work out everything from scratch. They can borrow ideas from systems that work, like the FrameMaker cross-references, LaTex, Basser Lout, DocBook, XLink, or even Word.

[HenrikM]

On 1/22/2022 at 4:43 PM, walt.farrell said:

Unlikely. The next release should be 1.10.5, and as a "point" release (.5) we'd expect mainly bug fixes, not significant new functions.

I wouldn't expect a significant new function until 1.11, at the earliest.

You are probably correct.

What has me a bit worried is that they implemented hyperlink functionality suitable for eBooks, but not any sort of eBook export, and then named their hyperlinks "cross-references".

Serif usually plan the functionality in their applications very well, but this time I am not so sure they are doing that.

[walt.farrell]

22 minutes ago, HenrikM said:

What has me a bit worried is that they implemented hyperlink functionality suitable for eBooks, but not any sort of eBook export, and then named their hyperlinks "cross-references".

Where do you see that they have called hyperlinks "cross-references"?

[HenrikM]

15 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Where do you see that they have called hyperlinks "cross-references"?

I think they have changed the name in the drop-down menu, but it is still in the documentation.

What they are describing here is not a cross-reference.

 

 

[walt.farrell]

6 minutes ago, HenrikM said:

I think they have changed the name in the drop-down menu, but it is still in the documentation.

What they are describing here is not a cross-reference.

It is also not a Hyperlink.

It is a kind of cross-reference, although cumbersome and difficult to use.

[PaoloT]

On 1/22/2022 at 2:31 PM, Ali said:

No chance. You might get something (but nobody knows), however it will not be as sophisticated as it will be in apps that have been in development for many, many years longer. Keep your expectations realistic.

FrameMaker should have had footnotes since version 1.x. For sure, it got table footnotes in version 3.0.

So, there is hope with Publisher version 2.0!

(By the way: FrameMaker was a cheap alternative to Interleaf, that was sold at a very high price, and forcing the user to also purchase a custom hardware from the same company; its original name was 'publisher', and it was produced by a small company – does this remember something?)

Paolo

 

[ITGimmi]

On 12/16/2021 at 12:25 PM, walt.farrell said:

Serif generally does not comment about future development work.

The question of cross-references has existed for a long time. The first comment here is from July 2020!

Even though walt.farrell already wrote on December 16, 2022 that Serif generally does not comment on future development work. I find it a great pity that none of the developers leave a comment on this topic.

In a software like Affinity Publisher, which advertises to be able to create even larger documents (more than 50 pages), a cross-reference functionality "in my opinion" should not be missing. Unless you only use it to design "fashion magazines" and the like.

Affinity Publisher is much too good not to use it for creating manuals as well. But these almost always need cross-references.

Please Serif...Give us a little hope 😃

[Gatada]

Yes, cross-references that are kept up-to-date when content move around is essential for me.

I feel it is as fundamental as a Table of Contents.

I'm really hoping work is already being done to deliver this soon 🙂

[MikeTO]

Cross references are my #1 feature request.

[vishalsignap]

On 6/9/2022 at 1:03 PM, Gatada said:

Yes, cross-references that are kept up-to-date when content move around is essential for me.

I feel it is as fundamental as a Table of Contents.

I'm really hoping work is already being done to deliver this soon 🙂

I totally agree. I was working on Thesis report with 100's of figures and photos and was amazed that a super program like Publisher doesn't have all the much needed features for working with figures/photos like cross-referencing. footnotes, running headers and other documents features are most sought after.

[Archangel]

What ever happened to Ragtime?

I tell you what. If Serif could get Publisher to integrate or interact with LATEX for technical documentation then there would be a major academic interest in the program. That would probably be a dream feature.

[PaoloT]

4 hours ago, Michael S Harvey said:

If Serif could get Publisher to integrate or interact with LATEX for technical documentation then there would be a major academic interest in the program. That would probably be a dream feature.

Not bad indeed! It would allow for getting around the major limitation of LaTeX, that is how difficult it is to edit the page, styles and object appearance. Do all the semantic editing in LaTeX, and then import into Publisher to make it a joy for the eyes.

This would also probably be an effective way of importing from Scrivener, keeping all the linked images linked and not embedded.

Paolo

 

[Michael Hofmann]

Hi!
I am searching urgently for the cross reference functionality like it is in word.
At the moment I write a book with 250 pages, 500 foot notes and many cross references.
The manual numbering of the foot notes is very time comsuming and can cause many errors. The lack of cross reference is more problematic.
When will this feature be ready. As far as I can see, the community is waitung at least since 2018.

[PaoloT]

15 hours ago, Michael Hofmann said:

The manual numbering of the foot notes is very time comsuming and can cause many errors. The lack of cross reference is more problematic.

Is there a reason for wanting to write a book full of footnotes and cross-references with a program that doesn't support footnotes and cross-references?

Paolo

 

 

[Michael Hofmann]

Hi!
Good question. Answer easy: The very good price and no pay model like Adobe.

I started with Affinity some years ago and had never the need for foot notes. But now we need this feature. I thought this application have this on board. It seems to be a really good application with many things in it. For that reason I was very astonished, that this is not in.

If Serif don't want to develop this in publisher, then this should be cleary told.

Michael

[J.L. Forrest]

I just ran into this problem myself. I realize there are some hurtles to included footnotes and endnotes (or cross-referencing in general), but users have been asking for this functionality from Pubisher's very first iteration. This is taking YEARS now.

C'mon, Serif, is this coming or not? I makes Publisher nearly useless for anyone working in academia or the sciences. 

[fde101]

On 9/28/2022 at 9:13 AM, Michael Hofmann said:

I started with Affinity some years ago and had never the need for foot notes. But now we need this feature. I thought this application have this on board. It seems to be a really good application with many things in it. For that reason I was very astonished, that this is not in.

Footnotes and cross-references are two different things.

Serif has already stated quite clearly that footnotes are under development, in the pinned thread on that subject.

[vishalsignap]

On 12/16/2021 at 10:27 AM, RussC said:

Any updates on when cross-references is likely to happen? 

I get that there's lots going on in the background, but x-ref (and footnotes - hellooo footnotes!!) are an absolute must. 

I've just spent 3 days setting my book up in Affinity Publisher, copying and pasting in, and now I come to go through and tidy up, I find all my table and image captions and cross-references are not supported. Utterly gobsmacked, in all honesty; especially given this thread's been asking for this fundamental for well over a year.

Think footers and cross-references are going to be supported in the next release

[graphandwriting]

As far as I have seen, even in the new V2 there is no real support for cross references yet.
I cannot test the trial version due to the high system requirements.

Can anyone confirm, that real cross reference support is still missing?

I don't understand, how dwg/dxf support, obviously for technical documents, got included, but not real full cross reference support ... I have been so patient and now again disappointed. Not rewarded for the patience :-((