Staff AdamW Posted October 13, 2020 Staff Share Posted October 13, 2020 Status: Beta Purpose: Stability and General Testing Requirements: Purchased Affinity Publisher Mac App Store: Not submitted Download: Download Auto-update: Not Available --- Hi, We are pleased to announce that Affinity Publisher Customer Beta 1.9.0.796 is now available as a download from the link above. If this is your first time using a customer beta of an Affinity app, it’s worth noting that the beta will install as a separate app - alongside your store version. They will not interfere with each other at all and you can continue to use the store version for critical work without worry. This beta is significant update from the 1.8 version available for purchase - we strongly recommend that you do not use this beta for real work as data could be lost and the files you save are not guaranteed to open in previous or future versions of Affinity Publisher. --- New Features Data Merge - Use the Data Merge Manager (Document > Data Merge Manager) to create a new datasource based on a Text / CSV, JSON or Excel file - Insert Fields from the datasource into text objects via the Fields Panel - Fields that represent image resource paths can be applied to Picture Frames - Optionally, use the DataMerge Node Tool in your source document to create N-up tiled source records - Use 'Generate' from the Data Merge Manager to create a new document based on your source document and datasource Package - Use 'Save As Package' and target an empty folder to create a packaged copy of your document and collect used fonts and linked images into subfolders - The package folder can be moved in its entirety to another location or to another device - On re-opening the package, links to images will be resolved and fonts can optionally be temporarily installed - It is important to adhere to copyright and licensing restrictions if redistributing images or fonts Other Fixes and Improvements Import PDF import was getting tiling patterns wrong Fixed crash the could occur opening PDFs containing objects with indexed colour spaces SVG Importer stability improvement IDML Import - Column rules IDML Import - Increased use of IDML document defaults to inform the import process improving a number of cases Add Pages From File Added option to 'Add Pages at end of document' Added option to 'Add Before / After / Replacing Section' Text Hyphens not being displayed with certain fonts Picture Frames Add Picture Frame property 'Clear Picture Frame Background on Populate' Converting a Picture Frame to Curves loses properties TOC Fix duplicate entries in TOC when heading paragraph spans frames Preflight Don't preflight check for missing fonts inside pass-through PDFs --- To be notified about all future Mac beta updates, please follow this notification thread To be notified when this Publisher update comes out of beta and is fully released to all Publisher customers, please follow this thread EmilyGoater, Seneca, dcarvalho84 and 11 others 8 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murfee Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 19 minutes ago, AdamW said: Data Merge Thank you, can’t wait to try this out affinityfan, PeterB. and AffinityMakesMeWonder 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcarvalho84 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Thanks I've stoped reading the new features as soon as i see Data Merge. Thank you, thank you a lot. Can't wait to try this! AffinityMakesMeWonder and muelli75 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seneca Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Unable to launch Publisher. It starts with a Welcome Screen but then it stops. 😞 I'm on macOS Big Sur Version 11.0 Beta (20A5384c) 2017 27” iMac 4.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 • Radeon Pr 580 8GB • 64GB • Ventura 13.6.4. iPad Pro (10.5-inch) • 256GB • Version 16.4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MEB Posted October 13, 2020 Staff Share Posted October 13, 2020 Hi Seneca, Have you tried to reset the app? First try with just the first three checkboxes ticked. It's running correctly for me in macOS Big Sur (same version as yours). A Guide to Learning Affinity Software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seneca Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 2 minutes ago, MEB said: Have you tried to reset the app? Hi MEB, I've just done that and it started. Will start testing now. Thanks 2017 27” iMac 4.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 • Radeon Pr 580 8GB • 64GB • Ventura 13.6.4. iPad Pro (10.5-inch) • 256GB • Version 16.4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seneca Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 1.9.0.796 crashes as soon as I click on Text Styles palette. 2017 27” iMac 4.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 • Radeon Pr 580 8GB • 64GB • Ventura 13.6.4. iPad Pro (10.5-inch) • 256GB • Version 16.4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herojas93 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Same happens here with same macOS Big Sur build. Crashes at start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fde101 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 1 hour ago, AdamW said: Other Fixes and Improvements Curious that the icon hasn't received its rounded corners yet. You should really consider using some other geometric shape to make the icons more distinctive rather than blending in so carefully... triangles maybe? 😎 Murfee and markw 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Jon P Posted October 13, 2020 Staff Share Posted October 13, 2020 @Herojas93 (or anyone getting a crash on run up in Big Sur) Can you navigate to ~\Library\Application Support\Affinity Publisher Beta and upload the folder here? After doing this if you hold CTRL it'll reset the application and hopefully fix the problem Edit: A console log after the crash on runup would also be useful Serif Europe Ltd. - www.serif.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herojas93 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Here it is. Affinity_Publisher_Beta.zip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazmondo77 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Can no longer move layers in the layers panel with the mouse, the shortcuts still work. - same with latest beta for Designer Also bombs when saving a pdf using pdf passthrough Mac Pro Cheese-grater (Early 2009) 2.93 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon 48 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 ECC Ram, Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB GDDR5, Ugee 19" Graphics Tablet Monitor Triple boot via OCLP 1.4.3 - Mac OS Monterey 12.7.3, Sonoma 14.1.1 and Mojave 10.14.6 Affinity Publisher, Designer and Photo 1.10.5 - 2.4.0 Betas 2.5.0(2430) www.bingercreative.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazmondo77 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 3 minutes ago, Dazmondo77 said: Can no longer move layers in the layers panel with the mouse, the shortcuts still work. - same with latest beta for Designer Also bombs when saving a pdf using pdf passthrough Just reset both Pub and Designer and now layers work as normal - 👍 As with the previous beta, pub still bombs when saving a pdf with passthrough using all PDF/X presets but works great using PDF (for print) Patrick Connor 1 Mac Pro Cheese-grater (Early 2009) 2.93 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon 48 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 ECC Ram, Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB GDDR5, Ugee 19" Graphics Tablet Monitor Triple boot via OCLP 1.4.3 - Mac OS Monterey 12.7.3, Sonoma 14.1.1 and Mojave 10.14.6 Affinity Publisher, Designer and Photo 1.10.5 - 2.4.0 Betas 2.5.0(2430) www.bingercreative.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcarvalho84 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 I've just done a quick test using data merge, and it is ok for what i want it to do, but honestly i don't understand what we can do with the data merge node tool. If someone have a quick video or something showing what we can do with it would be nice. Thanks Patrick Connor and Dazmondo77 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iaing Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Wow, Data merge node does more than data merge - if you add an object in there that gets duplicated too - it's like power duplicate in a grid - pretty cool! MacBook Pro M1 Max, macOS 12.6.1 Monterey Affinity Designer : 2.0 Affinity Photo: 2.0, Affinity Publisher: 2.0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGD Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 This beta of Publisher is crashing on launch under Catalina 10.15.7… Edit #1: I'm trying to isolate the issue, and I believe it must have something to do with my Studio panel arrangement. I was redoing it from scratch after resetting all my preferences, and when reopening it so that I wouldn't accidentally lose my customization, I got it stuck in a new crash loop. Edit #2: Lending further credence to that theory, a simple Studio reset did the trick. Edit #3: Dragging the Layers panel tab off from its group instantly crashed Publisher (and it's reproducible, every single time). Something must've gone seriously wrong with the Studio code in this Beta, IMHO… I hadn't seen this level of instability in a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seneca Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 1 hour ago, dcarvalho84 said: If someone have a quick video or something showing what we can do with it would be nice. Here it is. DataMerge.mov Frozen Death Knight, postmadesign and dcarvalho84 2 1 2017 27” iMac 4.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 • Radeon Pr 580 8GB • 64GB • Ventura 13.6.4. iPad Pro (10.5-inch) • 256GB • Version 16.4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcarvalho84 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Thanks! This gives me a much better understanding of it now. Could be useful in labels for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SillyWalk Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 The Merge data & Save as Package all resources are really great improvements! Checked both and works fine for me on latest public beta of MacOS Big Sur. Thanx guys! iMac: 3,6 GHz 10-Core Intel Core i9 / Graphic: AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT 8 GB / System: Sonoma 14.1 (23B74) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff AdamW Posted October 14, 2020 Author Staff Share Posted October 14, 2020 Crashing on Startup It looks like the instability on startup with this build occurs if you have certain panels floating by default in your studio layout. To work around, hold CTRL while running up and check 'Reset Studio'. We will issue an update to fix this issue as soon as we can. Jon P and JGD 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herojas93 Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 4 minutes ago, AdamW said: Crashing on Startup It looks like the instability on startup with this build occurs if you have certain panels floating by default in your studio layout. To work around, hold CTRL while running up and check 'Reset Studio'. We will issue an update to fix this issue as soon as we can. I did it yesterday and re-arranged it again. For the moment seems is working fine. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bruce Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 7 hours ago, AdamW said: Crashing on Startup It looks like the instability on startup with this build occurs if you have certain panels floating by default in your studio layout. To work around, hold CTRL while running up and check 'Reset Studio'. We will issue an update to fix this issue as soon as we can. Tried this and crashed as soon as I clicked on Reset Studio. What is odd is that I crashed twice, but I have 12 (twelve ! ) console crash reports all at the same time. publisher beta crashes.zip Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.6 Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 | Beta versions as they appear. I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinslimp Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 Thanks for the beta. I had high hopes. I was involved in the development of the PDF printing process back in the early 90s with Gary Cosimini at Adobe - and have been teaching Adobe products internationally for 25 years, primarily to the profession design/editor/adv world. I'm hoping Affinity will create a product to compete with InDesign/Quark, but the PDF problems keep plaguing it. I'm finding most of the same issues with the beta as with the market versions of Affinity. Fonts act like they did in the very early days of PDFs: breaking apart, missing characters, changing fonts. Truetype and Type 1 fonts embedded in the files show up as missing. I've tried placing, opening (with the various options) an everything else I can think of. Yes, I can open the PDF in another app, resave it (using either distiller or photoshop) and the file will work, but Affinity just can't handle. I'd appreciate any advice. After almost thirty years as the "PDF Guru," and teaching InDesign since before it became public, I'd love to find another design app to "wow" the professional design world with. Thanks, Kevin. Patrick Connor and SillyWalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seneca Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 54 minutes ago, kevinslimp said: I'd appreciate any advice. Hello @kevinslimp, The only advise/suggestion I can give you is to get involved in the beta testing of Affinity Publisher and report all bugs and annoying things you encounter while using it. I think the vast majority of users hanging out in this forum have high hopes. Only time will tell … . Meanwhile you can contribute to its development. dominik and Patrick Connor 1 1 2017 27” iMac 4.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 • Radeon Pr 580 8GB • 64GB • Ventura 13.6.4. iPad Pro (10.5-inch) • 256GB • Version 16.4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinslimp Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 I'm pretty sure the issue is Affinity's ability to open PDF files and edit them. This conflicts with Publisher's newer ability to "place" PDF files, without making them editable. When we were first working with PDFs, we ran into issues similar to this – and still sometimes do with PDFs that include CID fonts. Here's what I've learned: PDFs created through Acrobat Distiller, rather than exported from an application, do not have issues with Publisher. Distiller doesn't create CID fonts, which I think are the issue with Affinity's PDFs. It looks like it sees any TTF for Type1 font as missing and tries to replace them - even if they are embedded into the file. PDFs without fonts don't have any issues. A permanent fix might be to get rid of the editing PDF ability - and place the PDF files as other applications (InDesign, Quark, Word, etc) with all fonts intact. SillyWalk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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