Text Frame panel not available

[Ciccio]

Hello,

I have just installed Affinity Designer trial version and started playing with text frames just to see how those compare with InDesign's, which is my current publishing tool.

I have tried for more than an hour to get them work, and I have also seen some video which should explain how to link them, but I have found that something is not working correctly on my setup.

First of all when text exceed the frame size there are no triangles on the text frame border and most of all I can't see the text frame window anywhere. It took me a bit of time to see that it does not appear automatically when double clicking on the text frame border but you have to deep search it into the menu structure.

But alas, it wasn't there either.

See the screen shot of the basic document with an artistic text tool and a text frame tool and the Studio menu options.

As it is the trial version I have just few days to test it, so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

CiccioB

 

[jmwellborn]

Welcome to the Forums, @Ciccio!    I believe that you may be a bit confused with the word "design."  Affinity Designer is not primarily a publishing app, as InDesign is, and does not include text linking properties.   If text is your main concern, you might wish to download a free trial version of Affinity Publisher.   It has the function that you are looking for.   I have attached a screenshot of how your VIEW>Studio>Text Frame  will look in Affinity Publisher.   Hope this will help.   Although you might want to have both apps!!  ☺️

    

[Ciccio]

Doh,

I got the wrong tool with the wrong name, sorry

The interface was so similar that I could not see where it was wrong.

Thanks a lot, I'll try Affinity Publisher then.

 

[jmwellborn]

@Ciccio   You are welcome!  Publisher is lovely.

[Alfred]

22 hours ago, Ciccio said:

I'll try Affinity Publisher

As with Affinity Designer, the trial version of Affinity Publisher expires ten days after first launch, so you might want to wait until the end (or near the end) of your Designer trial. Thanks to the shared file format, any files saved from AD can be opened in APub.

[Jim Monson]

I have used Text Frame extensively since it appeared in AffPub. Great help! With the 1.8.6 update I have had the same problem as mentioned above and believe I have located at least part of the problem. When I load AffPub the Text Frame appears in my AffPub Studio. However, after switching to AffDes via Studio Link (where Text Frame does not appear, of course) and returning to AffPub, I see the AffDes Studio rather than the AffPub Studio. If I want Text Frame in my AffPub Studio I must quit AffPub and bring it up again. Thus from my limited perspective it appears that this is a bug when switching from AffPub to AffDes and back to AffPub. It might be the same in switching to AffPhoto, but I have not tried that.

Here is a screen shot showing what I see when switching back to AffPub from AffDen.

Edited November 29, 2020 by Jim Monson
Uploaded AffPhoto doc rather than a jpg.

[Jim Monson]

Sorry, I loaded a AffPhoto doc rather than the jpg below.

 

[Jim Monson]

I just tried. the switching from AffPub to AffPhoto and the same thing happened. The AffPhoto Studio remained when I returned to AffPub. However, after clicking the AffPub icon the AffPub Studio returned to the screen. This was not the case with AffDen. Nothing I did could bring back the AffPub Studio after switching to AffDes and back to AffPub.

[walt.farrell]

When you say you are "switching" do you mean that you are clicking on the Designer Persona (or Photo Persona) icon, thus remaining in Publisher but in the other Persona? Or do you mean you're using File > Edit in Designer (or Photo)?

Edit: And it's curious that I don't see that row of icons in your screenshot. Ah; nevermind. You don't have View > Show Toolbar enabled.

[Jim Monson]

13 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

When you say you are "switching" do you mean that you are clicking on the Designer Persona (or Photo Persona) icon, thus remaining in Publisher but in the other Persona?

Yes, Walt. I'm changing personas and not going to the File > Edit in Designer. Sorry. I should have used the proper terminology. The problem I described has occurred multiple times, and thus I no longer use the Designer Persona options, although it is a wonderful help when needed. People cannot believe it when I show how simply I can move around in the three Affinity programs. I can't thank the Affinity gang enough since it is a huge help in my work flow. All I can do is to give them a little PR when possible.

[walt.farrell]

9 hours ago, Jim Monson said:

The problem I described has occurred multiple times, and thus I no longer use the Designer Persona options, although it is a wonderful help when needed.

Thanks for the clarification.

I'm sure that Serif would be interested in seeing a video of this happening, if you can get one.

[Jim Monson]

I tried to document this with a clip from my screen, but thankfully and to my surprise, I could not replicate it. Last night I could have since it kept happening after quitting and bringing up APub again. It appears that closing down my iMac last night and booting it up today took care of the problem. I have found that after long hours of work in APub, strange things occur, even though I am not saving history (that must eat up a lot of RAM). Will keep monitoring it and see if it happens again. Your helpful comments, and consistent kindness on the forum is much appreciated, Walt.