Affinity Publisher: apply a master to a data merged document

[Omar Alamoudi]

Hello,

I am trying to design a photo book using Affinity Publisher. I have a csv with the path to the photos, captions, titles, city, date, etc. 

I used the Data merge layout tool to place a single picture frame and two text frames. The layout accommodated landscape pictures well, but not portrait pictures.

After merging the data, I made a master page that works better with the portrait pictures. I made sure that the layer names match, and figured that I could utilized the smart master pages to apply the new layout to the pages containing the portrait pictures. Well, when I drag and drop the new master pages, the layout isn't applied to the existing content. Instead, new frames are added to the pages without modifying the page content. 

Am I missing something? 

 

Thanks in advance

[Old Bruce]

14 minutes ago, Omar Alamoudi said:

Well, when I drag and drop the new master pages, the layout isn't applied to the existing content. Instead, new frames are added to the pages without modifying the page content. 

Drag and drop is probably the culprit here. Try selecting the page(s) and doing a right click and choosing Apply Masters... from the context menu. Make sure to choose Migrate from the options, not replace.

[Omar Alamoudi]

Thanks @Old Bruce for the reply.

I tried that too, it still didn't work. I used all of the options available in the "Apply Master" panel, I check "Replace Existing", and unchecked it, migrated content, and cleared it. I even duplicated the grouping structure and made sure the layer names match. No success so far 

[EmilyGoater]

Hi @Omar Alamoudi

Awesome to see you on the forums. 

Could I suggest a different technique. 

Why don't you consider creating an extra column in your cvs for portrait images and another column for landscape then import the paths in each cell leaving the other columns cells blank, if you're using portrait over landscape for example column as you see fit. As Data Merge is all about time saving right this would be the best way I could think of. I've added a visual example hopefully it will help you. 

Then load your data merge into your publisher document. I'm not sure if you have facing pages or singles but create a design for portrait and one for landscape. Then input your record fields into your frames and generate then in your new untitled document move the pages around as you see fit. 

I hope this helps and works for you I like your thinking on using smart master pages. Not sure why it's not working or something else is going on. I will look into it further because it would be great to use especially in scenarios like yours. But for now this is actually a better option thinking about how you want to lay it out at the time of creating the cvs. 

Let me know how you get on! 

[Omar Alamoudi]

Hello @EmilyGoater,

It is great to hear from you here too :). 

I prefer your suggested approach. In fact, I was wondering if data merger will ever have conditional implementation where your idea will be implemented better. 

I'll try what you suggested, and let you know if it works. 

Before I implement this, I anticipate a problem since I'm using facing pages. This has to do with the margin dimensions. Right now, I have my present with asymmetrical margins (outer != inner), but I'll see if I can find a way around that.

Thanks again

[EmilyGoater]

Awesome! 

Fingers crossed for you! 

If it doesn't post some screenshots or a screen record so we can all help you here!