Publisher: Rectangle cannot be colored anymore

[Failix]

Hello,

while working on a document with Publisher, I noticed that a rectangle had lost its previous fill.  I can't understand why this happened. What the heck was I doing there?

Now I can't fill it, even a colored border is impossible.

I copied this rectangle to a new file - same problem. Below a rectangle I created new:

 

I have attached the Publisher file here and am very curious if anyone can tell me what is wrong with this colorless rectangle.

Thank you very much and regards,
Felix

(I think the English translated with DeepL is horrible, sorry!)

colorless rectangle.afpub

[GarryP]

Yes, that’s a strange one.

• The Opacity of the layer is 100% – so that’s fine.
• The Blend Mode is Normal – so that’s fine.
• The Blend Options look normal – so that’s fine.
• The Opacity of the Fill is 100% – so that’s fine.
• It’s not below an obscuring layer – so that’s fine.
• It has no Effects applied (with no Fill Opacity of 0%) – so that’s fine.
• It has no Adjustments applied – so that’s fine.
• It’s not Masked or Clipped by anything – so that’s fine.

However, it’s still ‘invisible’; curious indeed.

• Changing the Fill does nothing that I can see.
• Copying the layer to a new document doesn’t have an effect on the fill in the new document.
• Converting it to curves does nothing to change the lack of a visible fill.
• Moving it to a different page doesn’t help.
• Changing the document Colour Format doesn’t help.

I’m out of ideas at the moment but I could be missing something obvious.
Hopefully someone else can help, but it might be ‘just one of those things’ that happens every so often.

[Pšenda]

Didn't you do any experiments with Styles on it?
Interestingly, you can't make color changes directly on it, but you can use Style, and then you can edit it again.

[Pšenda]

17 minutes ago, GarryP said:

I’m out of ideas at the moment but I could be missing something obvious.

I tried exporting to readable svg if something "doesn't help".
Visible rectangle:

Invisible rectangle:

Edit: The opacity can therefore be set somewhere else (see previous info on Styles), which cannot be set directly.
Edit2: Try select invisible rectangle, Ctrl+C. Select visible rectangle, Paste Style (Ctrl+Shift+V) - then is rectangle also invisible.

Edited April 1, 2021 by Pšenda

[iconoclast]

If you drag the Transparency tool on the rectangle and then set the tool to "None", it will appear as it should. Doesn't explain the strange behaviour, but solves it for the moment.

Edit: As I just went in the history to the starting Position, the rectangle was still filled. And as I zoomed it after that, it wasn't again. Must be a bug, I think.

Possibly it has something to do with the outline set to 100%?

[Failix]

The upper rectangle had a gradient from transparent to white. I deleted this, now I remember.

If you do the same with the lower rectangle (add transparency and delete it again) it also loses its color.

Is this a bug and should the post be moved as a bug report?

[GarryP]

What do you mean by ‘deleting’ the gradient fill?
Can you tell us exactly what you did?

[iconoclast]

Ah, I think I've got it. I draged a gradient to a rectangle and setted one point to full transparency. Then I deleted one gradient point (or the possibly whole gradient). And after that the rectangle can't be filled anymore.

[Failix]

5 minutes ago, GarryP said:

What do you mean by ‘deleting’ the gradient fill?

I drag the Transparency tool over the rectangle and then press the Delete key. That's all.

iconoclast has done the same. But we do not know why this strange effect occurs.

[GarryP]

I think I’ve just tried to do what I think you said you did and I don’t see a problem on Windows.
Can you explain what you did in explicit steps (detail every drag/move/click/etc.)?

[iconoclast]

Think I've got a solution: First I created the problem by dragging a linear gradient to a rectangle. I gave the left gradient point a full opacity colour, the right one I setted to full transparency. Then I deleted the left point, so that the whole rectangle was transparent. After that you will not have an option to refill the rectangle, except you change to the Move tool. Then the Filling options will be available again. So it seems that it's not really a bug.

[GarryP]

Which version of Publisher is everyone using and on which OS?
I’m using 1.9.1.979 on Windows 10 and I’m not getting quite the same result as what I’m reading about.

[iconoclast]

I'm using vs 1.9.2.1035 (updated yesterday). On Windows 10.

[Failix]

9 minutes ago, iconoclast said:

Think I've got a solution

That's it: If you delete the wrong point from the history, the transparency extends over the entire rectangle.

 

5 minutes ago, GarryP said:

I’m using 1.9.1.979 on Windows 10

I'm using 1.9.2.1035 on Win 10 Pro. Publisher was updated from 1.9.1 yesterday.

[iconoclast]

By the way, I'm not really sure, but I think gradient points couldn't be deleted in older versions. Possibly a new feature? Think I tried it in the past, and it didn't work. But I may be wrong.

[Failix]

It was not an April Fool's joke, definitely not. Thanks for your help, I would not have found the solution so quickly on my own, or maybe not at all.

Regards,
Felix

[iconoclast]

You're welcome!

[Failix]

In English, when one writes "for your help", how does the reader know if singular or plural is meant?

So thank you to all who have written in this thread!

[iconoclast]

1 minute ago, Failix said:

In English, when one writes "for your help", how does the reader know if singular or plural is meant?

 

As a german, I'm not really the expert to answer this. But if you add something like ", folks", I think it will be understood. To feel certain, you can click on the heart button on the right side of the post you reply to.

[Failix]

I gave you my hearts, folks! 😁

[iconoclast]

😍

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, iconoclast said:

So it seems that it's not really a bug.

However, the bug (in UI design) is definitely that it is probably not clear to users that the Transparency/Fill Tool was applied to the layer/object. It has been repeatedly requested that as well as changing the Blend mode/range, layer opacity and fx, this should be indicated in the Layer panel.

[Alfred]

26 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

However, the bug (in UI design) is definitely that it is probably not clear to users that the Transparency/Fill Tool was applied to the layer/object.

It seems to be more than just a bug in UI design. When I select the transparent rectangle in AD on iPad and choose the Transparency Tool, the Context toolbar identifies the transparency type as ‘None’.

[Alfred]

1 hour ago, Failix said:

In English, when one writes "for your help", how does the reader know if singular or plural is meant?

So thank you to all who have written in this thread!

I think you’ve answered your own question! If you say “thank you for your help” it isn’t clear whether you’re addressing one person or several, but “thank you both” or “thank you all” makes it perfectly obvious that you’re thanking two or more people.

[Failix]

37 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

It has been repeatedly requested that as well as changing the Blend mode/range, layer opacity and fx, this should be indicated in the Layer panel.

That is also what I wanted. If I don't have the transparency tool selected, I don't see that a gradient has been created.

 

8 minutes ago, Alfred said:

I think you’ve answered your own question!

Yes, I have now realised that too. Unfortunately, my English is not good enough for such technical topics as here, so I have my texts translated completely by DeepL. But how is this programme supposed to know who I'm addressing ... 😉