Ability to Add Note/Annotation/Comment to Publisher Document

[skmwrp]

This is about impossible to search, so forgive me if this is already addressed somewhere else.

With AP, is there the ability to add a note/comment/annotation to a document (one of those terms). That is, mark up a document with something that doesn't actually get outputted (?) or printed without having to work around it all by using regular text boxes that then need to then be specially handled. Sticky note like thing. 

Thanks.

[firstdefence]

You could create a text frame out side of the printable area and pin it to a word.

https://affinity.help/publisher/English.lproj/pages/ObjectControl/pinning.html

https://affinity.help/publisher/English.lproj/pages/Panels/pinningPanel.html

[loukash]

34 minutes ago, skmwrp said:

the ability to add a note/comment/annotation to a document (one of those terms). That is, mark up a document with something that doesn't actually get outputted

You mean metadata?
affinity.help/publisher/English.lproj/pages/Panels/fieldsPanel.html

Alternatively you can switch to the Photo persona and use its Metadata panel to add even more fields.

You can also use a spare Master Page as a non-printing notepad.

[skmwrp]

2 minutes ago, loukash said:

You mean metadata?
affinity.help/publisher/English.lproj/pages/Panels/fieldsPanel.html

Alternatively you can switch to the Photo persona and use its Metadata panel to add even more fields.

You can also use a spare Master Page as a non-printing notepad.

No, more as in comments/notes/reminders to fix things over a multi-page document, each with multiple inked comic panels and text. Something that can be searched quickly, doesn't appear or print. Though I'll look into the metadata. Maybe there's something there.

[skmwrp]

14 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

You could create a text frame out side of the printable area and pin it to a word.

https://affinity.help/publisher/English.lproj/pages/ObjectControl/pinning.html

https://affinity.help/publisher/English.lproj/pages/Panels/pinningPanel.html

Thanks. I found the video about pinning and hopefully I can create an asset that serves as a sticky note.

[loukash]

54 minutes ago, skmwrp said:

I'll look into the metadata. Maybe there's something there.

It's because you've literally asked for "annotation to a document", "mark up a document". That's what Metadata [panel] is about.
So what you need are annotations to layout objects.
(Terminology matters… )

Yeah, InDesign has stuff like that. I've rarely used it but it's nice to have.
What I've been using more were text frames on a non-printable layer. Not available in Affinity either, yet.

The idea with pinned objects outside the spread is a nice workaround.

Edited April 7, 2021 by loukash
sigh…

[skmwrp]

1 minute ago, loukash said:

What I've been using more were text frames on a non-printable layer.

I need to look into this.

Sorry, we just got Publisher yesterday, so we're trying to come up to speed as quickly as possible because we have to actually get our actual work done.

Thanks for the help.

[firstdefence]

Added a feature request here: 

 

[skmwrp]

32 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

You could create a text frame out side of the printable area and pin it to a word.

https://affinity.help/publisher/English.lproj/pages/ObjectControl/pinning.html

https://affinity.help/publisher/English.lproj/pages/Panels/pinningPanel.html

Well, I watched the video and tried it, but as soon as I pin the text box, all of the text and background color disappear. I'm trying to figure out what I've done wrong, but if you have any help, it would be very much appreciated.

The pinned text box became a sub of the text it pinned to. I'll load a video as soon as I can to hopefully better explain.

[v_kyr]

17 minutes ago, loukash said:

It's because you've literally asked for "annotation to a document", "mark up a document". That's what metadata is about.

Nope! - Annotations and the strict term of metadata are different things here. Meaning color marking, visul encircling, adding scribbled notes etc. aren't really metadata in it's common sense.

[loukash]

25 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

Nope!

What a drama a forgotten capital M can cause…

[skmwrp]

43 minutes ago, skmwrp said:

Well, I watched the video and tried it, but as soon as I pin the text box, all of the text and background color disappear. I'm trying to figure out what I've done wrong, but if you have any help, it would be very much appreciated.

The pinned text box became a sub of the text it pinned to. I'll load a video as soon as I can to hopefully better explain.

Okay, figured out the issue, which makes the pinned text to the side a non-starter.

We have a tier of four panels (this is all done in Designer) and the inking and text bubbles are subs of their respective panels so that lines don't extend beyond the edges of the panel. Pinning makes the note a sub of text in one of those panels, because you can't attach it to the panel itself (a rectangle shape), and as soon as the comment is moved outside the area of the panel, it disappears.

So much for that. Workarounds. \o/

[Old Bruce]

If you are using Publisher and not Designer then you can place a Text Frame on the master Pages, name the layers NOTES TURN OFF and turn off the visibilty  and then when you want to add a note use the Edit Detached and turn the note on, write what ever and leave it turned on.

You'll have better luck if you use a Paragraph style called Notes and then you can search for those using find and replace to be certain that they are all turned off before you export.

If you are wanting this so people can further mark them up then I think I would use a PDF export and just mark that up, folks could then further mark them up in the PDF viewer of their choice. 

All in all I think a Notes Function would be useful and should be added only if it is something that can be turned off in the Export Panel.

[walt.farrell]

9 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

If you are wanting this so people can further mark them up then I think I would use a PDF export and just mark that up, folks could then further mark them up in the PDF viewer of their choice.

Note, though, that if you Open a marked-up PDF file in Publisher (or any other Affinity application) you won't see the annotations. You would need to use a PDF viewer with annotation capabilities to see them.

[skmwrp]

Walt Farrell in the above feature request thread points out Preflight User Comments, which gets a lot closer to what we're looking for because it can be attached to any object, shows up in the Preflight Panel, and doesn't get printed or exported. (We switched User Comments from red to yellow, so it won't stop it from printing. Now if they were only searchable, but….)

[lacerto]

(...)

[skmwrp]

Just now, walt.farrell said:

Note, though, that if you Open a marked-up PDF file in Publisher (or any other Affinity application) you won't see the annotations. You would need to use a PDF viewer with annotation capabilities to see them.

We simply marked up PDFs using a red marker, but then it got to be a pain, have to continually clean our iPads.

Then we discovered Apple Pencils.

[skmwrp]

4 minutes ago, Lagarto said:

If you have Designer, you could link the Publisher pages there and then use additional arbitrary-sized and placed artboards as note containers, group them to add them category-like properties and then use Export Persona to gather related comments and print them as PDFs. Probably takes time before a really useful commentboard, but it has the benefit of having the source documents editable on a double-click.

Boy, I never realized until now how weird Designer looks in light mode.

[loukash]

19 minutes ago, skmwrp said:

how weird Designer looks in light mode

And I barely even used Affinity apps until the Light UI was implemented.
I can't stand dark UI for any longer that perhaps ten minutes. Then my eyes begin to hurt.
To each their own.

Isn't it great to have options?