Publisher crashing repeatedly when changing doc setup

[Nicola Taylor]

Hi there,

My Publisher keeps crashing repeatedly when I try to change a large doc to Facing Pages. Crash report from the latest one is attached

Thanks,

Nicola
 

1. Are you using the latest release version?
   1.10.0
    
2. Can you reproduce it?
   Yes, it's happening repeatedly with this doc - even on other macs
    
3. Does it happen for a new document? If not do you have a document you can share that shows the problem?
   No. Sample of the doc in question is attached
    
4. If you cannot provide a sample document then please give an accurate description of the problem for example it should include most of the following:
    

•    What is your operating system and version (Windows 10, OSX Mojave, iOS 12 etc)?
  OS 11.5
   
•    What happened for you (and what you expected to happen)
  Affinity publisher crashes when doc with single pages is converted to facing pages
   
•    Provide a recipe for creating the problem (step-by-step what you did).
  File > Document Setup > Check box for Facing Pages > Publisher immediately crashes
   
•    Screenshots (very handy) or a screen capture/video.
  https://www.loom.com/share/655ac6646a564c5cbd17af87974916b1?sharedAppSource=personal_library
   
•    Any unusual hardware (like tablets or external monitors or drives that may affect things) or relevant other applications like font managers or display managers.
  No
   
•    Did this same thing used to work and if so have you changed anything recently? (software or hardware)
  Yes. No

 

Affinity Publisher_2021-08-16-194225_Nicolas-MacBook-Pro.crash

MY22_InsidePages_Q1.afpub

[MikeTO]

I was procrastinating so I spent 15 minutes to troubleshoot the problem and fix your document. 🙂

The problem was with the layer named "Master Page" that was on several pages of your original document which didn't correspond to a master page in your document. I don't know why its presence causes the crash so Serif will have to investigate.

The way to narrow down a problem like this is to reduce the crash to the minimum number of pages and objects. I deleted all but the first page of your document and it didn't crash so I then deleted all but the first two pages and it did crash which told me the issue was with page 2. I deleted all the objects on page one and then on page two and it still crashed. The problem was the empty layer named Master Page on page 2 which was not associated with a master page. This layer was used on several pages of your document so I looked through it and deleted the layer of each of them. You can choose facing pages with this fixed version now and it will work or you can make your own fixed copy by going through your document page by page and looking for the layer named Master Page to delete.

MY22_InsidePages_Q1-fixed.afpub

[Nicola Taylor]

@MikeTO you legend! Thank you so much - this is brilliant.
I'd tried all kinds of permutations to try to find anything on the pages that could be causing the problem but I didn't catch that. 

[Pauls]

if you can recall how the "Master Page" layer came into existance we would love to know

[Nicola Taylor]

32 minutes ago, Pauls said:

if you can recall how the "Master Page" layer came into existance we would love to know

Hi @Pauls - I'm not really sure but all of the pages with that particular layer were copied over from another document. So my theory is that maybe because they related to a Master Page in the other document, when the layers were copied and pasted into this doc, there was no corresponding master and so we ended up with a blank Master Page layer that then caused these issues. 

[Pauls]

Thanks - so copied from another publisher file using cut and paste ?

[Nicola Taylor]

14 minutes ago, Pauls said:

Thanks - so copied from another publisher file using cut and paste ?

Copy and paste, but yes, correct. As far as I know, that's the only way to copy a page from one publisher file to another. Not sure if you've changed that recently? 

[Pauls]

it's possible to add pages from a file - new(ish) option in the document menu

[Nicola Taylor]

Briliant! That brought them all in without the blank Master Page layer so it should stop me getting myself into trouble in the future.