Jesse Covner Posted November 28, 2021 Posted November 28, 2021 Hi, I'm working on a graphic-intensive 200 page project. My customer requires that I have a single layer running through the document for the graphics so that end-user can turn off the images, in order that the PDF runs better on lower-spec machines (including older iPads). In inDesigh I create a layer for the whole book but in Publisher each layer is connected with just 1 page. How do I accomplish this? Quote
GarryP Posted November 28, 2021 Posted November 28, 2021 I don’t think what you want to do is possible as the Affinity applications don’t provide any end-user interactivity functionality for exported PDFs, and there is no ‘global layer’ functionality (plenty of discussions in the forums on that subject though). I’d be happy to be proved wrong if someone has better knowledge of this. Quote
Jesse Covner Posted November 28, 2021 Author Posted November 28, 2021 4 minutes ago, GarryP said: I don’t think what you want to do is possible as the Affinity applications don’t provide any end-user interactivity functionality for exported PDFs, and there is no ‘global layer’ functionality (plenty of discussions in the forums on that subject though). I’d be happy to be proved wrong if someone has better knowledge of this. OH... boy. I have a major problem then. I guess I should start researching about if Acrobat Pro can merge the layers in pdfs into a few "global layers". Do you know if that's possible? EDIT: BTW, the ability to hide a layer is in the reader. But the PDF has to have layers which cover the whole document to use this I believe. Quote
GarryP Posted November 28, 2021 Posted November 28, 2021 You probably shouldn’t write the Affinity applications off just yet as someone with more experience may have a good answer. Note: Thanks for explaining the ‘hide layer’ functionality, I wasn’t aware of that. It may be worth finding out which PDF readers (including web browsers) have that functionality as not all users may be aware of it or have access to it, and therefore anything you do to allow that may not be of use to everyone. In the meantime, have you thought about exporting two different versions of the document – one hi-res and one lo-res – and giving the end-user a choice of which to download? Quote
Jesse Covner Posted November 28, 2021 Author Posted November 28, 2021 1 minute ago, GarryP said: You probably shouldn’t write the Affinity applications off just yet as someone with more experience may have a good answer. Note: Thanks for explaining the ‘hide layer’ functionality, I wasn’t aware of that. It may be worth finding out which PDF readers (including web browsers) have that functionality as not all users may be aware of it or have access to it, and therefore anything you do to allow that may not be of use to everyone. In the meantime, have you thought about exporting two different versions of the document – one hi-res and one lo-res – and giving the end-user a choice of which to download? The project is already in Affinity. I need to deliver this feature though. So I need to convert the PDF to be able to have a "graphics layer" the user can turn off, or I need to redue the project... which is about 40 hours of work. Adobe Acrobat, which I think is the #1 reader, has this functionality. Apple Preview does not. The customer needs the pdf to give to its customers and so this is a requirement. Quote
GarryP Posted November 28, 2021 Posted November 28, 2021 Ah, then I have a feeling that you won’t be able to do what you want easily, if at all. However, lots of people may not have had a chance to read the thread yet so you may find you get an answer later. Quote
Jesse Covner Posted November 28, 2021 Author Posted November 28, 2021 43 minutes ago, Lagarto said: You could create layers on a master page and then place text in one global layer, and images in another. That may or may not be a tedious job based on how your document is created. Or you could organize each page of your document in two separate layers ("Text" and "Images"), and then hide the layers accordinbly. Once done, you can export a separate PDF containing just the text layers (hiding the "Images" layer on on the Master), and another PDF containng just the image layers (hiding the "Text" layer on the Master). Just do not use "Export layers" option because you just want to create two separate contents and not Acrobat Layers, since as mentioned, Affinity apps cannot produce the kinds of global layers that are requested. You could then use a tool like PDF/X-Change that can import complete PDFs as layers (while e.g. Adobe Acrobat Pro seems to be able to import layers only page-wise): Hi Lagarto, I already have a Text and Image layer in the the master; I used the text to put page numbers in master On the page (not master), in layers, I can't drag the text layers into the master "Text" layer. I don't want to hide the layers; the customer is requiring that the layers be hide-able (images, anyway) on the reader, not hide-able on a per-page basis. If there is a way to get the text frames into the master layer Text, would that put them all on one "global layer"? Once I import them into PDF/X-Change, that can then re-export as one PDF, with all fonts, etc? Is it PDF/X-Change Viewer or Editor? Editor is not free... if I'm going to spend money, would it not be better to use Acrobat Pro? Or does that lack the ability we are talking about? Quote
Jesse Covner Posted November 28, 2021 Author Posted November 28, 2021 20 minutes ago, Lagarto said: An alternative would be grouping (or placing in separate layers) all contents page-wise, which in itself is not as tedious as needing to "detch-edit" each and every page, but they you'd need to hide/expos the required layers to get text-only and image-only exports. I was using PDF/X-Change Editor. You should be able to download a free Lite version, test the layer import feature (with watermarks being added in corners) to see if it works as expected, before making a decision on purchase. See the following Publisher document that has elements of each page organized into two layers created on the master page: layers_simulated.afpub I don't understand how hiding / exposing the grouped layers is different from hiding the master pages... oh you mean hide it in every page instead of hiding on the master at once? PDF/X-Change seems to be only for Windows and I'm on a mac. Oy. Quote
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