Page Numbers on Top

[Ben Lime]

Hi,

I sometimes need to import a PDF into Affinity Publisher and then add things like page numbers. When I do this, the page numbers appear below the existing pages from the PDF, which are opaque. I then go through each page and manually select it, and send it to the back to get the page number to show.

The best I can find to make this faster is that I can select both pages in a spread at a time, but no more than that.

Is there any other way to ensure all the page numbers appear on top, either by default or in one global operation?

Thanks in advance for any tips or help you might be able to offer!

Ben

[walt.farrell]

Everything from a Master Page will appear below the document page content.

To fix all the pages at once after you've added the page numbers to the Master Page:

1. Use a separate Master Page for the numbers. Apply to all the pages.
2. Go to a document page or spread.
3. Right-click on the Master Page layer in the Layers panel, and choose Edit Linked.
4. With the Master Page layer selected in the Layers panel, use Layer > Arrange > Move to Front,
5. Click Finished.

That Master Page content will now be on top of all content on the existing pages. But if you add any pages after that, you'll need to do the above again.

[Ben Lime]

Thanks for the swift reply! I will try this out, thanks!

I wonder why it defaults to putting Master Page content below other content. I can't think of a use case for that behavior.

[GarryP]

Standardised page backgrounds, which often contain the general page layout, are usually required behind various other things on the page so I guess that’s why master pages go to the back by default.
I can only think of a few occasions where I have wanted a master page to be in front of all other layers and that was to do with page numbers needing be above some other stuff but that’s often because I didn’t layer things properly to start with.
Master pages either go to the back by default which will seem odd to some people, or they will go to the front by default which will seem odd to some other people. It will be odd to one group or other either way.
Unless we have the option to do whichever we want at the time – which may be more complicated than it first seems given the number of possibilities – the developers had to choose one or the other.

[Old Bruce]

2 hours ago, Ben Lime said:

I wonder why it defaults to putting Master Page content below other content. I can't think of a use case for that behavior.

A colourful graphic on each page from the master page with the text and illustrations added to the actual pages. The text and images would need to be on top of the master page. Or another way of saying it, the master page would need to be on the bottom.

[MikeTO]

2 hours ago, Ben Lime said:

I wonder why it defaults to putting Master Page content below other content. I can't think of a use case for that behavior.

The default has to be top or bottom and since a master page is like a template that you draw on top of, it makes more sense to put the master page content below the page-specific content. This is standard for most page layout apps.

[Ben Lime]

Thanks to everyone who has replied!

I stand corrected. I see there are some good use cases for Master Pages defaulting to the bottom.

Now I know how to change it when I need to, I should be able to save a lot of time.

Thanks!

[thomaso]

5 hours ago, Ben Lime said:

I wonder why it defaults to putting Master Page content below other content. I can't think of a use case for that behavior.

For some objects you would prefer the master at bottom, for others on top or in between. What you are missing is a document wide layer hierarchy (Global Layers), which enables you to specify a certain vertical layer order across the entire document. – These "Global Layers" have not really to do with Master Pages but the latter make the lack obvious because affecting document wide, too. Meanwhile Global Layers seem to be on their way to Affinity.