Publisher: Without using master pages, is it possible to lock size and position of text frame while not locking the contained text?

[Ken Hjulstrom]

Hi,

In Publisher, is it possible to lock the size and position of text frames on a page while still having the text contained in that frame being editable?  I'm aware that I can use master pages to do this, but not all of the text frames that I use have a standard position on a page, and while I'm editing text, I sometimes accidentally move the frame slightly, and if I don't notice this right away when I can use "undo", it's a bit of a bother to resize/reposition the frame to its precise intended size/location.  If I lock the frame, this appears to prevent my ability to edit or view attributes of the contained text, which is something that I often need to do.

Thanks!

Ken

 

[walt.farrell]

22 minutes ago, Ken Hjulstrom said:

but not all of the text frames that I use have a standard position on a page

If you use a Master Page, and need to move or resize the text frame it provided, you can select the Master Page's layer in the Layers panel and use Edit Detached. Then click Finished when you're done editing the frame.

If most of your frames do use the standard size/placement perhaps that will provide what you need.

[Ken Hjulstrom]

7 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

If you use a Master Page, and need to move or resize the text frame it provided, you can select the Master Page's layer in the Layers panel and use Edit Detached. Then click Finished when you're done editing the frame.

If most of your frames do use the standard size/placement perhaps that will provide what you need.

Thanks, this is the implementation I had used previously, when the text frame were more consistent.  If I use Edit Detached to alter a text frame from its base specification in the master and then click Finished, will I have any better protection from accidental relocation or resizing that's better than just having a non-master-based frame?

Thanks.

[Old Bruce]

35 minutes ago, Ken Hjulstrom said:

If I use Edit Detached to alter a text frame from its base specification in the master and then click Finished, will I have any better protection from accidental relocation or resizing that's better than just having a non-master-based frame?

Your new position on the Actual Page will be locked as it is still locked (on the Master page so to speak) even though it has an edited. size and location.

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, Ken Hjulstrom said:

while I'm editing text, I sometimes accidentally move the frame slightly

If it's about your own discipline: Why not simply lock the frame in the Layers panel? Such a locked text frame can still be selected in the Layers panel and its contents fully edited and styled with the Text tool.
But – like master page objects – it can't get altered in its frame dimension, position etc., and – different to master page objects – can get unlocked with a simple click on the lock icon. No need for the detach + finish procedure.

[Ken Hjulstrom]

35 minutes ago, thomaso said:

If it's about your own discipline: Why not simply lock the frame in the Layers panel? Such a locked text frame can still be selected in the Layers panel and its contents fully edited and styled with the Text tool.
But – like master page objects – it can't get altered in its frame dimension, position etc., and – different to master page objects – can get unlocked with a simple click on the lock icon. No need for the detach + finish procedure.

This was what I had planned to do all along, but I've been finding that with the text frame locked, I'm unable to edit the text.  The document I'm working on is a two-column magazine, where articles will be multiple pages long, so I have sequences of column-shaped text frame linked together.  Could the linking have something to do with my troubles editing the text in these frames if they are locked?

 

[Old Bruce]

8 minutes ago, Ken Hjulstrom said:

 Could the linking have something to do with my troubles editing the text in these frames if they are locked?

No.

[thomaso]

11 minutes ago, Ken Hjulstrom said:

Could the linking have something to do with my troubles editing the text in these frames if they are locked?

No. It works the same way. Once you got a frame in a chain selected you also can edit its content – and actually even all linked frames in the chain, too, without the need to select them separately, for instance by moving the text cursor with keyboard shortcuts and its arrow keys.

[R C-R]

29 minutes ago, Ken Hjulstrom said:

This was what I had planned to do all along, but I've been finding that with the text frame locked, I'm unable to edit the text.

It should work if you have either the Frame Text or Artistic Text tool selected in the Tools panel & in the Layers panel you have the locked text frame selected. If you have another tool selected it won't work.

[Ken Hjulstrom]

4 hours ago, R C-R said:

It should work if you have either the Frame Text or Artistic Text tool selected in the Tools panel & in the Layers panel you have the locked text frame selected. If you have another tool selected it won't work.

Thanks, it's possible that I had been trying to select the locked frame by clicking on it with the Move tool.  For locked layers, is the only way to select them is by clicking on the layer in the Layers panel, and that it's not possible to select them by clicking on them in the document, no matter which tool is active?

 

[R C-R]

2 minutes ago, Ken Hjulstrom said:

For locked layers, is the only way to select them is by clicking on the layer in the Layers panel...

Yes.