Does not keep the formatting

[okmike]

I am giving this program another try after my first failed start. But it seems that when I copy text from a Word document that it becomes "no style" with Times Roman and only basic paragraph formatting applied. When I change it to "Body" text which has different parameters, all the words that were italicized in the pasted text becomes normal again.

When you are dealing with a nonfiction BOOK it can be a lot of work to go and change every word that needs to be corrected. But if I leave it the way it is pasted there is no hyphenation. It looks like I will have to use it that way.

Any suggestions??

[walt.farrell]

First, just to check: I doubt that you are using Publisher Beta. Probably you're using the retail version, 1.10.5. Can you confirm that, please? If so, a Moderator will probably move this to Affinity on Desktop Questions (macOS and Windows).

14 minutes ago, okmike said:

But it seems that when I copy text from a Word document that it becomes "no style" with Times Roman and only basic paragraph formatting applied.

If the text in Word had a paragraph style assigned, it should come across with a Copy/Paste action, in my experience.

15 minutes ago, okmike said:

When I change it to "Body" text which has different parameters, all the words that were italicized in the pasted text becomes normal again.

That would depend on how you "change" it to Body text. If you select the text, then right-click on the Body text style in the Text Styles panel, you'll get a list of actions in the Context menu that is displayed. One of the two that I've circled should do what you want:

[okmike]

Thanks, I tried that and the italics remained but other elements like the font was not the same, I don't know why but when I choose body in the drop down menu from above it has a different font from the body that I find in the right-hand column under styles.

But I think I found a work-around, I found that if I created a new style from the default no style that appears after a paste that it keeps the formatting. Strange.

[okmike]

Strange, my first attempt worked but now when I apply the new style it removes the italics. It will be every time consuming to even use the right column since I have to make several clicks to do as you show, every time I select a few paragraphs. There are different formatting, such as footnotes, so I cannot just select an entire chapter. I must select a few paragraphs at a time and do that over and over again.

 

[walt.farrell]

It is odd that the formatting from Word is not carrying over.

Have you considered Placing a .docx file rather than using Copy/Paste?

If that doesn't resolve it, could you provide a sample .docx file for us to examine?

[okmike]

I did that on my first attempt at using Affinity, but it puts all the chapters in at the same time as one continuous flow, and one little change in the formatting will disrupt the entire document. You cannot just disconnect two text frames while leaving the text, in both frames, which would be the easy way.

[walt.farrell]

17 minutes ago, okmike said:

You cannot just disconnect two text frames while leaving the text, in both frames

No, but you can:

1. insert the cursor at a place where you want to break the flow, then 

2. Select all the text following that point with Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (Mac) + Shift + End, then 

3. Edit > Cut, then 

4. Break the link between the frames. And finally 

5. Edit > Paste the text you cut into the next frame.

 

 

 

 

[okmike]

Thanks much, I will give it a try.

 

[okmike]

My original problem still exists, I just accepted the "no style" 12 point Times New Roman which Affinity created for my body text because I did not want to lose all of the detailed formatting like italics. But I want to solve this so when I copy and paste in the future that I will be able to set the correct formatting.

[walt.farrell]

8 hours ago, okmike said:

But I want to solve this

Please provide a Word document that has the problem, and tell us which text you are trying to copy/paste.

[okmike]

Ok, here is the Word doc. The Normal text become "no style" that cannot be edited in Affinity, so I must apply a style all over again or accept what it shows.

Thanks

TheWitnessofTheStars-5-22.docx

[walt.farrell]

20 minutes ago, okmike said:

The Normal text become "no style" that cannot be edited in Affinity,

Thanks. When I Open that .docx file in LibreOffice Writer, and copy the beginning of Chapter 4:

• The Headings come in as Heading 3 paragraph text style.
• The list below comes in as Left List.
• The first 2 paragraphs of the chapter text come in as Normal.

So, in that sample, all the text came in with the same paragraph text styles as the .docx file had, and all are editable. I'm not sure if you're copying different text than I did, or if Word is doing something different than LibreOffice, or if something else is going on. Sorry.

[okmike]

Here you can see what it is saying:

[walt.farrell]

I'm not sure where the text cursor is in that screenshot, but the text "The brightest star α (in one of the latter coils), is named Thuban (Heb.), the subtle. Some 4,620 years ago it was the Polar Star." is in "Default Style" according to LibreOffice. In other words, it does not have a text style assigned.

I can only suggest two things:

1. Perhaps you should assign a text style, as you have to much of the other text ("Normal").
   or
2. If you select some text that shows in Publisher as "No Style" in the Paragraph Text Style dropdown in the Context Toolbar, you can set its characteristics using the Contect Toolbar and the Paragraph panel. You can then use the menu items Edit > Defaults > Synchronize from Selection possibly followed by Edit > Defaults > Save. That should modify the No Style setting for future text you create in that document (Synchronize...) or in future documents (Save).

[okmike]

Perhaps the cause is that I was not using LibreOffice, but WPS. I will try Libre and see what happens.

[walt.farrell]

9 minutes ago, okmike said:

Perhaps the cause is that I was not using LibreOffice, but WPS. I will try Libre and see what happens.

Even in LibreOffice, some of your text has styles (the area I showed earlier) and some doesn't (the area you showed just above.

Styles can't carry over if you don't use them consistently in the original document. (Though I will admit I'm not an expert at using text styles in Word or LibreOffice )

[okmike]

That was the issue, I opened a new document and deleted all styles, the copied a page of text first with WPS and it showed NoStyle NoStyle, then deleted it and copied the same page but from LibreOffice and it showed Normal NoStyle, so I was then able to edit the style.

Seems to be an issue between WPS and Affinity.

Thanks for your help!

[walt.farrell]

You're welcome.