Artboard ready-made sizes

[Designer1]

Why is it possible to insert ready-made sizes for IPAD, IPhone as Artboard, but not DIN A4, DIN A3, DIN A2, etc. ?
That's not exactly convenient. One need prefabricated DIN large.

[Dan C]

Hi @Designer1,

I can confirm this is not a bug within the Affinity apps, as the Presets are designed around the 'Devices' section of the New Document dialog -

From the Help File on 'Adding and removing Artboards':

Quote

Artboards can be created: (...)

• using preset sizes—perfect for device-specific designing

Therefore, I'll move this thread to the Feedback section of our forums, for our devs to see and consider changing these options - or allowing further user choice when creating preset Artboard sizes.

I hope this clears things up!

[Designer1]

7 minutes ago, Dan C said:

Hi @Designer1,

I can confirm this is not a bug within the Affinity apps, as the Presets are designed around the 'Devices' section of the New Document dialog -

From the Help File on 'Adding and removing Artboards':

Therefore, I'll move this thread to the Feedback section of our forums, for our devs to see and consider changing these options - or allowing further user choice when creating preset Artboard sizes.

I hope this clears things up!

If I want to insert an A2 size artboard while working, is there no such option? I don't see a preset size.

[Dan C]

Just now, Designer1 said:

I don't see a preset size.

There is no preset size for A2, or other 'paper' sizes, as explained above the presets only exist for the 'Devices' preset document sizes.

If your document already contains an A2 canvas / artboard, you can use the 'Document' preset size.

If not, you can manually draw the Artboard and set it's size in the Transform Studio to the A2 size required

[Designer1]

2 minutes ago, Dan C said:

There is no preset size for A2, or other 'paper' sizes, as explained above the presets only exist for the 'Devices' preset document sizes.

If your document already contains an A2 canvas / artboard, you can use the 'Document' preset size.

If not, you can manually draw the Artboard and set it's size in the Transform Studio to the A2 size required

It would be very practical to be able to insert the preset sizes such as A5, A4, A3, A2, etc. while working. You can actually insert an A2 artboard manually, but you have to know the height and width first. This is very cumbersome and time-consuming.

[walt.farrell]

46 minutes ago, Designer1 said:

It would be very practical to be able to insert the preset sizes such as A5, A4, A3, A2, etc. while working. You can actually insert an A2 artboard manually, but you have to know the height and width first. This is very cumbersome and time-consuming.

As a workaround, you can create an Artboard of the size you want, once, and add it to the Assets panel. Then whenever you need a different one, you can simply drag it from Assets onto your document workspace.

Alternatively, you can create a new document of the size you want (e.g, A2) and choose "Create Artboard". Then copy that Artboard and paste into the document that needs it.

But yes, it would be convenient to have more choices available directly, ,as you mentioned.

[Pšenda]

4 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

But yes, it would be convenient to have more choices available directly

Correctly, "all" formats mentioned in the New dialog should be available, including user Templates, because the user might sometimes want to insert all these options as Artboards. But then the drop-down list would be really long and confusing.
Therefore, I personally think it would require some sort of configurable list option.

[Sideshowlol]

52 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

Correctly, "all" formats mentioned in the New dialog should be available, including user Templates, because the user might sometimes want to insert all these options as Artboards. But then the drop-down list would be really long and confusing.
Therefore, I personally think it would require some sort of configurable list option.

An "Add as preset" for any page size would work for me. 🙂

[Irupe]

On 8/31/2022 at 8:21 AM, walt.farrell said:

As a workaround, you can create an Artboard of the size you want, once, and add it to the Assets panel. Then whenever you need a different one, you can simply drag it from Assets onto your document workspace.

Alternatively, you can create a new document of the size you want (e.g, A2) and choose "Create Artboard". Then copy that Artboard and paste into the document that needs it.

But yes, it would be convenient to have more choices available directly, ,as you mentioned.

I would agree with you that this could be a good workaround. But why should we use a workaround when from the beginning and in the help document we are told that we can create our own Presets (that are added at the end of the original list of New (documents)? And there is even a box where you can indicate if you may create artboards from them.  The problem is that when you already created a new document from your own preset and want to add a new artboard, it only duplicates the original one, and all the options to resize your new artboard are grayed out and the only way to resize it is by dragging. At least, that is how it is working in my case now.  The new artboard does not show any of the characteristics saved in the preset (margins, bleed, etc.), not even those of the 1st artboard that generated the document.  If the Help document says you can create artboards from your own presets and you cannot, then it is a bug. Not something we wish it would be... If I start a document as a Print doc, then why those options are not included in the Doc Size menu and others for different devices are? It makes no sense to me. This is not something to be added as a new resource, but something to be reviewed. 

Edited January 16 by Irupe

[walt.farrell]

5 minutes ago, Irupe said:

I would agree with you that this could be a good workaround. But why should we use a workaround when from the beginning and in the help document we are told that we can create our own Presets (that are added at the end of the original list of New (documents)? And there is even a box where you can indicate if you may create artboards from them. 

And you can do that, but those Presets are for New Documents. It sounds like you want to make a New Artboard, and that function does not use Document Presets. It would need Artboard Presets, which do not exist.

[Irupe]

Just now, walt.farrell said:

And you can do that, but those Presets are for New Documents. It sounds like you want to make a New Artboard, and that function does not use Document Presets. It would need Artboard Presets, which do not exist.

When you create a new preset you have the option of indicating if those characteristics can be used as an artboard.

This is an image taken from the New (doc) tab when creating a new preset. 

It works only when you create one artboard from scratch, but not when you want to add a new artboard to an existing document. Why not?

Besides, when I add an A4 artboard to another A4 artboard in the same doc., it does not include the same characteristics of the original preset (margins, bleed, etc.). It should, if it is the original preset. 

Again, I understand that there are workarounds, but presets are supposed to help us save time, and this is not working that way. 

Don't misunderstand me. I really appreciate your help! I'm just asking. As a Beta tester, I have to! 😊

[walt.farrell]

1 minute ago, Irupe said:

When you create a new preset you have the option of indicating if those characteristics can be used as an artboard.

It is still a New Document Preset. It is not a New Artboard Preset, and is not used when you are creating Artboards in an existing document. That Preset is only for creating new documents.

[Irupe]

13 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

It is still a New Document Preset. It is not a New Artboard Preset, and is not used when you are creating Artboards in an existing document. That Preset is only for creating new documents.

When you create a new document, you go to File => New=> and choose a preset from the drop-down menu. Right?

If the layout menu of a document preset includes a box for clicking "create artboard", it is because there is the option of creating an artboard from that preset. You start a new document from it and it says "Artboard 1" at the top. There is no other difference from starting a new document from a preset without that tick except for the "Artboard 1" at the top. I honestly don't find the gain in that. 

It is supposed that the tick will allow you to create artboards, not simply docs. Your saved presets are not even showing in the dropdown menu for new artboards. Not only those created by you but any other original preset (A4, A3, letter, etc). You can only choose devices, even when you are working in a Print or Press Ready document. 

 

[walt.farrell]

5 minutes ago, Irupe said:

It is supposed that the tick will allow you to create artboards,

That supposition is incorrect. It is only for creating 1 new Artboard when you create a new Document using that New Document Preset.

It has no relation to creating additional Artboards. As I said above, it would be nice if it worked differently (and this topic is in the Feedback forum, requesting that).

 

[Irupe]

16 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

That supposition is incorrect. It is only for creating 1 new Artboard when you create a new Document using that New Document Preset.

It has no relation to creating additional Artboards. As I said above, it would be nice if it worked differently (and this topic is in the Feedback forum, requesting that).

 

I understand what you mean. 

Well, in that case, I support that request!!  This should work differently because it would save lots of time. 
I appreciate your kind help and the time you devoted to explaining all this. 🥇