Copy and Paste between iPad apps

[Ikikuru]

Hey guys, I can’t copy and paste from Designer 2 to Publisher 2 on iPad. Yet I can copy and paste from Vectornator to either of these apps! Something not right here!

[iuli]

Same with Procreate — I can easily copy elements from Procreate to any of the Affinity apps, but nothing between Affinity apps themselves. Seems like a bug to me as well.

[Ikikuru]

13 hours ago, iulian said:

Same with Procreate — I can easily copy elements from Procreate to any of the Affinity apps, but nothing between Affinity apps themselves. Seems like a bug to me as well.

Surely it has to be, what a handicap, makes no sense at all!

[Guest]

Copy/paste has been busted in the Affinity iPad apps since v1. There are a number of posts requesting improved copy/paste support on iPadOS, including via Universal Clipboard (to other iOS, iPad, and macOS devices). So far, crickets.

FYI - you can use the Export dialog, select your image settings, then click 'share', and then select 'copy' using the native OS share sheet/intent… it's all a bit awkward, but it's a useable workaround for lack of anything better. I cannot understand how Serif released three products designed to work seamlessly together that cannot copy/paste between apps.

[StudioJason]

1 hour ago, Bryan Rieger said:

Copy/paste has been busted in the Affinity iPad apps since v1. There are a number of posts requesting improved copy/paste support on iPadOS, including via Universal Clipboard (to other iOS, iPad, and macOS devices). So far, crickets.

FYI - you can use the Export dialog, select your image settings, then click 'share', and then select 'copy' using the native OS share sheet/intent… it's all a bit awkward, but it's a useable workaround for lack of anything better. I cannot understand how Serif released three products designed to work seamlessly together that cannot copy/paste between apps.

Think I’m confused. How does Export > Share > Copy….transfer between Affinity apps…and what is a share/sheet intent?

‘Because Share > Copy and switching apps does nothing as well.

[Guest]

 

@StudioJason here's my best attempt at writing down this process.

1. In Designer, Photo or Publisher select the object(s) that you want to copy to another app.
2. Under the hamburger menu (3 horizontal links) tap 'Export'.
3. When the export dialog comes up select the Area you want to copy; whole document, selected area, or selection only.
4. At the top of the export window, select the format you want to copy the object(s) as. For bitmaps PNG works well, for vector objects try SVG.
5. When you have the other settings in the export set as you want, tap the 'Share' button in the lower left corner, it should display a familiar share sheet (or activity view) where you can choose how you want to share it. Select 'Copy' (see image below).
6. Switch applications. This hack works with Affinity apps as well as Procreate, Keynote, etc.
7. Paste the contents of the clipboard (your image/format) using whatever menu/method is supported by the app. There's a great irony that the way to copy and paste items in Photo ('…' > Pasteboard > Paste) and Designer ('…' > Paste) are different.
8. A dialog will pop-up asking you if you want allow the action to paste the image. The default (top, larger, bolder button) is "Don't Allow Paste", while "Allow Paste" is the smaller, bottom button which is what you want.
9. You should now have an awkward but useable workflow for copy paste within the Affinity apps.
10. 🎉🤦‍♀️

Good luck!

[Guest]

Just added (above) my 'workflow' (ahem, workaround) for copy/pasting between Affinity (and other) apps. 

[StudioJason]

Ah..I get it.

Export > Can even choose… Area-Whole document,  Selection Area, Selection only.

Share (Copy unnecessary) > Select App options at the top…for me, under the ‘More’ option > Select App.

Opens up as a new Live Document…but, transferable all the same.

Works as a workaround for sure. Not the greatest but works. Thanks.

 

[loukash]

Sharing objects via Export will flatten them.

Easier, faster, and 100% accurate way to copy is to open the other app's document in the app you want to copy to.
Then you use the native Affinity copy/cut/paste commands.
Everything will remain in native format: compounds, warps, filters, you name it.

[Guest]

10 hours ago, loukash said:

Sharing objects via Export will flatten them.

Easier, faster, and 100% accurate way to copy is to open the other app's document in the app you want to copy to.
Then you use the native Affinity copy/cut/paste commands.
Everything will remain in native format: compounds, warps, filters, you name it.

Absolutely. I stumbled upon this hack when I needed to copy/paste elements between Affinity and Procreate, Keynote, etc where I wasn't concerned about retaining object structure, effects, blend modes, etc.

Hopefully, Serif will just improve their copy/paste both on the iPad and the desktop apps (ahem, 'Edit > Copy As…{Affinity, PNG, PDF, SVG, etc}').

[CP16]

Thanks for the workaround! This is a surprising oversight.