Problem saving and retrieving my templates

[omalleyfr]

I've recently bought then entire suite of programs. Particularly interested in publisher2 as I'm compiling a book, so it seems logical and more accessible to write and save individual chapters. So a self-made template seems to be the ideal solution. Following instructions, after setting up my first chapter, I export as Template so that my following chapters will be uniform. Problem 1: Chapter exported as template. So I come to set up my next chapter but the new dialogue tells me I don't have any templates available. I look through all available help to no avail in ,fact some of the buttons I need to press are nowhere to be seen. I've gone on to create a file for all my templates, but I'm still told I dont have any even though publisher 2 has allowed me to save as template. It doesn't seem to make any sense.

Problem 2 - All I read tells me that the save as template will give me a template with margins etc etc ready set up. However, when I look at my "template" it is nothing but a copy of my original file but with a "template" suffix. This means I would have to go into a new file based on this template and delete all my not recurring text, simply leaving in place margins etc. Is this right because in such a case a template is a waste of time and I would be better off simply saving under another name then re-editing which seems like a huge waste of time.

Please someone help me out here, I'm having a really tough time getting to grips with publishing software for the first time, and I'm afraid to say that the support material is not very helpful and I get worried that not very much is specifically for version 2.

Thanks in advance.

 

[walt.farrell]

13 minutes ago, omalleyfr said:

Problem 1: Chapter exported as template. So I come to set up my next chapter but the new dialogue tells me I don't have any templates available.

At the bottom of the Template dialog you'll find an icon for adding a folder. You should create a folder for your .aftemplate files, add the folder to the Template dialog, and save your .aftemplate files in it.

14 minutes ago, omalleyfr said:

Problem 2 - All I read tells me that the save as template will give me a template with margins etc etc ready set up. However, when I look at my "template" it is nothing but a copy of my original file but with a "template" suffix. This means I would have to go into a new file based on this template and delete all my not recurring text, simply leaving in place margins etc. Is this right

Yes. Your Template should have the "fixed" information you would want in each document created from it. Margins, Bleed, Master Pages, Text Styles, etc.

Variable information (chapter text, etc.) is not needed in the Template, as you'll add that for each new document you create.

[omalleyfr]

Thanks to Walt Farrell for responding. I've tried every which way to save my template, including using the dialog you reference to set up a new folder for my templates. Still when I go to the new dialogue I receive the message you'll see below. I've also tried to set up the template folder 'outside' the affinity program, with the same result. I'm attaching a couple of screenshots. Could there be a problem because  I'm saving to the cloud (OneDrive)? This would be odd because I successfully save all my material in that location with no problem. As I said in my original post, I'm new to DTP but pretty experienced with computing both mac and windows, however it's entirely possible that I'm doing something stupid or overlooking the obvious, i so please excuse an Affinity newbie!

 

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, omalleyfr said:

I've tried every which way to save my template, including using the dialog you reference to set up a new folder for my templates. Still when I go to the new dialogue I receive the message you'll see below

It would help to have a screenshot of the complete application window, not just the error message. Your partial screenshot leaves out some significant information.

 

[omalleyfr]

Ok so here's the full screen, plus a shot of the relevant finder window

thanks for your help !

 

[walt.farrell]

39 minutes ago, omalleyfr said:

so here's the full screen, plus a shot of the relevant finder window

Thanks. The indication from that is that you have not yet added a Templates folder. Click on the "Add" icon and select the folder that contains your templates.

[omalleyfr]

Thanks, now solved thanks to your patience. I'd completely missed the little icon down there. I'm not finding it easy to get my head around what appears to be a very good and comprehensive piece of software. I've explored the online help and YouTube vids (some of which are pretty incoherent at times!) there seems to be a lack of a manual or good book, so if anyone has some hints for a newbie, I'd be grateful.

[Old Bruce]

6 hours ago, omalleyfr said:

I'd completely missed the little icon down there.

First time I saw it I assumed it was for connecting to a LAN or a RAID.

[R C-R]

7 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

First time I saw it I assumed it was for connecting to a LAN or a RAID.

For things like that, I find Tooltips very useful!

[Larry Fjeldstrom]

I've been thinking that the way Affinity handles producing templates is a bit awkward. In InDesign (forgive me for saying that name!) when you save a document, you can specify template from a dropdown under filetype. Somehow that makes more logical sense than using EXPORT as TEMPLATE. When doing Export as Template, it shows the filetype as "Affinity files" with no other option. I can live with this, but it would seem that saving a file as a template would seem more logical, and Affinity could handle the internal logic to save it as a template and automatically save the file with the aftemplate file extension.

[R C-R]

4 minutes ago, Larry Fjeldstrom said:

When doing Export as Template, it shows the filetype as "Affinity files" with no other option. I can live with this, but it would seem that saving a file as a template would seem more logical, and Affinity could handle the internal logic to save it as a template and automatically save the file with the aftemplate file extension.

Isn't that what it does now?