How do I get rid of the Black Background in Publisher V2

[Bynah]

I am opening these apps for the first time. I set up the UI to be light, as light as it can be. But I do not like this black

background around my work and I cannot find how to get rid of it!

[Bynah]

oops, I finally found it. I couldn't figure out how to use the online instructions. Sorry, I  am a little slow.

[GarryP]

It’s good that you found the solution to your own problem but it would be better if you could also tell everyone what the solution was so that people searching for an answer to the same problem can find it.

[Bynah]

You're right Gary. Sorry, I actually thought about it but then I thought I am probably the only one who is slow at understanding instructions.🙃

Here goes:

First you have to go here: https://affinity.help/publisher2/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Workspace/uiAppearance.html?title=Changing the UI appearance

then scroll down to this and follow the directions to:

To change the UI background or Gamma level:

1. Choose Affinity Publisher>Preferences.
2. Click the User Interface label.
3. Drag the sliders to set the Background Grey level, Artboard Background Grey level and/or UI Gamma level.
4. And that did it!

[GarryP]

Thanks for sharing that.
Hopefully it will help someone else.
(You’re not the first person to have trouble figuring this out, especially as there are two background grey levels, each of which is only applicable to a certain kind of document – with or without Artboards – and sliding the ‘wrong one’ for the active document won’t have any effect.)

[Bynah]

Thanks. Nice to know I could help someone else!

[Bynah]

Me again. I am starting to use A2 and the black background is there again, and won't go away, though I try all my tricks.

[lepr]

Your background is black because the Background Gray Level slider is at minimum. That's the top slider in your screenshots. Slide to the right for a brighter background.

[Bynah]

tried that, doesn't work!

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, Bynah said:

tried that, doesn't work!

In that last screenshot of yours, it looks like there may be a large black object in the document filling the workspace window so there is no background visible. Is that a possibility?

[Bynah]

But that is what came up when I created a new page. It is bigger than the 11x17 I set it for. and I tried to make a rectangle

over top of it and fill it with color. The thumbnail shows that color in that rectangle but that black screen shows nothing.

I tried to paint on it with white, nothing!

[lepr]

 

5 minutes ago, Bynah said:

But that is what came up when I created a new page. It is bigger than the 11x17 I set it for. and I tried to make a rectangle

over top of it and fill it with color. The thumbnail shows that color in that rectangle but that black screen shows nothing.

I tried to paint on it with white, nothing!

Please attach that Affinity file to a new comment..

[firstdefence]

Move the artboard slider to the right as well, it looks like you have an Artboard instead of a canvas. 

[R C-R]

40 minutes ago, Bynah said:

But that is what came up when I created a new page.

I don't understand what you mean by "what came up." Are you talking about a rectangle you added to a new document or something else?

[firstdefence]

He is editing something from Affinity Designer in Affinity Photo, the reason the background isn't changing to a lighter grey is because the Artboard background is turned down, else if he was simply in Affinity Photo the Artboard background would not be available.

[R C-R]

6 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

He is editing something from Affinity Designer in Affinity Photo, the reason the background isn't changing to a lighter grey is because the Artboard background is turned down, else if he was simply in Affinity Photo the Artboard background would not be available.

So you think he meant he was creating an artboard, not a new page, right?

[Bynah]

I didn't open Affinity Designer. I just opened photo and created a new document 11x17. That black screen is what "came up" when I did that. I can't do anything with it.

I did it again and the same thing happened. This time there was a rectangle showing with my margins I set, but still black and can't do anything with it.

 

3 minutes ago, R C-R said:

So you think he meant he was creating an artboard, not a new page, right?

This second picture below is what i did to create this page:

btw, I am the girl in the picture, not the man.

[R C-R]

3 minutes ago, Bynah said:

This second picture below is what i did to create this page:

In the first screenshot, (& partially visible in that second one) there is a pixel layer showing in the Layers panel.

Pixel layers are not automatically added to new documents, so please explain how that layer got there.

BTW, in new AP documents no pages can be created, just a single canvas that contains all the document's layers. Affinity Publisher is the only Affinity app that can create pages, just as Affinity Designer is the only one that can create artboards (although all 3 apps can open documents containing pages, a single canvas, or artboards).

[Bynah]

5 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Pixel layers are not automatically added to new documents, so please explain how that layer got there.

I created that pixel layer trying to paint on it but nothing would show up.

[R C-R]

6 minutes ago, Bynah said:

I created that pixel layer trying to paint on it but nothing would show up.

Delete that layer & try the sliders again.

[Bynah]

the sliders in the preference panel??

[Bynah]

that worked but I still can't draw on the "now white" layer

[Bynah]

Now this is interesting! I was trying to move that window out of the way to get back to the desktop on the virtual machine that I am running Catalina/AP2

on and when I touched the bar at the top, it turned black again!!!

[R C-R]

19 minutes ago, Bynah said:

that worked but I still can't draw on the "now white" layer

There is no layer if you have deleted it!

[Bynah]

I think I created another layer. it is in the thumbnail