Paragraph spacing

[Margaret H]

How does Affinity Publisher 2 determine when a new paragraph begins? I design the page of my photo book as I am writing the text.

I have been trying to control spacing between paragraphs for three days now with no success. I do not know how to communicate to the software that a new paragraph has begun without hitting the return key, which, of course, does not give me the spacing I would like.

I am working with 12/12 type and would like to have an eight point space between paragraphs.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Edited March 4, 2023 by Margaret H
Spelling

[Hangman]

Hi @Margaret Hand welcome to the forums…

If you take a look at the Space After Paragraph setting in the Paragraph panel this will allow you to add additional Paragraph spacing, so for example if you have 12/12 text and enter 8 pt as the Space After Paragraph you will have 12/12 for your main text and 12/20 for space between paragraphs…

I hope that makes sense but if not let us know…

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, Margaret H said:

How does Affinity Publisher 2 determine when a new paragraph begins?

Just like with a word processor, when you press the return key, you begin a new paragraph.

[Margaret H]

I write copy simultaneously as I am creating the layout. If I type in the text and use the return key, Affinity assumes that I intended to insert a full line of type. It does not read it as a paragraph break. How do I avoid this and communicate a paragraph break instead?

By the way, thank you for your prompt replies. Much appreciated!

Edited March 5, 2023 by Margaret H
Capitalization correction

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, Margaret H said:

If I type in the text and use the return key, Affinity assumes that I intended to insert a full line of type. It does not read it as a paragraph break.

That is exactly what it does. 

[Palatino]

4 hours ago, Margaret H said:

I write copy simultaneously as I am creating the layout. If I type in the text and use the return key, Affinity assumes that I intended to insert a full line of type. It does not read it as a paragraph break. How do I avoid this and communicate a paragraph break instead?

Shift and Enter?

[Catshill]

Life is a lot easier if you create a paragraph style and edit that to get the spacing as required. You’ll not need to remember the required parameters next time, you just apply the style.

[Margaret H]

My challenge is not to add more space after a 12/12 paragraph, but to reduce the line spacing between one paragraph and the next to eight point.

When I hit return to end one paragraph, and begin the next, I get a 12 point line.

If I highlight this line, I can’t force it to become an eight point line. Instead, I end up with eight point type on a 12 point line.

Perhaps the only way to use this software is to import copy after the layout is complete, into pre-formatted paragraphs, which is just not the way I work.

I design one-of-a-kind photo books, in which each page is different.

It seems this program may just not flexible enough for my needs. I want to be able to highlight a line, or anything else for that matter, and change its size.

It seems this software is geared more for  production than for one-of-a-kind pieces. I had no trouble adjusting anything as I went along with Microsoft publisher.

I very much appreciate the time you all took to respond to my question.

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by Margaret H
Addition

[R C-R]

23 minutes ago, Margaret H said:

My challenge is not to add more space after a 12/12 paragraph, but to reduce the line spacing between one paragraph and the next to eight point.

What happens if in the Paragraph panel Spacing section you set Space After Paragraph to a small value?

Also check the other settings in that part of the panel to see what they do.

[Palatino]

I still don't understand the problem, but I remembered that I once had a problem with the line spacing because there was a fixed and wrong value:

[h_d]

On 3/4/2023 at 9:11 PM, Margaret H said:

I am working with 12/12 type and would like to have an eight point space between paragraphs.

 

 

Character panel - Size 12pt

Paragraph panel - Leading 12pt

Paragraph panel - Space After Paragraph: 8pt

I have displayed the paragraph end characters for clarity.

Save these settings as a style with your chose font. 

 

 

[Margaret H]

Hello everyone. Thanks for taking the time to answer my question. I wonder where my problem originates because this is the way I set the paragraph up, including the eight point space below the paragraph. However, it still won’t take. Perhaps it’s the way I enter the text. When I work, I frequently create text as I’m designing the page and indicate paragraph breaks by hitting return. When I do this, the 8 point space becomes a 12 point space in the layout. Perhaps my mistake is not importing completed copy from an external source? 

Edited March 6, 2023 by Margaret H
Correction

[Alfred]

8 minutes ago, Margaret H said:

I wonder where my problem originates because this is the way I set the paragraph up, including the eight point space below the paragraph.

Please post screenshots of both the Paragraph panel and the Character panel.

[Old Bruce]

On 3/4/2023 at 1:11 PM, Margaret H said:

How does Affinity Publisher 2 determine when a new paragraph begins?

By using the Return or Enter key.

On 3/4/2023 at 1:11 PM, Margaret H said:

I am working with 12/12 type and would like to have an eight point space between paragraphs.

In addition to  h_d's excellent advice and screenshot I would stress that you should use Exactly and Auto for the Leading in the Paragraph Panel and the Leading override in the Character panel. Change from the Default as is shown checked here my screenshot.

[Hangman]

11 minutes ago, Margaret H said:

When I work, I frequently create text as I’m designing the page and indicate paragraph breaks by hitting return. When I do this, the 8 point space becomes a 12 point space in the layout.

Do you maybe have the Baseline Grid enabled for your document...

[R C-R]

39 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Please post screenshots of both the Paragraph panel and the Character panel.

And/or post a small Affinity format file with just a few paragraphs of text demonstrating the problem with setting/keeping spacing after paragraph  set to 8 pts.

[Margaret H]

I tried to do this yesterday, but I don’t know how… Copy and paste doesn’t work. Forwarding or sharing doesn’t work either. As you can see, I’m not used to dealing with forums. I will be more than happy to do this if you tell me how. I do appreciate all your help.

Margaret

[Hangman]

Hi Margaret,

When you reply to a forum post you can either simply drag your file into the post or click on the paperclip icon at the bottom of the window to choose a file to upload...

[Bryan Rieger]

21 hours ago, Hangman said:

And yet another example of a slider without a value/entry field being displayed. It might not be 100% needed here, but it's not an isolated occurrence (see the opacity and noise sliders in the colour fill/stroke panels in the context toolbar, and the colour pickers in the FX tools, etc.).

[Dan C]

Just to confirm:

2 hours ago, BryanR said:

example of a slider without a value/entry field being displayed. It might not be 100% needed here

This may be by design as the specific value input field was likely considered unnecessary for baseline grids opacity as you've mentioned, but I will be sure to check this with the team and log as required.

2 hours ago, BryanR said:

see the opacity and noise sliders in the colour fill/stroke panels in the context toolbar

This is logged with our devs, I'll 'bump' this for you now.

2 hours ago, BryanR said:

the colour pickers in the FX tools

I can see the Noise slider doesn't have an input value box here, which I assume is what you're referring to - I'm getting this logged with the team also