Publisher 2 Text Frame behaviour

[Chrisw5]

Hi,

I've been using Publisher since it was first launched as a Beta, and I've always used Text Frames in the same way. I set them up with the font and size we use as default, with the text indented 2mm left and right, and then copy and past the text from Word. Every time I created a text frame it came up the same, and when I pasted in the text it conformed to the settings in the frame.

I've just started a new project in Publisher 2 and none of that works any more. Regardless of whether I use Edit/Defaults/Synchronise from Selection, any new Text Frame I create has the same characterisitics as the last one I used, which I may have  modified. However, that's actually irrelevant as when I paste in the text from Word, it overrides the settings on the Text Frame, and puts them back to whatever they are in the Word Document, so I lose all my default settings, and have to redo them.

Can anyone tell me whether that's how it's supposed to work now, or whether I'm doing something wrong ?

Regards,

Chris.

[walt.farrell]

Pasting text from Word always brings in the formating from Word, and always has in the Affinity applications. 

You could use Edit > Paste Without Formating to avoid that.

[Old Bruce]

57 minutes ago, Chrisw5 said:

... I've always used Text Frames in the same way. I set them up with the font and size we use as default...

A common misconception. Text has properties like Font, size, leading, indents etc. Text Frames do not have those properties.

[Chrisw5]

Thank you both for your responses, much appreciated.

Clearly, I misunderstand the situation, but I'm just totally confused that it's never been a problem for the last several years, and now is. I did try Edit/Paste without formatting, but it made no difference. It's the change of indents that's the really annoying thing, as I usually make sure that the font and size are correct before I copy and paste.

Regards,

Chris.

[walt.farrell]

We might need a screenshot to understand what you mean by indents, Chris.

What would really help, I think, is a sample .afpub document that has the problem, and the .docx file you pasted in.

[Chrisw5]

Walt,

Thanks again. I've attached three screenshots and a Word file.

The first screenshot shows a new empty text frame, and you can see the cursor set at 2mm from the left edge. The second  screenshot shows one paragraph of the Word document pasted in, showing that it ignores the indent and the text goes from edge to edge - the cursor is still indented however. The third screenshot shows the text after adjustment and looking how I want it - that has always happened automatically in the past.

Hope that helps.

Regards,

Chris.

Our garden Mar 2023.1.docx

[walt.farrell]

How did you get the indent? That's why it would help to have the initial .afpub file, too, before the paste.

[thomaso]

4 hours ago, Chrisw5 said:

The first screenshot shows a new empty text frame, and you can see the cursor set at 2mm from the left edge.

6 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

A common misconception. Text has properties like Font, size, leading, indents etc. Text Frames do not have those properties.

Just a note: (I can't help with your paste issue in V2. I have V1 only in my macOS)

Inset / indent can be a property of a Text Frame and/or of a Text Style (paragraph).

[Chrisw5]

Walt,

Test afpub file is attached, which has one page with two Text Frames.

As you can see, I created the top Text Frame, and set the Indents and Space after Paragraph using the Paragraph Spacing Panel (2 left, 2 right, and 5 after).

I then created the bottom Text Frame, and it automatically created it with the same Indent and Space attributes, which bears out Thomaso's comment, above.

If you paste in the first paragraph from the Word document I attached previously, you will see that it behaves exactly as the screenshots I provided. Interestingly, this time Edit/Paste without Format did give the desired effect, but I've never had to use that before.

Regards,

Chris.

Test.afpub

[thomaso]

4 hours ago, Chrisw5 said:

If you paste in the first paragraph from the Word document I attached previously, you will see that it behaves exactly as the screenshots I provided. Interestingly, this time Edit/Paste without Format did give the desired effect, but I've never had to use that before.

Just one more note: For me, in V1, it makes a difference whether I paste copied text into an existing text frame or simply on the page without a selected object.
It also makes a difference whether I "paste" a previously copied text or "place" a document.

[Old Bruce]

I know that it appears that it is the Text Frame that has the 2 mm offset but in fact it is the Text Caret that has the 2 mm offset, not the text frame.

The indent you have for the two text frames is from the Paragraph Style [No Style]. The reason the pasted text is filling the frame is because it is overriding the 2 mm insets from your [No Style]. The [No Style] styles are in essence simply a bunch of settings which will be overridden by pasted text from a Word Processor which has been formatted. Note that the headline is centred not ragged right like the rest of the text.

If you want to have text frames with 2 mm offsets then set up the text frames with 2 mm offsets. Or set up a Paragraph style with 2 mm offsets and apply that Paragraph style to the pasted text.

If you want to continue working with your current workflow then Edit > Paste Without Format.

I have no idea how this worked for you earlier, perhaps you had been working on Plain Text, or copying from Word as Plain Text. I don't have Word and have to rely on LibreOffice, Apple's Pages, or Text Edit to open and edit .docx files.

++++++++++++

Maybe this is how you had been working.

Just before posting this I did one final test. If you select the Text Frame with the Move tool, meaning the text caret is not in the text frame and Paste then the 2 mm offset is present.

[Chrisw5]

Many thanks to all of you for your responses, it really is appreciated. It seems that all I have to do is get used to contorting my fingers to hold down Ctrl/Alt/Shift/V, and all will be fine. Guess I can manage that 😀.

Regards,

Chris.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, Chrisw5 said:

get used to contorting my fingers to hold down Ctrl/Alt/Shift/V

Or you could change the shortcut  

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, Chrisw5 said:

It seems that all I have to do is get used to contorting my fingers to hold down Ctrl/Alt/Shift/V,

Sounds you use it often … which makes me wonder whether placing (not pasting) the text to Affinity and editing it there would be less disturbing – instead of multiple jumps between apps plus multiple style adjustments in Affinity. Although there is no 1 best way you might find a smoother workflow. Even parking the text within Affinity as storage for layout use can reduce the needs to switch apps.

[Chrisw5]

Many thanks both, for the interesting thoughts, which I shall explore.

[Chrisw5]

Update.

There are three of us that use Publisher for our Parish Magazine, and we explored this issue at a meeting today. One of my colleagues realised that I was setting the indents using the Paragraph panel. If you set them using the Text Frame panel, then if you past in a Word document using Right Click>Paste, the text does stick to the indents. Problem solved.

Regards,

Chris.

[thomaso]

24 minutes ago, Chrisw5 said:

One of my colleagues realised that I was setting the indents using the Paragraph panel. If you set them using the Text Frame panel, then if you past in a Word document using Right Click>Paste, the text does stick to the indents.

You can use both ways – whereas the text frame inset has the disadvantage that it can not be saved / assigned as Style.

To make it work via copy-paste from Word just set the indent in the word.doc … and it will occur accordingly in APub:

[Old Bruce]

19 hours ago, Chrisw5 said:

One of my colleagues realised that I was setting the indents using the Paragraph panel.

The three of you really should set up some Paragraph Styles and have the indents and space between paragraphs set in the Definitions of the Paragraph styles. Do not use Tabs and blank paragraphs for that.

19 hours ago, Chrisw5 said:

If you set them using the Text Frame panel, then if you past in a Word document using Right Click>Paste, the text does stick to the indents. Problem solved.

Not really solved. Not at all. Text has styles/indents/leading/fonts etc. Text Frames do not. It may appear to work but what is actually happening is the Text Caret in the empty text frame has the formatting information, not the Text Frame.

[Chrisw5]

Old Bruce

Thanks for the response. I understand that the complexities and finer points of Publisher are way beyond my skills and knowledge, but as it now actually does what I want it to, for whatever reason, then for me, the problem is solved, for which I am very grateful to all who contributed 🙂

Regards,

Chris.