Text not flowing

[AnthonyMarrian]

I have the latest version of Affinity Publisher. I've run into a strange problem with text flow. The frames that exist were all originally created via auto-flow. I now notice that one frame, in the middle of the document is "missing" three lines of text. If I increase the depth of that particular frame, the text appears. If I decrease the size of the frame, then the text flows into the next frame. But, if I set the frame to be the size it is supposed to be, the text remains hidden; even on export it is hidden. How do I persuade the text to flow correctly, please? Best wishes

[MikeTO]

Hi @AnthonyMarrian and welcome to the forums. When you say increase the depth, do you mean increase the height or width of the text frame?

The fact that you created the text frames via auto flow doesn't matter, they're all the same after they are created and linked.

It would be helpful to have a copy of the file but if you don't want to provide that publicly you may have to wait for Serif to reply. But even a screenshot of the issue would be helpful. Ideally, record your screen showing the problem frame and the next one at the same time as you change the size of the problem frame.

[Old Bruce]

1 hour ago, AnthonyMarrian said:

I have the latest version of Affinity Publisher. I've run into a strange problem with text flow. The frames that exist were all originally created via auto-flow. I now notice that one frame, in the middle of the document is "missing" three lines of text. If I increase the depth of that particular frame, the text appears. If I decrease the size of the frame, then the text flows into the next frame. But, if I set the frame to be the size it is supposed to be, the text remains hidden; even on export it is hidden. How do I persuade the text to flow correctly, please? Best wishes

Could be flow options. Combinations of Keep paragraph together and Prevent Widows and Orphans and Keep with Previous and Keep with Next can create some bizarre results.

[AnthonyMarrian]

2 hours ago, MikeTO said:

Hi @AnthonyMarrian and welcome to the forums. When you say increase the depth, do you mean increase the height or width of the text frame?

The fact that you created the text frames via auto flow doesn't matter, they're all the same after they are created and linked.

It would be helpful to have a copy of the file but if you don't want to provide that publicly you may have to wait for Serif to reply. But even a screenshot of the issue would be helpful. Ideally, record your screen showing the problem frame and the next one at the same time as you change the size of the problem frame.

Thanks Mike. Yes, I mean increasing or decreasing the height of the frame. 

[AnthonyMarrian]

2 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

Could be flow options. Combinations of Keep paragraph together and Prevent Widows and Orphans and Keep with Previous and Keep with Next can create some bizarre results.

Thank you. That’s definitely worth looking at. I’ll investigate. 

[AnthonyMarrian]

17 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

Could be flow options. Combinations of Keep paragraph together and Prevent Widows and Orphans and Keep with Previous and Keep with Next can create some bizarre results.

You were spot-on. Removing the widows, orphans etc from the text style cured the problem. Many thanks for all your help.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, AnthonyMarrian said:

You were spot-on. Removing the widows, orphans etc from the text style cured the problem. Many thanks for all your help.

If that was it, I'm a bit confused about your initial problem description. 

As I read it, you were saying the text was completely disappearing. But if it was the expected effect of the Flow settings, the text should not have disappeared completely, but simply moved to the next page and it would be visible there.

Did I misread your description? Or was it actually moving, not disappearing?

If the text is truly disappearing (hidden), then I think you've fond a bug.

 

[AnthonyMarrian]

The text was hidden in that it wasn’t at the bottom of the existing frame, nor at the top of the next frame. It would appear when the existing frame’s height was altered, but altering the height is actually not an option. For whatever reason, removing the widows and orphan stuff from the text style fixed it. 

[walt.farrell]

4 hours ago, AnthonyMarrian said:

The text was hidden in that it wasn’t at the bottom of the existing frame, nor at the top of the next frame. It would appear when the existing frame’s height was altered, but altering the height is actually not an option. For whatever reason, removing the widows and orphan stuff from the text style fixed it. 

Then that feels like a bug. If the frames are linked, the text should be in one or the other, and should not disappear completely just because of the Flow options. The Flow options would allow it to be on the first page, or force it to the second.

If it's not too late, you might consider saving a copy of the file with the Flow options set to make the text disappear, for research if Serif wants it when they look at this topic.

[tpauly]

I think it's a bug...I have been struggling with a bizarre reflowing issue. I have text that redraws in 2 text boxes. In the screenshots the subhead "Filling" appears twice.

It has happened with multiple text styles in multiple documents. 

[Old Bruce]

8 minutes ago, tpauly said:

I think it's a bug...I have been struggling with a bizarre reflowing issue. I have text that redraws in 2 text boxes. In the screenshots the subhead "Filling" appears twice.

I will wager that in that spot in the text the word Filling appears twice. Put your text caret in the text and select all and copy it. Paste it into a single text frame and check to see if Filling appears twice in a row there.

[tpauly]

Trust me, it only appears once. And it happens so randomly. The 1st screenshot shows one word, the 2nd screenshot shows the same word twice.

 

Filling

Classic

96 oz shortening

144 oz confectioner’s sugar

4 Tbsp vanilla extract

Candy Cane

3 Tbsp peppermint extract

20 oz crushed candy canes

Valentine’s Pink

5 drops pink coloring

5 drops wine coloring

9 min timer x2

yields 9 sheets

111/16" round cutter

7 x 11 in pan

See other side for fillings and variations

Lemon Bars

Lemon Bars

Shortbread Crust

13 oz confectioner’s sugar

40 oz cold butter, cubed

6 oz water

1. Combine flour, sugar, and butter in mixer until butter is pea-sized.

2. Slowly add water until dough is hydrated but still crumbly (similar to brisée method).

Filling

x1 ingredients x4

67.5 oz sugar 270 oz

7 oz AP flour 28 oz

24 eggs 96

3 oz lemon zest 12 oz

2 ⅔ cups lemon juice 10 ⅔ cups

1. Whisk together flour, sugar, and lemon zest.

2. Add eggs an

[Old Bruce]

9 minutes ago, tpauly said:

2. Add eggs an

And? And? Come on don't leave me hanging....

Seriously though I have only ever seen this sort of thing when reapplying Master Pages that had no Names for the various Text Frames and there was place holder text which is subsequently overwritten on the Actual Pages. Both those are bad practises in my opinion. Name absolutely everything on your Master pages and eschew Placeholder text or images on them.

I honestly don't know what is going on and quite frankly there is no way I or anyone else can help without a sample document which exhibits the problem. We would also need to know from where did the text come from, is it placed or pasted, are you using Paragraph Styles, how many of them are overridden. how are the frame breaks in the text acheived, and many other things.

[Return]

I think that textflow jumble would make a nice letter soup.

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, tpauly said:

I have been struggling with a bizarre reflowing issue.

41 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

I honestly don't know what is going on and quite frankly there is no way I or anyone else can help without a sample document which exhibits the problem.

Such a bunch of text frames looks to me like an ideal situation where I would want to switch/convert the linked Frame Text text frames into Art Text frames. I just don't know if the switch option in V2 does work this way … or what would happen if the frame type conversion gets selected for linked Frame Text frames.

(Unfortunately, I fail to find the help article about the new V2 option to toggle text frame types.)

[GaryLearnTech]

1 hour ago, thomaso said:

(Unfortunately, I fail to find the help article about the new V2 option to toggle text frame types.)

I wonder if it's the "To convert frame text to artistic text:" section at the bottom of this page that you're thinking about?

https://affinity.help/publisher2/English.lproj/pages/Tools/tools_frameText.html

 

[thomaso]

6 minutes ago, GaryLearnTech said:

I wonder if it's the "To convert frame text to artistic text:" section at the bottom of this page that you're thinking about?

https://affinity.help/publisher2/English.lproj/pages/Tools/tools_frameText.html

It sounds like the wanted topic – but unfortunately your linked page doesn't contain it. Can you try again to pick the right URL (maybe via the "copy" icon at the bottom left).

Or maybe you can test + screenshot in your V2 some text frames with text flow and conversion to Art text frames (before/after)?

[GaryLearnTech]

15 minutes ago, thomaso said:

It sounds like the wanted topic – but unfortunately your linked page doesn't contain it. Can you try again to pick the right URL (maybe via the "copy" icon at the bottom left).

Or maybe you can test + screenshot in your V2 some text frames with text flow and conversion to Art text frames (before/after)?

Sorry - I should have double checked that.  There goes my credibility!  😁  This should work:  https://affinity.help/publisher2/English.lproj/pages/Text/frameText.html

Bad news - it does not appear to support the conversion of text frames in a linked series to Art Text, though I'd be happy to be shown to be wrong.  Again.   😁 

[thomaso]

@GaryLearnTech, thanks, I found it with your hint: https://affinity.help/publisher2/English.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Text/frameText.html?title=Frame text

Unfortunately, it does not say whether it can be used for linked text frames and, if so, whether their text flow is fully respected. But it seems to warn about visual differences:

[thomaso]

1 minute ago, GaryLearnTech said:

Bad news - it does not appear to support the conversion of text frames in a linked series to Art Text, though I'd be happy to be shown to be wrong.  Again.   😁 

Oh, what a pity!!!  It could be especially useful in situations like shown above.

(Thank you, and sorry, my previous was a cross post)

[tpauly]

2 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

And? And? Come on don't leave me hanging....

...it's just Lorem Ipsum after that

I'm attaching the files but it is proprietary so please don't share...but if you're a baker you may try them of course. 

Test-Files.zip

[Old Bruce]

Problem appears to be on the "Callout from Pies" Master Page with the third from the top in the list of Text Frames (as seen on the Master Page "Callout....") being too short or some such thing. It appears to be making the word "Filling" appear not quite in it and again for real actully in the following text frame.

I am saying appears because I didn't bother to load the fonts.

 

[Oufti]

I looked at your file, which at opening shows the same fail as your second screenshot on pages 30-31, and found that only clicking in any of the linked text frames and then validating any paragraph setting (e.g. select 0 pt Left indent and press Enter) makes the text flowing correctly for page 31. 

For the word "Filling" on page 30 (which is in a frame not in the Master page), it is different. For this one, you have to explicitly click in the text frame "Filling" in the margin, select any text (double clicking sometimes selects Filling in the left rect. text frame, sometimes it is "Classic" which is selected, it doesn't mind but it imports that it is accessed from the margin frame) and then do the same : validating anything in the paragraph panel brings text in place.

Problem is that if you don't see it and export as is, PDF result will also be bad!   

I have no idea about what exactly causes it, even if I think that the Layers succession is quite cumbersome (but logical).
Perhaps the mix of single page and spread Master Pages does not help, nor linking frames from the Master Pages and local frames?
I have not done enough experiment to know for sure but I could imagine it can be more difficult to interpret and give priorities. Perhaps… 

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

Interestingly, flow behaviour on the two pages (folios 30-31) is not the same (but both are buggy).

1. I click in the middle of the word "Filling" in the rounded rectangle on page 31:
   • With left arrow, I go back to the beginning of the word
   • When before the F, my cursor jumps directly to the Instructions frame ("brisée method")
     — So is the margin text frame escaped, even if it is between them according to the text flow arrows spiderweb.
      
2. I click in the middle of the word "Filling" in the rounded rectangle on page 30:
   • With left arrow, I go back to the beginning of the word
   • When before "illing", the initial F is escaped and the cursor jumps in the margin text frame, before the word "Filling"
   • Another press on the left arrow brings me to the instructions frame ending with "Level 5".

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

4 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

Problem appears to be on the "Callout from Pies" Master Page with the third from the top in the list of Text Frames (as seen on the Master Page "Callout....") being too short or some such thing. It appears to be making the word "Filling" appear not quite in it and again for real actually in the following text frame.

For me also, it looks as if the text frame in the margin is a bit too tight for "Filling" to fit entirely in the box, but I don't understand why reapplying any paragraph setting does correct the problem? (I did load the fonts.)

[Oufti]

I was about to forget the most important! 🤭 On page 31, flour quantity is missing in the Ingredients for the Lemon bars' Shortbread Crust.

BTW, if you like cooking, I posted a demo of some recipes (also not for publication, but OK for familial use) in this post : 

 

 

[anto]

It looks like the text frame on page 30 that was inserted outside of the master page has taken on incorrect formatting. If you turn on and then turn off one of the checkboxes in the Text Frame pane, the problem disappears