Character Panel Not Displaying

[Timothy NEWFIELDS]

The character panel does not display in my current version of Affinity Publisher 2.

In the online help, it mentions clicking on the "Panel Preferences menu."

Perhaps the problem is that no "Panel Preferences menu" icon is appearing anywhere in my current configuration.

What is wrong? How can I activate this panel?

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @Timothy NEWFIELDS

You should be able to view the Character Panel via the “Window → Text → Character” menu item.

If that menu item is ticked (checked) then that panel should be somewhere on screen.

If the panels are thin, where they are docked, then its title might be “Chr” rather than “Character”.

If you were using the software on multiple monitors and are currently only using one screen then the panel could be on a screen which isn’t there at the moment. (Different fixes for this depending on which OS you are using.)

If you can give us a full-screen screenshot (for all of your active screens) then we can have a look to see if anything strange is going on.

[Stijm]

Hi, Timothy,
You should be able to find this panel under Window>Text>Character in Affinity Publisher 2
Or using the shortcut ctrl+t

Hope this helps!

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @Stijm

I know this is a bit ‘off-topic’ but did you specifically want your menus to flow to the left, rather than the right?
I understand that some people want this for various reasons (left-handed, or maybe something to do with tablet usage) but I thought I’d ask just in case you would prefer them to be ‘right-flowing’ which is more usual.

[Stijm]

Hey @GarryP, Thanks!
I see you answered to the question way more in depth!
Ever since I upgraded to Affinity 2 it has had the windows flow to the left which sometimes has me questioning if the sub-window even opened.
I was not aware this could even be changed! Ive got plenty of screen space, so if possible would love to have it flow to the left

Do you happen to know where I can adjust this?

[GarryP]

You should be able to follow the instructions linked to here: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/113878-menu-alignment/

[Stijm]

This has to be one of the most hidden setting in Windows i've seen so far...
But its solved now. Thank you for the help!

[GarryP]

You’re welcome.
I only know about this as the same thing happened to me when I first used Designer, my first Affinity application.
I think it only showed up for me in Designer because is was the first application I used which could handle tablet input – in other words, the ‘problem’ was already there but I didn’t see it until I was using the Affinity software.

[R C-R]

9 hours ago, Timothy NEWFIELDS said:

In the online help, it mentions clicking on the "Panel Preferences menu."

The Panel Preferences menu is the three line 'burger' icon at the top right of the panel. It is not used to show or hide the panel, only to access its options once it is open. Currently the only options are Show Typography, Close, & Close Panel Group. More about this in the Character Panel help topic.

[Mr. Sam]

Thank you to all who posted here. I lost mine as well until I found this post. Ugh! this was berried way too deep!

[spin doctor]

Same issue the Character Panel is not showing--its "ticked" in the pull down but no showing up.

[spin doctor]

i restarted Designer and Character Panel showed up.

[Mike W077]

On 6/4/2023 at 1:20 AM, Stijm said:

Hi, Timothy,
You should be able to find this panel under Window>Text>Character in Affinity Publisher 2
Or using the shortcut ctrl+t

Hope this helps!

This is a vital, often-used panel and it is far too hidden than it should be. Just one person's opinion. 

[MikeTO]

2 hours ago, Mike W077 said:

This is a vital, often-used panel and it is far too hidden than it should be. Just one person's opinion. 

I assume the reason Serif doesn't consider the buried menu position for the Character panel to be an issue is because you can also open it by clicking the "a" button in the Context Toolbar.

I have never closed this panel so it's not a big deal for me but I think that burying the most important panels in a submenu isn't ideal.

[R C-R]

33 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

... but I think that burying the most important panels in a submenu isn't ideal.

OTOH, very long menus that you might have to scroll through to get to any of the items that won't all fit on your screen at the same time is also not ideal.

[MikeTO]

9 hours ago, R C-R said:

OTOH, very long menus that you might have to scroll through to get to any of the items that won't all fit on your screen at the same time is also not ideal.

Agreed, but there are ways to regroup the menu so that the important ones such as paragraph and character are at the root of the menu, shuffling the less frequently used ones into submenus.

[R C-R]

42 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

Agreed, but there are ways to regroup the menu so that the important ones such as paragraph and character are at the root of the menu, shuffling the less frequently used ones into submenus.

But for some users other items like the Text Style or Typography panels, or several of the References ones might be considered just as important or frequently needed so there is likely to be no consensus about which of them should be delegated to a submenu.

Besides, any of them can have keyboard shortcuts so it is not always necessary to open a menu to access them.

[MikeTO]

1 minute ago, R C-R said:

But for some users other items like the Text Style or Typography panels, or several of the References ones might be considered just as important or frequently needed so there is likely to be no consensus about which of them should be delegated to a submenu.

Besides, any of them can have keyboard shortcuts so it is not always necessary to open a menu to access them.

I agree, but there are some panels used by everybody (Paragraph and Character) and others used by a smaller number of users. It makes little sense that Paragraph and TOC are in submenus while Books is not. You can make a book without the Books panel but you can't make a book without the Paragraph and TOC panels.

I don't think this is a big deal, I never need to open and close panels, I set them up the way I like them. But I do think it inhibits discoverability for new users.

[R C-R]

3 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

but you can't make a book without the Paragraph and TOC panels.

Are you sure about that? EDIT: What I mean is do you think everyone using APub is using it to make books?

Also, consider that many of us use all 3 apps so in the other 2 would you want the same menu structure or what?

[MikeTO]

4 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Are you sure about that? EDIT: What I mean is do you think everyone using APub is using it to make books?

Also, consider that many of us use all 3 apps so in the other 2 would you want the same menu structure or what?

I did not say that everybody is using Publisher to make books.

It's good usability to have commands in the same place in all three apps, but it's also good usability to design each app for its intended purpose. Serif sometimes enforces menu consistency between the apps and sometimes does not. For example, Document Setup is in the File menu because Designer and Photo don't have a Document menu, but in Publisher it would fit better into the Document menu. But the rotate view commands are in a submenu in Publisher where they are less used but not in a submenu in Designer where they may be more frequently used.

I don't think this is the most important issue.

[R C-R]

11 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

I did not say that everybody is using Publisher to make books.

I know that. But my point is not everybody uses the Character and/or Paragraph panels in every project they work on in APub, particularly in ones started in AP or AD & switched to APub to, for instance, organize it into pages.