Opening multiple files into separate windows.

[Ross Hurley]

Hi all. My first post. I'm a 20 year veteran of Photoshop and want to open multiple photos with each in a separate window, not docked into tabs in the same window. Yes I can drag each photo off into a floating window but I want to open all photos at once into separate windows. I can find no preference setting to set this as a default. Is it possible?

[Komatös]

Hi @Ross Hurley

Go to Settings -> General an tick Documents open in a new floating window

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, Komatös said:

Go to Settings -> General an tick Documents open in a new floating window

If @Ross Hurley is a Mac user there is no such item in Settings > General.

[Komatös]

@R C-R Thanks for pointing that out, but how am I supposed to know that the Mac version is so spatanic. 😂

[R C-R]

spatanic? 

[Old Bruce]

18 minutes ago, R C-R said:

spatanic?

Cromulent use of a neologism.

[Komatös]

19 minutes ago, R C-R said:

spatanic? 

I mean the Affinity versions, not the MacOS itself.  

[R C-R]

27 minutes ago, Komatös said:

I mean the Affinity versions, not the MacOS itself.  

I still don't know what spatanic is supposed to mean.

[Komatös]

7 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I still don't know what spatanic is supposed to mean.

Ah ok, spatanic in German refers to things that have only a small amount of equipment. An apartment with only a little furniture is therefore spatanically furnished.

[iconoclast]

18 minutes ago, Komatös said:

Ah ok, spatanic in German refers to things that have only a small amount of equipment. An apartment with only a little furniture is therefore spatanically furnished.

You mean "spartanic", right? Derived from "Sparta", the ancient greek state, well known from the movie "300".

[Robert Cailliau]

OK about vocabulary... 🙂

BUT:  I cannot find in either Affinity Designer or Affinity Photo any setting such that documents are opened in separate windows instead of tabs.
I also know I can drag the documents by their tabs out and into separate windows, but that is just an irritation that upsets me every time.

(Just for the record, and at the risk of getting flames, but I hope you guys will enjoy this:  I have been using GUI windowing systems since 1981, Macs since 1984, and I also happen to know Alan Kay very well, who invented overlapping windows at Xerox PARC in the late 1970s. And I positively HATE tabs.  Never use them, never want them.  Ever. 😎 )

[R C-R]

57 minutes ago, Robert Cailliau said:

BUT:  I cannot find in either Affinity Designer or Affinity Photo any setting such that documents are opened in separate windows instead of tabs.

Are you a Mac or Windows user? The 'open in floating window' setting shown above is only available in the Windows versions. In the V2 Mac apps there is a Window > Float View to Window menu item, but there is no way to make that the default, & as you will see if you use it, the implementation leaves something to be desired in terms of usability & user friendliness.

[Robert Cailliau]

Sorry for late reply RC-R.

I'm on Mac (Ventura).

Yes, and I can as well drag the tab out.  But no default indeed.

The earlier UI was much more friendly indeed.

Another thing:   “shortcuts” can be defined in the settings, but it is not possible to use anything but simple alphabetic characters.  I would like to use ESC or control-A to select the Move Tool (V).  This is to avoid the problem of getting out of editing a text by having to move the mouse to the tools palette.  Typing V just inserts the letter V of course.  This same problem exists in PhotoShop and it is very annoying.  It is possible to move the cursor and double-click, but it is not reliable and as much a nuisance as having to find the tools palette.  Affinity Designer is also not scriptable at all, so using Applescript is not possible.  I've tried with Keyboard Maestro, and that would work if I could somehow find the location of the tools palette, but that too is not possible.  Sigh.

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, Robert Cailliau said:

This is to avoid the problem of getting out of editing a text by having to move the mouse to the tools palette.  Typing V just inserts the letter V of course.  This same problem exists in PhotoShop and it is very annoying.  It is possible to move the cursor and double-click, but it is not reliable and as much a nuisance as having to find the tools palette.

An alternative workaround is to tap the Escape key once or twice to exit text entry mode -- once if the text cursor is visible, twice if text is selected (highlighted). I usually just tap it twice to be sure.

I am not sure why they decided that tool selection shortcuts cannot include modifier keys but since a modifier key by itself cannot be used as a stand alone key (as the name suggests, it can only modify what a keyboard key types) ESC by itself would never work as a tool or any other keyboard shortcut.