Publisher: Can't edit text boxes or text inside

[Besieged Parent]

Longtime InDesign user. Recently switched to Affinity, upgraded to Affinity Publisher 2.2.1, and suddenly text boxes don't seem to work for me.  I'm on a Mac Ventura 13.6.

When creating a new document, I can initially click and create a text box, fill it with placed text, and link it to another created text block. But after I do, I can only move the box I created; I can't change the dimensions of the box or click inside to edit the text. (When I click on the text block, the edges of the box do not show.) Also, I can't click the text box icon to create a new text block.

Am I missing something obvious here?

[Besieged Parent]

I restarted and it worked briefly but after creating a couple of text blocks, the problem re-appeared.

[Old Bruce]

4 minutes ago, Besieged Parent said:

Oops, nevermind!  I needed to shut down and restart again. Not sure how to delete this post....

People may have the same or similar problem in the future so it is best to leave posts up so they can learn from our mistakes.

[MikeTO]

I'm not sure I fully understand the issue, a screen recording would help.

In the meantime, turn on View > Show Text Flow if it's not already on. It makes things a lot clearer because you'll see all the text frame edges and the links between them.

There is a glitch in 2.2.1 with text frame selection. Sometimes it won't let you select a text frame. To solve it, just switch to the Move tool and then back to the Frame Text tool. That usually clears it. Or try switching to another app and back.

Good luck.

[Besieged Parent]

I'm not very practiced in making screen recordings but around :55 here, I'm clicking around on the text block with the Text block tool selected, then the Move tool and back to Text and can't get in to edit the text or change the dimensions of the box. Note that this inability to edit starts at different times. I did a take before this one where I was able to go longer before the block froze up and wouldn't let me alter text. 

 

I still have Affinity Publisher (1) and that seems to be working.

[stokerg]

Hi @Besieged Parent,

There is a bug where if you use the scrollbars at the side to move between pages, the bounding boxes and text carrot will disappear, which is whats happening in your recording.  If you have a scroll wheel on your mouse, quickly zooming in and out should bring it, as would using the zoom controls on the View>Zoom menu  

I've updated the bug report with a link back to this thread, so we can update you when its been fixed.

[stokerg]

Hi @Besieged Parent,

There is a bug where if you use the scrollbars at the side to move between pages, the bounding boxes and text carrot will disappear, which is whats happening in your recording.  If you have a scroll wheel on your mouse, quickly zooming in and out should bring it, as would using the zoom controls on the View>Zoom menu  

I've updated the bug report with a link back to this thread, so we can update you when its been fixed.

[Besieged Parent]

Thanks for your response. Is there a version of Publisher 2 that doesn't have this bug? Could I delete my up-to-date Publisher 2 and replace with that version?

 I have a 70+ page document to complete soon; as-is this isn't usable for me.

 

[walt.farrell]

6 minutes ago, Besieged Parent said:

Thanks for your response. Is there a version of Publisher 2 that doesn't have this bug? Could I delete my up-to-date Publisher 2 and replace with that version?

 I have a 70+ page document to complete soon; as-is this isn't usable for me.

 

I don't know the answer to that; Stokerg probably will be able to tell you. If there is a lower level that doesn't have the bug, though, you won't be able to open your current file using it. 2.1 can't open files saved with 2.2, and 2.0 can't open files saved with 2.1 or 2.2.

In the meantime, if it's correct that a quick zoom restores it, that seems a simpler workaround at this point. Also avoiding use of the scroll bars where they aren't needed. For example, using the Pages panel for navigation between pages, and Cmd+0 for recentering, etc.

[Besieged Parent]

Thanks, that is helpful. I didn't realize that I could still use the scroll bar on the Pages section.

 

[Affinity Info Bot]

The issue "[MacOS] Redraw issue. Bounding box does not display for new selection after using scroll bar until you force Redraw" (REF: AF-295) has been fixed by the developers in internal build "2.3.0.2139".
This fix should soon be available as a customer beta and is planned for inclusion in the next customer release.
Customer beta builds are announced here and you can participate by following these instructions.
If you still experience this problem once you are using that build version (or later) please reply to this thread including @Serif Info Bot to notify us.

[GGHQ]

Hi everyone! I am a fairly new user of Affinity Publisher, and I am working on a document of more than 80 pages, so this issue happened to me as well, and it's frustrating. I think I have found a workaround, although I would wish that it would have been fixed already. What I did was press Option on Mac or Alt on PC to select the text in the text box. Y'all can try it and see if it works for you. I have tried switching to the selection tool and back, and it did not work for me.