Looking for help... Publisher does not seem to be functioning properly

[Karl Benner]

Hello, I am a long time Adobe user that has switched over to Affinity recently. I'm still trying to work my way through using new software, but am increasingly more certain that my Publisher software is not functioning properly. Just a few examples... (1) I am trying to add a leader character to a tab and couldn't figure out how to do so. I finally looked for help online and was directed to go to Text Styles through the "Windows" drop down menu. I did so and Text Styles already had a check mark next to it. I unchecked it and checked it again (several times) and nothing is happening. I can't seem to access this window. Also (2) there is a button at the top with a lower case "a" in it which I assume should open a box that will allow me to control various characteristics of the fonts I'm using. When I click on this button, nothing happens. These are just two examples of times where the program doesn't seem to be functioning properly. Any guidance or direction for where to go to address these issues would be appreciated.

[walt.farrell]

Do you have multiple monitors, or sometimes have multiple monitors? 

Or, have you Floated some of your active documents, rather than leaving them opened in tabs?

Can you give us a screenshot of the complete application window?

PS: Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums.

[GarryP]

16 hours ago, Karl Benner said:

Also (2) there is a button at the top with a lower case "a" in it which I assume should open a box that will allow me to control various characteristics of the fonts I'm using. When I click on this button, nothing happens.

Which “lower case ‘a’” icon are you pressing?

There are two on the Context Toolbar (technically three if you also include the "Update Character Style" button) when editing text – one has an underline (tooltip = “Character Style”) and is just an icon, while the other has no underline (tooltip = “Character”) and that should show the Character Panel.

Maybe these should be combined (and the same for the "Paragraph Style" and "Paragraph" icons) so that there’s less confusion, or maybe it’s just me.

[Karl Benner]

In response to Walt Farrell and Garry P...

Walt - I do not have multiple monitors. And I apologize, I don't know what Floating documents means. I'll attach a screen shot.

Garry - In the attached screen shot, I circled the button I was referring to.

Thanks to both of you.

Karl

[Old Bruce]

Myself, I would try Window > Studio > Show Left Studio to see if the missing checked items are there and then I would just use Window > Studio > Reset Studio.

[Pšenda]

33 minutes ago, Karl Benner said:

I circled the button I was referring to.

It is not button, it is a label for Character style list in right:

It is same as label for Paragraph style list:

P.S. i think it's quite a confusing way to label stylelists because the label should have a colon - like here for example.

Personally, I would use the button for Character and Paragraph panel instead of these labels to mark the style sheets - they look the same, and it would also save some space on the crowded Context toolbar.

Edited November 7, 2023 by Pšenda

[Old Bruce]

1 hour ago, Pšenda said:

Personally, I would use the button for Character and Paragraph panel instead of these labels to mark the style sheets - they look the same, and it would also save some space on the crowded Context toolbar.

From my earliest use of the Affinity Applications I have wondered about the placement of those buttons. Made absolutely no sense to me.

[GarryP]

15 hours ago, Pšenda said:

It is not button, it is a label for Character style list in right:

The button which Karl circled is the correct button to bring up the Character Panel, not the icon as you showed in your screen-grab.

However, I agree that there should only be a button, not a label and button which look similar.

Resetting the Studio, as mentioned by Old Bruce, should resolve the issue but I don’t know why it happened in the first place.

[R C-R]

8 hours ago, GarryP said:

However, I agree that there should only be a button, not a label and button which look similar.

It isn't even a proper text label, just an icon that differs from the icon for the button only in that the "a" is underlined. For the paragraph button & icon 'label' it is even worse since the two have identical icons.

All things considered, I think the two icon 'labels' could just be removed with little or no loss of clarity about what their respective fields are for.

[Karl Benner]

Thanks to everyone for your help and input. I used the reset studio button as Old Bruce suggested and it returned the Text Styles and Character menus to the right studio. The "a" button still doesn't work but as long as I can access those menus from the right studio, I'll be good. Again, the assistance is much appreciated.

[walt.farrell]

4 minutes ago, Karl Benner said:

The "a" button still doesn't work

Assuming you have the Character panel enabled, it should show it to you. Thus, for example, if it's in your right Studio, and you have some other panel showing, pressing that "a" button should switch that row of the Studio to the Character panel.

The change can be subtle to notice.

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Assuming you have the Character panel enabled, it should show it to you.

Not sure what you mean by "enabled" because even if it is not currently visible among the other studio panels, that button should open it somewhere in the app's workspace.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

Not sure what you mean by "enabled" because even if it is not currently visible among the other studio panels, that button should open it somewhere in the app's workspace.

If it's not enabled (ticked in the Windows menu) then I think the visual effect of showing it will be more obvious in some cases. But it depends in part on the application you're using. Character and Paragraph are not docked in the Right Studio by default in Designer, for example. So if you click the "a" button there you get a nicely visible floating, undocked, popup.

[R C-R]

11 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

If it's not enabled (ticked in the Windows menu) then I think the visual effect of showing it will be more obvious in some cases.

OK, I see what you mean but clicking the "a" button should enable/open it somewhere in the app's workspace so it is unclear why that apparently is not working for @Karl Benner.

[walt.farrell]

6 minutes ago, R C-R said:

OK, I see what you mean but clicking the "a" button should enable/open it somewhere in the app's workspace so it is unclear why that apparently is not working for @Karl Benner.

It's a question, I think, of what the user is expecting to happen.

It's obvious if you get a floating panel, as happens (usually) with the Glyph Browser. It's very unobvious if, for example, the Right Studio, second row of panels, simply shifts from what it's currently showing to showing the Character panel.

Especially if you don't expect that to be what happens. 

[Karl Benner]

I can go to the Windows menu, scroll down to "Text" and then select "Character" and it will check and uncheck each time I do that. Simultaneously, each time I check and uncheck "Character," the Character menu in the right studio will appear and disappear. Which is what I would expect it to do.

After closer inspection, I found that if I click the "a" button when the Character menu is not open in the right studio, the character menu will then appear in the right studio. But if I click the "a" button again, the character menu does not disappear. I kind of figured it would, but if it's not supposed to then I guess I'm good.

Also, to address what Walt said, I was expecting a free floating character panel to appear when I clicked on the "a" button. So you were absolutely correct in that regard.

Once again, thanks to all for your assistance!

[bwob]

For adding a leader character to a tab, try right-clicking on the tab for editing. Regarding the "a" button issue, try restarting the software or check Affinity's forums for solutions.

[walt.farrell]

11 hours ago, Karl Benner said:

but if it's not supposed to then I guess I'm good.

It's not supposed to  

That "a" button simply opens the Character panel if it's not open and gives it focus. It's not a toggle like the Window menu items.