List numbers not syncing across Book

[MikeTO]

I know I've used this before back when Books were brand new, but I can't get list numbers to sync across book chapters now. This test document has two chapters. Both chapters have one page with two frames.

#1 has two unlinked text frames. Even though there are two stories, the numbering continues because the lists are both set to Manual Only, Global, and named. This part is working fine.

#2 is identical and because its lists share the same name they should continue numbering from chapter 1. But it's starting at 1 even though I've clicked Update Numbers.

Am I missing something or is this function broken in 2.2.1?

Archive.zip

[walt.farrell]

If I open the .afbook file, and both chapter files, then in chapter 2 the numbering starts at 8 (not 1 as you indicated), and the Paragraph panel settings show:

So, different from what you see, but still wrong as it should be starting from 9.

Edit: This is on Windows, using 2.3.0.2096.

[walt.farrell]

Also happens identically on macOS with 2.3.0.2096.

[MikeTO]

Thanks Walt. I hadn't actually re-opened the files so I didn't see that. Chapter 2 had numbering starting at 1 when I saved it so the numbers were updated on opening.

I tried a few more tests, changing the starting number in chapter 2, saving, closing, and re-opening and confirmed both issues.

1. Numbers aren't updated when Update Numbers is clicked so that appears to be broken in 2.2.1
2. Numbers are updated when a book and its chapters are re-opened but the first number in chapter 2 is always 1 higher than it should be.

[walt.farrell]

19 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

but the first number in chapter 2 is always 1 higher than it should be.

Lower, perhaps?

[Hangman]

12 hours ago, MikeTO said:

Am I missing something or is this function broken in 2.2.1?

FWIW, this function is also broken in 2.0.4...

As you've seen for the second chapter the numbering starts one number higher than originally specified when re-opening the chapters and for subsequent chapters you end up with a repeat of Chapter Two which means a list starting at number one in the first chapter results in the following, assuming six items per chapter.

• Chapter One - 1, 2, 3 | 4, 5, 6
• Chapter Two - 8, 9, 10 | 11, 12, 13
• Chapter Three - 8, 9, 10 | 11, 12, 13
• Chapter Four - 8, 9, 10 | 11, 12, 13
• Chapter Five - 8, 9, 10 | 11, 12, 13

[Dan C]

Thanks for your report & files provided Mike!

16 hours ago, MikeTO said:

I tried a few more tests, changing the starting number in chapter 2, saving, closing, and re-opening and confirmed both issues.

1. Numbers aren't updated when Update Numbers is clicked so that appears to be broken in 2.2.1
2. Numbers are updated when a book and its chapters are re-opened but the first number in chapter 2 is always 1 higher than it should be.

I'm seeing the issue with the incorrect number (8) being used for the first entry of the list in document 2 - which I'm logging with the development team now.

However I just want to confirm, when you mention 'Update Numbers' doesn't update for you, are you seeing that the value is updated, but incorrectly (ie if you set the list in the second document to Start at 3, then select Update Numbers this changes to 8 incorrectly), or does this value truly not update for you at all?

As I'm seeing the first behaviour described above and just want to ensure I'm not missing something

[MikeTO]

5 hours ago, Dan C said:

However I just want to confirm, when you mention 'Update Numbers' doesn't update for you, are you seeing that the value is updated, but incorrectly (ie if you set the list in the second document to Start at 3, then select Update Numbers this changes to 8 incorrectly), or does this value truly not update for you at all?

As I'm seeing the first behaviour described above and just want to ensure I'm not missing something

Thanks Dan. Update Numbers isn't doing anything for me, it seems stuck. And now I have a further issue.

Archive.zip

This zip is a slightly modified version of the first one. #1 starts at 100 and its second list goes to 106 - I added one more item trying to trigger a change in #2. #2 now starts at 9 and I can't get it to start at anything else. I've tried updating numbers in #1 and 2, saving, closing, and re-opening, etc.

[Hangman]

Just an observation...

1. Open the Book
2. Open Both Chapters (or leave them Closed, it doesn't matter)
3. Export All Chapters
4. The numbering for the list in Chapter Two corrects itself and the Exported PDF also shows the correct numbering

The issue appears specific to opening the file and the Chapter Two list seems to count the number of items in the list in Chapter One and start it's list one number higher until exported but then it's not possible to maintain the corrected file when saving.

[Dan C]

Thanks for verifying Mike, just to ensure I'm not misunderstanding - the following workflow doesn't update any of these list numbers on your machine?

As I'm able to manually change the list number in document 2 (book 1) and then use 'Update Numbers' which resets the value to the previously used (but incorrect) 8.
Equally in document 1 (book 2), if I add a new list entry as #107 and then use 'Update Numbers', document 2 (book 2)'s list updates to 10 (still incorrect value, but it is updating for me).

FWIW I'm testing this in the latest beta update .2114 -

As above, I've logged the issue with the incorrect numbers being used in the list within the second document for the book 1, but I'll be sure to update this log with the example shown in book 2, and the further information provided by Hangman above also

[MikeTO]

1 hour ago, Dan C said:

Thanks for verifying Mike, just to ensure I'm not misunderstanding - the following workflow doesn't update any of these list numbers on your machine?

As I'm able to manually change the list number in document 2 (book 1) and then use 'Update Numbers' which resets the value to the previously used (but incorrect) 8.
Equally in document 1 (book 2), if I add a new list entry as #107 and then use 'Update Numbers', document 2 (book 2)'s list updates to 10 (still incorrect value, but it is updating for me).

FWIW I'm testing this in the latest beta update .2114 -

As above, I've logged the issue with the incorrect numbers being used in the list within the second document for the book 1, but I'll be sure to update this log with the example shown in book 2, and the further information provided by Hangman above also

Hi Dan. I'm testing in the latest beta, too. I think I finally figured it out - I get different results depending on which chapters are selected in the panel.

Using the second test book I uploaded above:

1. I open the book and both chapters. Chapter 1 is numbered from 100-106 and chapter 2 starts at 9 but should be 107.
2. I try updating numbers via the panel menu - regardless of whether I select chapter 1, 2, or both, the command does nothing.
3. I try updating numbers via the Update Numbers button - if chapter 1 or 2 is selected, the button does nothing. If I select both chapters, it works and changes it to 107.
4. I then change Chapter 1 to be numbered from 1-7. When I select chapter 1, the button does nothing. When I select chapter 2, the button changes numbering to start at 9. When I select 1 and 2, the button changes number to start at 8 which is correct.

The help system doesn't state that we need to select any chapters before choosing Update Numbers but the button and menu commands are disabled if nothing is selected so obviously the intention was that something should be selected. But should it? These test books are tiny but if you had a book with 30 chapters the user would have to select all 30 chapters each time you want to update all numbers.

 

 

[Dan C]

Thanks for the recording Mike!

I've been able to replicate this behaviour on Windows also - as far as I'm aware there shouldn't be any requirement to have the Chapters selected when using the Update Numbers option, but I will be sure to confirm this with our development team and report back here.

Just a quick note however, in your recording you are using Book Studio Menu > Update Numbers > Page Numbers, which expectedly isn't doing anything - regardless of the Chapter selection. If you select both Chapters and instead use Book Studio Menu > Update Numbers > List Numbers, you'll see the same behaviour as using the 'Update Numbers' button - though as above I'll try and get confirmation as to whether the selection should be required for either Update option 

[MikeTO]

39 minutes ago, Dan C said:

Just a quick note however, in your recording you are using Book Studio Menu > Update Numbers > Page Numbers, which expectedly isn't doing anything - regardless of the Chapter selection. If you select both Chapters and instead use Book Studio Menu > Update Numbers > List Numbers, you'll see the same behaviour as using the 'Update Numbers' button - though as above I'll try and get confirmation as to whether the selection should be required for either Update option 

Oops! 🙂 

[Dan C]

On 11/9/2023 at 5:29 PM, Dan C said:

as far as I'm aware there shouldn't be any requirement to have the Chapters selected when using the Update Numbers option, but I will be sure to confirm this with our development team and report back here.

An update from our developers regarding this:

"Update numbers will only act on chapters when they are selected. That’s intentional behaviour"

I hope this clears thing up

[MikeTO]

4 hours ago, Dan C said:

An update from our developers regarding this:

"Update numbers will only act on chapters when they are selected. That’s intentional behaviour"

I hope this clears thing up

Yes, thank you.

But I assume it means that the selected chapters will be updated. But I showed above that if I select chapter 2 to update it the button does nothing. I also have to select chapter 1 which doesn't need to be updated. As it stands, users would have to be directed to select all chapters because it might not work otherwise.

[Dan C]

1 hour ago, MikeTO said:

But I showed above that if I select chapter 2 to update it the button does nothing. I also have to select chapter 1 which doesn't need to be updated.

That seems to be a bug which appears to be resolved in the latest internal beta build - using your latest samples from above:

As shown, the second Chapter opens with the correct numbering, resolving the first bug reported. I then change the list in Chapter 1 to begin at 10, which doesn't update Chapter 2 automatically.

Selecting Chapter 1 in the Books Studio and clicking the Update Numbers option does nothing, as expected.

Selecting Chapter 2 in the Books Studio and clicking the Update Numbers option updates the list numbers in Chapter 2, now starting at 17 as expected.

I hope this helps

[Affinity Info Bot]

The issue "Drag and dropping .afbook into app, then closing book from the Book Studio does not release hold of the file correctly" (REF: AF-1080) 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.

[Affinity Info Bot]

The issue "List numbering does not sync correctly across multiple files in a book" (REF: AF-1076) 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.