How do I edit inline photo in Affinity Publisher, using Affintiy Photo?

[PeeGeeBee]

Hi, a basic question, I trust. I have a number of photos included in my text (Publisher) document.

How do I edit them in Affinity Photo (I want to make them monochrome). When I switch to the Photos persona, what's the secret to actually editing the photo (there's nothing obvious like 'Open in…' in the contextual menu, on Mac).

Many thanks

[GarryP]

First I would say that you don’t need another application to make an image monochrome, you can simply add a Black & White Adjustment to it instead.

When you switch to the Photo Persona you are, essentially (up-to-a-point), editing the whole document in Photo so there’s no ‘secret’ to it (with the caveat that you should, in this case, only edit the image layer you want to modify, see post below); just switch Personas and edit as you would if you were in Photo, then switch back as necessary.

Edited November 27, 2023 by GarryP
Added clarification.

[walt.farrell]

24 minutes ago, GarryP said:

edit as you would if you were in Photo, then switch back as necessary.

Except that, as you noted, you're editing the complete document. In particular, the complete document page which contains the image. So you need to take care that you restrict your editing (and any Adjustment layers) to the image itself. This includes making sure the Adjustments are nested within the image's layer.

[walt.farrell]

35 minutes ago, PeeGeeBee said:

I have a number of photos included in my text (Publisher) document.

What kind of files are your "photos"? And are you Embedding them or Linking them in the document?

[GarryP]

13 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

So you need to take care that you restrict your editing (and any Adjustment layers) to the image itself.

Good point; I’ve added some extra text in my earlier post to tell people to look at your post.

[PeeGeeBee]

Thanks, all. I appreciate the note(s) of caution. I've therefore decided to edit the images externally and then replace them in the document, one by one. It's hardly the most efficient way of doing it, but better than learning from a bad mistake! Thanks again

[GarryP]

The alternative I gave, of adding a Black & White Adjustment to each image where needed, should work very easily and it’s non-destructive.

Is there some reason why you have chosen to not do that?

I’ve attached a quick video showing what you need to do (I’ve adjusted some settings but you don’t need to do that if you don’t want to).

[walt.farrell]

22 minutes ago, PeeGeeBee said:

I've therefore decided to edit the images externally and then replace them in the document, one by one. It's hardly the most efficient way of doing it, but better than learning from a bad mistake!

If you answer my question about what kind of images you're using and whether you're Linking or Embedding there may be simpler alternatives that are still safe.

[PeeGeeBee]

Thanks, Walt. The truth is I'm not sure which. I add a frame then chose Place from the File menu: as they didn't update after I edit them externally, I guess that must embed them rather than link them.

But I don't wish to waste your time. I find myself asking a lot of questions about Publisher where other applications seem much more intuitive to me -- maybe we're just not compatible in the long term! And yes, I know, I should be reading the manual etc, but, to be honest, most of what I'm trying to do is so basic that it shouldn't even require that effort. As I say, though, put that down to me maybe and not the app.

[walt.farrell]

37 minutes ago, PeeGeeBee said:

as they didn't update after I edit them externally, I guess that must embed them rather than link them.

They might not update because they're embedded. Or they might not update because you've configured Publisher to not update them automatically (Settings, General) even though they're Linked, but in that case you should at least get a popup warning message ("toast").

When you create the document you get to choose the default behavior for Placed files (Embedded, or Linked). Or you can specify it later via Document Setup. And you can always change it for individual files using the Resource Manager.

And again, you still haven't said what kind of file you're Placing. That will have a strong influence on what you can do.

It can be simple, and we can help you, with more information from you.