Are there flat-plan templates in Affinity Publisher 2

[Tony Pritchard]

I see in InDesign there seems to be an automatic flat-plan feature. I am working on a 400 page book in Affinity Publisher and am at the stage whee I need to plan and re-jig pages and see this as a flat-plan. Does this exist in Affinity?

[Oufti]

I am not sure what means flat-plan but if it's like the French "chemin de fer", you can use the Pages side panel if you need to move pages, or even just unzoom in the main window if it's only for viewing or editing purpose. 

[Tony Pritchard]

12 minutes ago, Oufti said:

I am not sure what means flat-plan but if it's like the French "chemin de fer", you can use the Pages side panel if you need to move pages, or even just unzoom in the main window if it's only for viewing or editing purpose. 

Thank you for your reply especially as you are doing so not in your mother tongue. Merci beaucoup! Your reply is clear to me. This is not quite what I meant. A flatplan isn't an overview of the existing document. It is more a planning situation. MY book is 400 pages and is currently in separate chapters. I don't want to do a lot of work using that final document until I have a plan. Here is the video I saw on the InDesign version 

Here is an article https://medium.com/@kaibrach/how-to-plan-a-print-magazine-using-a-flatplan-dae139c82a4e

It is far more basic. During the analogue era you would draw out double page spreads and write onto each page what would be on the page eg title page; contents; introduction; chapter opener; etc.

I was wondering if Affinity Publisher had something like this to plan with, to get the overview.

Tony

[Oufti]

Thank you for these self-speaking examples! 😃

Actually, it is not a feature in itself, only documents prepared for this use — aside from what I suggested you…

As you want it for planning purposes like them, why don't you use either of their tools, or mock it up for yourself? 

• In the second one, the author lets us freely download its tool (a genuine spreadsheet), but I think I would soon improve it… Really simple, yet efficient. 
• For the InDesign template (it's not a feature, only a template the guy made), you have to pay ±$20 for it. An IDML version is included but how would it open and behave in APub? Not sure enough…

That having been said, in the video he explains very well how its template is made and I think it would not be too harsh to create such a template in APub (beside perhaps the "magic" that allows to swap right and left pages thumbnails?)

Perhaps also are there such templates already existing in the Resources section of the forums?

— Well, a quick search gave me only this mundane discussion: 

 

[Oufti]

3 hours ago, Oufti said:

it would not be too harsh to create such a template in APub (beside perhaps the "magic" that allows to swap right and left pages thumbnails?)

This could begin with something like that: 

Chemin de fer-WIP.afpub

 

[Tony Pritchard]

7 hours ago, Oufti said:

This could begin with something like that: 

Chemin de fer-WIP.afpub

 

Dear Oufti

Thank you for your generous time and efforts and for kindly sharing this. I've had a brief look and will take a deeper dive later. In the past I would have created a flatplan in Adobe Illustrator and printed it out. Then scribble on paper the layouts. It often took a few goes to get the sequence right. I then used the digital file but the page numbers and content weren't linked so any update meant moving pages and renumbering individually. Fine for a small job but not 300-400 pages! A former colleague (no longer with us) created a linked file which updated automatically. They did this in InDesign. My skills are limited so I'll have to have a play to see if I can come up with something that makes sense and is usable. Again thanks for taking the time to investigate this. 

All the best

Tony

[Fleur]

On 11/29/2023 at 2:10 AM, Oufti said:

This could begin with something like that: 

Chemin de fer-WIP.afpub

 

Hello Oufti! I was looking for a magazine flat plan template and came across this post - is it still available? i would be happy to pay for it. I only have Affinity and indesgn so this would really help : ) thank you

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @Fleur

You should be able to click on the linked document to download it.

[Fleur]

1 hour ago, GarryP said:

Welcome to the forums @Fleur

You should be able to click on the linked document to download it.

thank you. i tried an hour or so ago and it said it was no longer available? i can open it now, but it doesnt seem as though you can move the pages around dynamically so that the pages numbers re order themselves? do you have any experience using this template? thank you

[Oufti]

This file is only a proof of concept, quickly elaborated on base of the video mentioned above. I have never used it since I posted it here. I don't remember how it was done and how sophisticated it could be or not… 

[Fleur]

32 minutes ago, Oufti said:

This file is only a proof of concept, quickly elaborated on base of the video mentioned above. I have never used it since I posted it here. I don't remember how it was done and how sophisticated it could be or not… 

Thank you no problem! i have been looking for a magazine flat plan that is dynamic for a while now with no luck so this looked like a good solution. but its necessary to be able to move the pages dynamically so that the numbers re-order themselves. i didnt want to use an expensive subscription for such a small project. thank you for sharing maybe i will be able to modify it in Affinity if you do knwo of a dynamic template let me know!

 

[Ragle Gumm]

I have just started doing a layout for a 28/32 page A5 brochure and have created a simple flat plan template in Affinity Publisher that allows me to easily move around full page or part page contents (or rather tokens for contents). It is very basic and won't meet everyones needs but happy to share more details if anyone is interested. 

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @Ragle Gumm

If you are willing to publicly share the template then you can do so by posting it in the Resources section of these forums.

Even if it’s not ‘finished’ yet you can share it and then post modified versions as you improve it.

If you do share it then please also give any instructions/information which people might need to be able to use it effectively.