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Strange behaviour of character style/size when linking one text frame to another


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OS: Windows 10 Pro 22H2
Software: Affinity Publisher v2.3.1

TL;DR: In this document, linking a new text frame at the end causes the font size and spacing to go wild and I can't seem to fix them.

Details:

I've run into this very strange issue with a book I'm trying to lay out in Publisher (I initially imported the text from a docx file). It started when I decided to increased the font size in my character style from 7.5 to 9pt. This caused the text in each chapter to overflow the existing text frames, of course, so I started going through chapter by chapter to add pages with text frames and link the existing frames to them. And that's when I encountered this problem.

Basically, when I link the last text frame of a chapter to the newly-added frame, the overflowed text populates the new frame as it should... but the font size is all wrong (3.4 pt); the paragraphs seem to have added space between them as well. The styles tab nonetheless shows the proper paragraph and character styles selected. If I select the affected text and try to force the correct style (either by selecting "no style" and then the correct one, or by using 'Apply "Text  Style" to Paragraphs and Clear Character Formatting'), the selected text assumes the correct style... but the text on the previous pages suddenly changes to 24pt size! If I then go and try to fix that, the text style on the last page goes all wrong again.

I've created a small sample document (attached) by simply deleting all but one chapter and replacing the text with autogenerated text. I've confirmed the problem continues to occur with this document.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Open test_problem.pdf in Publisher 2.3.1 for Windows
  2. Go to page 4 and link the text box to the one on page 5.
    -> The overflow text fills page 5 but is only 3.4pt size.
  3. Using the Move tool, select the text box on page 5.
  4. Open the Text Styles pane and confirm that the style "Text Style" is selected.
  5. Select the hamburger menu next to "Text Style" and select 'Apply "Text  Style" to Paragraphs and Clear Character Formatting.'
    -> The text on page 5 now uses the correct 9pt font.
    -> The text on all other pages has changed to 24pt.
  6. Edit the text (using any of the linked text boxes) and select all text.
  7. Select the text style "Text Style".
    -> The text on all pages _except_ page 5 changes to the correct 9pt
    -> The text on page 5 has reverted to 3.4pt.

There appears to be no way to force all of the text to use the "Text Style" format at 9pt.  No matter what I try, either pages 1-4 are correct, or page 5 is.

I haven't seen this in a newly-created file, so I'm thinking it's a document-specific problem. However, I've invested enough time into this document that I really would rather not scrap it and start over; I'd much prefer to find a way to fix the problem.

Thanks...

test_problem.afpub

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Hi, you've been scaling your text frames with the content scaling handle (the outer bottom right handle) instead of the frame scaling handle (the inner bottom right handle). This is a very common mistake and it leads to exactly the outcome you're describing.

Unfortunately, Publisher provides no easy way to fix this. You can select a select a text frame and choose Edit > Defaults > Revert to revert it to defaults but it's often easier just to delete the text frames and start over.

Download a free manual for Publisher 2.4 from this forum - expanded 300-page PDF

My system: Affinity 2.4.2 for macOS Sonoma 14.5, MacBook Pro 14" (M1 Pro)

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Hi @altsan and welcome to the forums,

The issue you're seeing is a known bug in Affinity Publisher, logged under AF-1288 and AF-1342 and can happen if the document dpi has been changed at some point in its history in between new text frames being added to the document or if a page or pages are added to the document using Add Pages from File when the two Publisher documents have different dpi settings or you're adding pages directly from an IDML file to your Publisher document assuming your Publisher document has a dpi greater than 72 dpi...

This happens when opening IDML documents which are interpreted by Publisher at 72 dpi but can also happen with documents created directly in Publisher...

Your document is 192 dpi and if you look at the change in font size when linking the text frames on Pages 4 and 5 you'll see that it is being scaled by 37.50%, so you effectively have two text frames using different resolutions, 192 dpi and 72 dpi.

Text Style - the font size changes from 9 pt to 3.375 pt

(72 / 192) x 100 = 37.50%

9 pt x 37.50% = 3.375 pt (3.4 pt)

After selecting Apply "Text Style" to Paragraphs and Clear Character Formatting - the font size changes from 9 pt to 24 pt

(192 / 72) x 100 = 266.67%

9 pt x 266.67% = 23.99 pt (24 pt)

 

Steps to Rectify the Issue

  1. Change the Document dpi from 192 dpi to 72 dpi
  2. Delete the text frame on Page 5
  3. Create a new text frame on Page 5
  4. Link the text frame on Page 4 to the text frame on Page 5
  5. Change the document back to 192 dpi
  6. Save the document and all should be back to normal

Affinity Designer 2.4.2 | Affinity Photo 2.4.2 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.2
Affinity Designer  Beta 2.5.0 (2463) | Affinity Photo Beta 2.5.0 (2463) | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.5.0 (2463)

MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1, Magic Mouse

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1 hour ago, MikeTO said:

Hi, you've been scaling your text frames with the content scaling handle (the outer bottom right handle) instead of the frame scaling handle (the inner bottom right handle). This is a very common mistake and it leads to exactly the outcome you're describing.

It's certainly possible - it took me a while to get the hang of. I'll try and be careful about that in the future. Thanks!

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56 minutes ago, Hangman said:

Steps to Rectify the Issue

 

  1. Change the Document dpi from 192 dpi to 72 dpi
  2. Delete the text frame on Page 5
  3. Create a new text frame on Page 5
  4. Link the text frame on Page 4 to the text frame on Page 5
  5. Change the document back to 192 dpi
  6. Save the document and all should be back to normal

Thank you very much! You've saved me much hair-pulling. Indeed, I've tried this recipe with both the test file and the original document, and it seems to do the trick.

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Hi @altsan,

That's great to hear, I'm glad it did the trick and happy to hear it's saved you from much hair-pulling... :)

Affinity Designer 2.4.2 | Affinity Photo 2.4.2 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.2
Affinity Designer  Beta 2.5.0 (2463) | Affinity Photo Beta 2.5.0 (2463) | Affinity Publisher Beta 2.5.0 (2463)

MacBook Pro M3 Max, 36 GB Unified Memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1, Magic Mouse

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