Master page text frame vertical justification needs a bottom edge distance/tolerance factor.

[Dave Dennis]

I am designing a book with chapters etc in Affinity Publisher 2.3.1. I want to use vertical justification but the last page of each chapter has a problem in that the lines of text get stretched to full height even if there's only a few lines. 

Is there any way to set an "edge tolerance" factor for the justification so that if it beyond the distance of a certain amount (e.g. a leading line), then it doesn't justify but treats it as top aligned?

This seems like an obvious feature for book publishing.

Is there a workaround? Like do I have to have another master page spread just to change the vertical justification to top aligned?

[MikeTO]

Vertical justification is a text frame attribute so you have to set the frame, but you don't need another master page. If the frame is on a master just select that last frame, choose Layer > Master Page > Edit Detached, set it to top aligned, and then click Finish.

Cheers

[Dave Dennis]

Thank you. I had not thought of detaching the text frame from the master.

I still think a 'snapping' tolerance at the lower edge of the box would be a good way to prevent inordinate about of line spacing. Just automate that step instead having to do it manually at the end of a document.

[GarryP]

6 hours ago, Dave Dennis said:

I want to use vertical justification but the last page of each chapter has a problem in that the lines of text get stretched to full height even if there's only a few lines.

I’m curious as to why you are using “Justify Vertically” for body text which flows across different pages.

Wouldn’t that cause problems with the baselines of text not being aligned with those on different pages when text wraps around other layers? See the gap between the text and the thin blue line on the right-hand side of my example image. (I'm assuming that you're not using a Baseline Grid if you are justifying vertically, or, if you are, why use both?)

Can you give an example (preferably with a visual sample) of where you might use “Justify Vertically” for this sort of thing?

[MikeTO]

Yes, instead of using justify vertically I'd just align everything to a baseline grid. That way every page but the last page has a line of text at the same position at the bottom of the page.

[Dave Dennis]

I've got to admit that since graduating graphic design over 30 years ago, I've never had the proper use of a baseline grid explained. So I've never used it. For appearance I've used vertical justify to make the columns even (but not the body text lines of course). I think this has shown me the point of the baseline grid, so I guess that is no part of the repertoire!

Thanks!

[thomaso]

On 2/22/2024 at 6:22 AM, Dave Dennis said:

I still think a 'snapping' tolerance at the lower edge of the box would be a good way to prevent inordinate about of line spacing. Just automate that step instead having to do it manually at the end of a document.

While for your purpose a baseline grid appears more useful than vertical justification, there is an "automated" workaround to override the vertical justification for the last frame/paragraph in a story of linked text frames:

Un-check the "Hide overflow" option for the story Text Frames on your Master Page and insert* a break (>) at the end of your stories (§).
*menu 'Text' -> 'Insert', -> 'Breaks' -> column or frame / e.g. via 'Find & Replace'