Chapter number in caption

[stevepc]

I am new to Publisher (I am using v2.4) having used InDesign for years. I want to recreate a caption for illustrations that contain the chapter number, ie Figure 3.6 for the sixth illustration in chapter 3. See image for how it is done in InDesign, with two examples at the top of the image.

However, I cannot see a way to do it in Designer. I have searched for any references to 'chapter number' and cannot find any.

Is it possible in Designer? Many thanks for any help.

[walt.farrell]

You mention using Designer, but the equivalent of InDesign would be Publisher. 

Please confirm which Affinity application you're using.

[stevepc]

Sorry. That was daft of me. I meant Publisher.

[walt.farrell]

Good

Though in either case the answer will probably be the same. You can't insert the chapter number, as that's not an available field/function in the Affinity applications. You'll need to specify it manually, I believe.

[stevepc]

Thanks for confirming.

That's a pity as was planning to transfer three books with over 150 illustrations and tables between them. I really did want to leave InDesign.

[walt.farrell]

The basic numbering can be handled automatically, it's just the chapter part that will need manual adjustment.

[Hangman]

39 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

You can't insert the chapter number, as that's not an available field/function in the Affinity applications.

You can however insert the Section Name (which you would use to name your Chapters) by specifying your main caption text as part of the text style...

and then insert the <Section Name> placeholder like this as part of your caption...

 

resulting in this...

[stevepc]

Thanks Walt.

It's not quite as simple as that because if I use the Bullet and Numbering Text field (so as to gain the basic numbering), every time I sync my document styles across the book (as I use a different document for each chapter), the chapter number will be overwritten. Obviously, I could manually type the caption for each illustration and table, but if I move an illustration or insert a chapter, then I will have to keep checking the captions to see if nothing has got out of order. It could develop into a proofing nightmare.

 

[stevepc]

I thought about Hangman's idea of using <Section Name> as I could readily call my <Section Name> the number of the chapter. But I cannot see any way of successfully inserting <Section Name> into the Text field under bullets and numbering, ie it doesn't treat it as a variable, just as text.

If I did what Hangman (helpfully) illustrates above, then I cannot get 'Figure' <Section Name> '-' /# 'illustration name' into the correct order (ie to produce Figure 7-3. Model of Mind).

[Hangman]

1 minute ago, stevepc said:

I cannot see any way of successfully inserting <Section Name> into the Text field under bullets and numbering, ie it doesn't treat it as a variable, just as text.

It's a little odd in as much as the text style will 'accept' the <Section Name> token...

but because it's not a supported feature, it won't recognise it as part of the text style itself...

So currently specifying Figure' <Section Name> '-' /# 'illustration name' is largely a manual task as @walt.farrell mentions. A proper captions feature has been requested numerous times before so hopefully, we'll see this in a future update...

[Old Bruce]

It is early here on the Wet Left Coast. I think there is a simple solution to your problem. I shall try to explain it. Use Publisher 2's Running Header feature and assign the Chapter Name's Paragraph style to it. 

[Hangman]

21 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

Use Publisher 2's Running Header feature and assign the Chapter Name's Paragraph style to it.

I don't see how that would work for the requested formatting... Figure <Section Name> '-' /# 'illustration name...

[MikeTO]

This is actually easy to do with Publisher, although not as easy as InDesign, but the solution is very different than InDesign.

The trick is to use global lists which allow numbering to continue even for non-sequential paragraphs. Level 1 of the list will number your chapters and level 2 will number your figures. At the start of each chapter, add a text frame with a single paragraph - ensure it's below the main text frame in the layer stack. This paragraph doesn't even need any text, it just increments the level 1 number. You can hide the frame in the Layers panel so nobody sees it. You'll put the first of these frames in chapter 1 and it will be numbered 1. Put the next in chapter 2 and it will be automatically numbered 2, etc. The global list numbers these in both a single document, as I've shown here (with one-page 'chapters') and in a Book with separate chapter documents. If you're using separate documents for each chapter, they must be added to an Affinity Book so that Publisher can manage numbering across chapters. If you don't want to use the Books feature, it's still easy, just set the chapter number manually in each chapter document with the "Start Numbering At" option.

For a global list to work this way you must set each list paragraph to a Name (I used "Figures" in my example), select Global, and set Restart Numbering to "Below Current Level". Global lists are a bit confusing but I've documented them in my free Publisher manual (you can download it from the link in my signature). Or just inspect this example document and you should be able to figure it out.

Good luck.

test.afpub

[stevepc]

Thanks Mike. First of all (and in danger of going off topic), I found your manual to be a fantastic help. I was struggling to get a clear and straight forward account of how things are done in Publisher. Great stuff.

Although I don't quite yet fully grasp what global lists are, I can see that I could figure it out from what you have supplied and get my captions to display as desired. So thanks for that also.

I can see from your description of the Books panel that Publisher is not yet sufficiently mature for my purposes (as I have long books with many chapters). But that's OK. I will keep on eye on further releases to see if more useful features are provided and switch over when that happens. It is now not a question of whether I will switch from InDesign to Publisher, but when. I have already switched over to Designer and Photo. Your manual helped me get to a decision much quicker than my trial and error method.

Many thanks to everyone for their help.😀

[Skizzievogel]

Thank you thank you THANK YOU! Figuring out how to get my numbered chapter list to work across a book has been driving me mental. It's actually way easier in Publisher than Indesign

But, now I would also like to include these chapter numbers in my paragraph headers. I've set the chapter numbers at level 1 (global) and the paragraph numbers at level 2 (non global).  I thought this would be fairly straight forward but alas. All chapter numbers are showing 0 instead of appropriate chapter number.

What am I missing?

Paragraph '0.1 kopje' is my paragraph list style.

Edited April 16 by Skizzievogel

[MikeTO]

It doesn't look like you selected Global, it's showing with a dash in the control which means No Change. You'll need to select that option in the style in each chapter for it to work.

Attached is a Book file and two chapter documents that illustrate how to use Global numbering with two levels across a book.

Archive.zip

Cheers

[Skizzievogel]

You're a life saver. Thanks so much. Overall replacing indesign with publisher has been fairly pain free but I do have some blind spots. My reasoning was paragraphs 'stay' within the same one chapter so not global. Doh!

[Skizzievogel]

Aaaah you also have to give them the same label so they are linked. Took me awhile to figure this out 😄 I can see the advantage. This makes it way easier to manage multiple numbered lists. Cheers!