Apply master's Migrate option could be improved

[MikeTO]

I appreciate what Publisher tries to do with Migrate but sometimes it makes things worse and I'm left wishing Publisher had an old-fashioned Keep option - promote all non-matching layers to the document page. Rather than add a third option to something that is already confusing for many users, my request is for Publisher to consider a master text frame that contains real text or a field on the master to not be considered as empty for the purposes of Migrate. Publisher currently considers any frame that hasn't been edited at the document page level to be empty and a target for migration.

This issue happens to me regularly with my family history book - its masters are more complex but this is the root of the issue. In a document with two masters:

• A - has body frames - B is applied to A which gives it page numbers
• B - has just header frames for page numbers

If I apply master B to a spread based on A using Migrate, the body text is migrated to the tiny header frame which no user would ever want. The header frame contains a page number field so it's not empty to me as a user but it is to Publisher.

I think Migrate would work more predictably if master frames that contain a field or real text to not be considered as empty for migration. I think only frames that are completely empty or which contain only filler text should be migration targets.

There are other solutions but they'd be less reliable and I can't think of a scenario where a user would want body text to be migrated into a frame that contains static text such as the document name or a field such as a page number, so I think treating those as not empty would resolve the problem.

test.afpub

 

 

[Old Bruce]

Your example demonstrates why I always name each and every object, with unique and descriptive names, on my Master Pages. You have an unnamed Text Frame on Master A and the contents Migrate to the unnamed Text Frame on Master B. It is what I would expect. If all the text frames are named then the text will be promoted.

 

[MikeTO]

10 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

Your example demonstrates why I always name each and every object, with unique and descriptive names, on my Master Pages. You have an unnamed Text Frame on Master A and the contents Migrate to the unnamed Text Frame on Master B. It is what I would expect. If all the text frames are named then the text will be promoted.

I didn't know that but now that I do I don't understand why a named frame should not be considered a valid target for promoting the content of a frame.

I find this very odd because if you name all your frames then Publisher's Migrate option works just like the Keep option in older apps. It almost seems like a bug.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, MikeTO said:

If I apply master B to a spread based on A using Migrate,

Why would you do that? Migrate implies that you're deleting the A content, and you've already said that the text frame setup on B is not appropriate for the content derived from A.

[MikeTO]

18 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Why would you do that? Migrate implies that you're deleting the A content, and you've already said that the text frame setup on B is not appropriate for the content derived from A.

This was just a test doc created to show the issue. The masters in my actual book are more complex. I was applying a master without a body frame because I wanted to remove some of the bells and whistles from that page but I expected the body frame to be migrated, not merged into a header frame. Nobody would want or expect that.

This has happened many times with this particular document and I got tired of working around it today (I edited the master detached and promoted the body frame manually) so I finally created an extra master page today to handle this situation. Now it won't be an issue. if I'd known about Bruce's tip of naming the frames to prevent them from being promoted I would have just done that. I only name my frames when debugging since I never have more than two or three frames on a page.

I proposed a way to fix this issue - don't migrate content from a frame into a frame that isn't truly empty - but I'd be just has happy to have back an old-fashioned Keep option, without the app trying to be smart and migrate things where it thinks I want them.

[Oufti]

Beside a) right-clicking on the page panel and disabling 'Replace existing master' in the 'Apply master' dialog or b) naming the frames, you could simply c) hold Option/Alt key while dragging your second master on the page thumbnail. This will add the master to the page instead of replacing the existing master. 

 

Example:

1. There are some empty pages and two masters: Master A with filler text in a text frame and Master B with 'Page #' (page number) in another text frame. Each frame is named differently.
2. I apply Master A to all pages [00'24"]
3. I drag Master B on page 1. — Filler text is dismissed by the page number. Master A is replaced by Master B  [00'32"]
4. On page 2, I drag Master B with Option/Alt key pressed (notice the green pointer +). — Both masters are applied, both frames remain, the one with the filler text and the page number [00'48"]. 

 

Edited April 18 by Oufti
Time codes added