Numbered illustrations (global list) are numbered out of order

[Felix Kasza]

To number my figures, I have a paragraph style (named "Caption") that sets up a running list: name "Fig", numbering restart set to manual. To insert an illustration, I make a picture frame, place the picture, create a text frame (whose only paragraph has a "Caption" style), stick it underneath the picture frame, group the picture and text frames, pin them, and off we go.

Clearly, the numbers assigned to the various "Caption" paragraphs depend on the Z-order of their text frames in the layer stack, and the sequence can be adjusted by a little frobbing of the to-front and to-back buttons.

Here is the problem I cannot for the life of me figure out: In a two-page spread (horizontal, begin with right page), the left (lower-numbered) page will always sit above the corresponding right-hand page, which throws off the image numbering. Example:

Page 1 (right): #1, #2, #3 (from top of the page to the bottom of the page)
Page 2 (next spread, left): #7, #8
Page 3: (right): #5. #6

The layer stack is shown in the snap0101.png attachment and clearly has page 2 above (and higher in the stack than) page 3.

The .afpub and the images are, as a .afpackage, in the attached image-numbers-out-of-sequence.zip file. I have deleted the large and superfluous cover image.

I am grateful for any pointers to what I might be doing wrong.

Thanks,
Felix.

image-numbers-out-of-sequence.zip

Edited August 9, 2024 by Felix Kasza
typos

[Oufti]

1. Select the Text frame "Introduction Mean, M/2"
2. In the Layer menu > Master Page > Edit linked
3. Drag the M/2 Text Frame under the M/3 Text Frame in the Layers panel until you see a line between the two layers
4. Click on the button "Finish" of the green bar

Your Captions should then be numbered in the correct order. 

____________________________

N.B. There is something strange in your doc:
— When, in the Pages panel, I drag the Master page "Body" icon on the pages 6-7, My Publisher app (v.2.5.3) crashes instantly if the app Language setting is on Default (French) but not when the Language is set to English… 

Another thing I noticed and can't explain:
— After I modified the layers order in the show Page mode (so that the left M/2 layer is UNDER the right M/3 in the Layers stack), when I switch to the Master Page and look at the Layers, they are in reverse order (left page is ABOVE the right one).

Show Pages:

Show Master Page:

 

[Felix Kasza]

Thank you very much! I wonder whether I did something wrong when creating the document …

Regarding the crash, I have no explanation, I regret to say. But if Patrick & friends do not see this, I will repost the files and your comment as a new request for help.

Thank you again for your quick help, et je vous suis très obligé de m'avoir dépanné!

Felix.

[Oufti]

Merci beaucoup, c'est fort aimable.  

 

I don't know if the interversion of the layers order between the Master Page and the Page views is really a bug but it seems very strange to me.
If someone more experienced than I am could have a look at this, it should be interesting to know what they think about… 

[MikeTO]

Spread 4-5 has Body applied separately to the left and right pages which is the source of the problem. Hover over 4-5 in the Pages panel and you'll see this in the popup tooltip - contrast that with hovering over 6-7 which is correct. This is one of those issues that is easier to understand if you name the frames on the master page.

I named the frames on the master and see the following for spreads 4-5 (left) and 6-7 (right). The right one is what the left one should look like. The text "Introduction: Mean..." is in Body - Right > Left Main but it's on the right side of the page. This is why everything is messed up. The solution isn't to edit detached or linked and change the frame order but to re-apply the Body master page to spread 4-5. Unfortunately as Oufti pointed out, doing so will crash.

 

Affinity Publisher 2 Affinity Store-2024-08-09-221705.ips

The crash bug needs to be logged and fixed - I haven't seen that one before - but here's a workaround.

1. Open the file
2. Click in the frame with "Introduction: Mean..."
3. Choose Edit > Select All and then Edit > Cut
4. Go to the last page and draw a small text frame somewhere in the margin - it's just temporary
5. Choose Edit > Paste to paste the cut text into this temporary frame
6. Right-click spread 4-5 and sSelect the Body master page. Click Apply
7. Click the left frame's text flow out control and then unlink the frame from the left side to the right side. They weren't linked before and I assume you didn't want 4 to link to 5.
8. Go back to that temporary frame, select all, and cut. Select the frame with the Move tool and delete it.
9. Go back to spread 4-5, click in the right frame, and choose Paste.
10. Save your work.

Cheers

[Felix Kasza]

@MikeTO, thank you! It is amazing how many people spent hours of their time to help me out, and I am very, very grateful.

I am at a loss trying to explain how I managed to achieve this split on pages 4–5. I did not apply master pages except automatically while adding pages to the document, and I certainly did not aply a master to a single half of a spread. Colour me puzzled!

As for the crash: It is not clear to me how to notify Serif of a crashing bug, except through a forum post. I do have a separate thread open for that, but no official response so far.

Thank you (and all of you!) again for your help, your time, and your efforts on my behalf: I appreciate them highly!

Cheers,
Felix.

[MikeTO]

5 hours ago, Felix Kasza said:

I am at a loss trying to explain how I managed to achieve this split on pages 4–5. I did not apply master pages except automatically while adding pages to the document, and I certainly did not aply a master to a single half of a spread. Colour me puzzled!

As for the crash: It is not clear to me how to notify Serif of a crashing bug, except through a forum post. I do have a separate thread open for that, but no official response so far.

The 'split' master page issue happens all the time, it's a flaw with inserting and deleting pages. It happens to me almost every day when I work on my Publisher manual which uses a different master page for the first page in a chapter which always start on the right sides.

For example, let's say chapter 1 ends on page 20 (left) based on the Main master and chapter 2 starts on page 21 (right) based on the Chapter Title master. Then I direct Publisher to insert two more pages between them based on the Main master. This will result in the spread of 20-21 (made up of the existing page 20 and the new page 21) having Main applied separately to both sides, just like you experienced. I have to re-apply the Main master page each time I add pages. This is the flaw.

I consider this a bug because while it's nice that Publisher allows you to apply different master pages to both sides of a facing-page spread, there is no reason why anybody would want to apply the same master page separately to both sides. IMO, Publisher should clean this up automatically so that when this happens, it applies the master to the whole spread.

Serif has announced that multi-page spreads are in development and it will be interesting to see how this all changes. In the meantime, at least you now know what happened and can keep an eye out for it in the future.

As for reporting the bug, I'll do that now. I didn't have time last night. Bugs reported in this question forum are sometimes missed, especially if they're not reported in the first post, so it's best to report them in the bugs forum. I'll add a link in a minute so you can see it.

Cheers

[MikeTO]

Here's the bug report

 

[Felix Kasza]

1 hour ago, MikeTO said:

[…] This will result in the spread of 20-21 (made up of the existing page 20 and the new page 21) having Main applied separately to both sides, just like you

Hi, @MikeTO – once @Oufti pointed out what was wrong and you root-caused it, I understood my error (even though I do not consider it an error). Mu work begins with an odd (right) page and ends with and even (left-hand) page. Every time I add pages, I do so in multiples of two pages, so at the insertion site, there will be an old even (left) page that is now followed by a freshly inserted odd page, so this spread is a patchwork.

Well, at least I have a work-around now, thanks!

Felix.