Affinity Publisher Altering Text from PDFs and Previous AP File

[SlayerDragonwing]

Hello,

I have been working with Affinity for a number of years, and have run into a pair of strange, and probably interconnected issues. I have have been working with a set of book PDF files that were previously created in another program (I'm not sure which one, but probably InDesign). The first issue is that when I import the file into Affinity Publisher, Affinity removes some text and moves other parts. The most obvious example is the Table of Contents. The book ToC from the PDF is on the top, and the one that shows when imported into Affinity is below:

I figured this might be some kind of issue with the original file, so I recreated the original ToC manually. Now, however, I have a new problem. I opened the Affinity Publisher file that I had created previously, and found it has random sections of text to the edge of some of the pages. The page on the top is from the new version of the PDF, which was exported from the Affinity Publisher file last year. The page on the bottom is what now shows up when I open the same AP file:

 

 

I really don't want to go through the whole file fixing everything manually, and am afraid that other files I created previously may have the same problem. Does anyone have any idea what this is happening?

Edited August 12, 2024 by SlayerDragonwing

[Lee D]

@SlayerDragonwing Welcome to the forums.

It would help if we have a copy of your file to take a look at as text shouldn't be shifting. Unless there's an issue with the font or text style/formatting in some way.

Can you recall the version of Publisher the file was last saved in where it looked correct and then the version you opened in where it looked incorrect.

[SlayerDragonwing]

I've attached the PDF that is being copied from, as well as the AP file. I do not remember the version that was used to save the file, but it was late last year, so it would have only been a few versions ago.

Gen_Glen_WW2_2nd_Edition_2023.afpub Gen_Glen_WW2_2nd_Edition_2023.pdf

[SlayerDragonwing]

Does anyone have any ideas why this is happening?

[kenmcd]

Wadda mess.
The APub file is bunch of separate text frames.
One for each line.
There is no text flow.
There are no text styles.
There are no margins.
There are no columns.
There are no master pages.

Each line has different settings for justification.
I am guessing that is from importing it as a bunch of text blocks, and APub trying to guess what to do with fully justified monospace text (really bad idea).
There are settings on opening a PDF which should help:
- Favor editable text over fidelity
- Group lines of text into frames.
Then you may at least have some text paragraphs.

I suggest you start over from the original PDF with better import settings.
And actually format the document.
Use text styles.

 

Do you hate your readers?
I understand the old time vibe of this doc, but old typewriters did not full-justify text.
Hard to read, and it looks bad.

There are typewriter-style fonts with proportional characters.
So they look like Courier or Elite - but they can flow better, and are easier to read.

There are duo-space and tri-space fonts which have mostly monospace characters.
But for example the m is wider and the i narrower, so it flows and is easier to read.
Free on GitHub.

I would have it ragged-right like it was actually typed if that is what you are going for.