Selected text with mixed values for the same parameter.

[Alexthreedee]

Hello,

I've noticed that in Publisher when you select some text in a textbox the input fields in tools' windows usually show the value of the first selected character even if the words/characters/paragraphs inside the selection actually may have different values.

Let's say I've selected a bunch of paragraphs each one with a slightly different Tracking and maybe different Indents: if I look to the Character and Paragraph windows I see that the tracking is i.e. 10 and the Indent is i.e. 5 mm, so I mistakenly think that all the selected paragraphs have the same values.

I'd expect to see an empty field instead for those parameters with different values, so that if I want them to be all the same value I would fill the input field with the right value and change them all together.

This already happens in the Frame Text Tool toolbar, where the Font Family, Style and Size are empty if different values are present in the selected text, but not in the Character window where the Family field is set the first font in the dropdown list and the Size is set to 0 pt...

So I wish to see this behaviour consistently applied to all input fields of the application (not only text-related ones if applicable) in future updates of the Affinity suite, because it's currently very hard to efficently and - especially - reliably edit long texts to make them clean and ready to be put into the production layout.

Thank you!

Edited September 24, 2024 by Alexthreedee
Changed the term “multiple values” to “mixed values” in the title because it’s more explanatory

[MikeTO]

This is something several of us have brought up. For mixed state values, Affinity shows:

• Text fields and most lists: blank
• Checkboxes, radio buttons, toggle controls (bold, italic...), colour samples, scrolling lists: value of first character

1 hour ago, Alexthreedee said:

This already happens in the Frame Text Tool toolbar, where the Font Family, Style and Size are empty if different values are present in the selected text, but not in the Character window where the Family field is set the first font in the dropdown list and the Size is set to 0 pt...

Are you on Windows? For me on macOS, the Character panel shows the Font Family list as blank when it's mixed state. However, it does show Font Size as 0 which is inconsistent with the Context Toolbar which shows it as blank.

[Alexthreedee]

12 hours ago, MikeTO said:

Are you on Windows? For me on macOS, the Character panel shows the Font Family list as blank when it's mixed state. However, it does show Font Size as 0 which is inconsistent with the Context Toolbar which shows it as blank.

Yes, I’m on Windows.