Resize Publisher document to contents

[Void2258]

When not working to fit content to a fixed size (ie making something for online display, so the length is simply whatever it needs to be), I like to make the document oversize, get everything set up, then shrink the document to fit the contents before exporting. Never had a real problem doing this over in Adobe, but I can't find a way to do it in Publisher; the document resizing seem to be entirely setting manual sizes in Document Setup and checking each one. Additionally, every time I change the size, I have to select everything and manually realign it (no option for the method of size changing, ie picking a removal direction so I can subtract stricly from the bottom while leaving everything above the removal zone alone). How can I change the size of the document to fit my contents (preferably without having to realign, but at least without having to guess and check dozens of times)?

[Pšenda]

I would select the object/objects to resize and select the Selection Area option when exporting. To set the size of the document, I would use the Artboard creation with the Selection objects option.

Edited October 20 by Pšenda

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, Pšenda said:

To set the size of the document, I would use the Artboard creation with the Selection objects option.

I'm not sure how this would work, as the OP is talking about Publisher documents. Assuming they do mean Page-based, probably multi-page documents, I think they will need to use Document Setup to change the size of the Spreads/Pages. But I don't understand enough of what they want to be sure.

Screenshots and/or an example .afpub file setup as the initial wrong size, and an exact description of what you want the result to be, would be useful, @Void2258.

[Pšenda]

21 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

I'm not sure how this would work, as the OP is talking about Publisher documents.

You're right, I automatically assumed ADesigner when asking to resize the document according to its contents. In the case of APublisher, where the document sizes are based on the defined formats on which the documents are printed, this is a special requirement.

[Void2258]

There are two use cases:

• You need it to be printable, so you are fitting content to a designated size (more common use case)
• You know it will never be printed and you have certain contents that must be made to fit on a page together, so eventual page size is determined by the space needed for the presentation of those contents (for the most packed page, if more than one), not known beforehand.

For the second case, you are not designating a size ahead of time and fitting content into the page, you are designating what content must go on the page and fitting the page to the content it has on it. The page size is whatever it needs to be for the content to fit (for multiple page documents, other pages get arranged to look good with the page size the most full page needs after-the-fact). In this case, it's best to start with an oversized page, do the design (for the page that has the most stuff), then have the page size cropped inwards to avoid empty space. This might even need to be done multiple times in a project, ie if you end up moving some content to a different page, resulting in a need to again resize the project.

Just guessing and checking page sizes in document setup is both slow and impractical, since it is not easy to determine the right numerical dimensions and everything on every page has to be realigned manually every time. If doing just a single page, this might be more easily done in photo or designer (just crop the canvas into the contents when ready), but for multiple page documents that happen to work this way, it should be possible to do it in Publisher too.

 

[walt.farrell]

47 minutes ago, Void2258 said:

Just guessing and checking page sizes in document setup is both slow and impractical, since it is not easy to determine the right numerical dimensions and everything on every page has to be realigned manually every time. If doing just a single page, this might be more easily done in photo or designer (just crop the canvas into the contents when ready), but for multiple page documents that happen to work this way, it should be possible to do it in Publisher too.

I would try it this way:

1. Find that most-packed page, and determine how big it needs to be. This is an artistic judgement, in large part.

Then

2. Use File > Document Setup to change all the Spreads to that size.

[carl123]

A "page sized" rectangle laid over the page at say 20% opacity should enable you to visualise what size new page you want, then just see the size of the rectangle in the Transform panel

[Oufti]

2 hours ago, Void2258 said:

Just guessing and checking page sizes in document setup is both slow and impractical, since it is not easy to determine the right numerical dimensions

 

1 hour ago, carl123 said:

[…] just see the size of the rectangle in the Transform panel

Or if you want to have absolutely tight measures, select all the content and look at its size in the Transform panel. 

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, Void2258 said:

In this case, it's best to start with an oversized page, do the design (for the page that has the most stuff), then have the page size cropped inwards to avoid empty space.

Why do you need to avoid empty space around the contents of a multi-page document? How will the file be used in an online display (presumably as a file exported from APub to some filetype web browsers support)?

[thomaso]

Am 20.10.2024 um 5:14 Uhr sagte Void2258:

I like to make the document oversize, get everything set up, then shrink the document to fit the contents before exporting. Never had a real problem doing this over in Adobe, but I can't find a way to do it in Publisher; the document resizing seem to be entirely setting manual sizes in Document Setup and checking each one. Additionally, every time I change the size, I have to select everything and manually realign it

It seems like you want to change the page size with your layout elements, but unfortunately I don't understand your requested details and the additional descriptions in your second post. However, I'm wondering what feature you used in Adobe that you can't find in Affinity? If it was "Liquid Layout", you can try the "Constraints" in APub. Once these are set up for your layout elements, you can do things like 'responsive web-design' and change a base layout to different sizes + aspect ratios without having to manually adjust each individual element.

https://affinity.help/publisher2/English.lproj/index.html?page=pages/DesignAids/constraints.html&title=Constraints

There is an article about "Constraints" at Affinity Spotlight – though it may not explain sufficiently because of broken links to its Vimeo video samples.

https://affinityspotlight.com/article/make-flexible-page-furniture-using-constraints-in-affinity-publisher/

The learning section on the Affinity Learning Portal appears not to know "Constraints", nor do the tutorial lists in this forum.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=constraints+site%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Faffinity.serif.com%2Fen-us%2Flearn%2F&t=ftsa&atb=v449-4&ia=web

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/170254-official-affinity-publisher-v2-tutorials/

There are some video tutorials on Youtube with different details. Here is one that demonstrates the principle of "Constraints":