Affinity Publisher - master delete problem

[Iztok]

Why I can't delete grey rachtangle which is made in master page, not locked neither in master page, Don't know if Beta 2.6.2 problem or 2.6. I try alo basket in layer panel, delete and ctrl, cant delete at all

[Hangman]

Hi @Iztok,

You need to right-click the Master page parent element on the Publication page and select Edit Detached. That will allow you to delete the grey rectangle on the selected page without affecting the Master page... One deleted, click Finish in the green title bar at the top of the UI.

[Iztok]

Thanks, but I don't know why this estra step is necessary I could lock or been locked layer and I unlocked it, this is another not necessary compkicated task.

[thomaso]

37 minutes ago, Iztok said:

Thanks, but I don't know why this estra step is necessary I could lock or been locked layer and I unlocked it, this is another not necessary compkicated task.

A quicker way to "unlock" a selected master object is to press the keyboard shortcut for this menu command (on Mac, it's Cmd-Shift-D). This triggers the "Detach" action, allowing you to edit or delete the object directly without first selecting the parent master layer. While the orange bar appears at the top, pressing "Finish" isn't necessary, as the bar disappears automatically when you switch to another page.

Yes, it would of course be easier if pressing a modifier key when selecting a master object would unlock the object directly.

[Pšenda]

On 3/15/2025 at 12:04 PM, Iztok said:

not locked neither in master page

The object does not have to be locked on the Master Page, and it will still be protected against modification and deletion from Pages for understandable reasons, see the crosses that clearly show this.

Allowing the destruction of the content of the Master Page, which then has an impact on other pages, just by inadvertently deleting the object from the Page, cannot be considered as a desirable behavior of the application. So if you want to modify/delete the content of the Master Page, you have to do it using the Master Page, or you have to detach the local instance from the Master Page.

[Iztok]

And why not if master page is simply locked which is intuitive, I can puti it locked or I unlock and delet, now I need to know the other step, which is not intuitive and logic, so why simple if could be complicate. Locked layer is far more simple then this command and shortcut, because is one more task which could be forogot because of rarely usage. Make thinks logical please. So much hidden comands are bad for quick work.

[Pšenda]

15 minutes ago, Iztok said:

And why not if master page is simply locked

You've probably noticed, that locking a layer doesn't protect its contents from modification or deletion at all - unfortunately, that's a joke from Serif developers.
Locking a layer in a Master Page only protects the layer from being "selected" via the Master Pages canvas. Modifying a layer/object on a Master Page via the Pages is automatically protected, which is completely standard behavior. Forcing users to lock the contents of a Master Page to protect it from modification or deletion via the pages would be a really bad idea.

[R C-R]

3 hours ago, Pšenda said:

Modifying a layer/object on a Master Page via the Pages is automatically protected, which is completely standard behavior. Forcing users to lock the contents of a Master Page to protect it from modification or deletion via the pages would be a really bad idea.

It is not only standard but the most logical behavior. This is because there is no good reason to force users to perform an extra step to protect a master page.