Text too high on imported files

[Tuhis]

I tried to see if this was already discussed before but couldn't find anything, so apologies if this is a repost!

I've recently had issues with text when importing PSD or IDML files to Affinity. Many times the text appears to be too high, like it's moved up a bit after opening the file. This has now happened on PSD files with text exported from Procreate as well as IDML files exported from InDesign, both on Affinity Designer and Publisher. Originally I noticed this on v2.5 but the issue persists after updating to 2.6.

I'm on an M1 Mac Mini with MacOS 15.3.2 and Affinity versions are all 2.6.2. The issue does not happen on my iPad btw, only on Mac! I have the M1 iPad Pro with iPadOS 18.2.1 and Affinity 2.6.2.

Anyone else noticed this? An easy way to replicate this for me at least is to create a file on Procreate with text, export it as a PSD file, and open in Affinity Designer. If I open it on my Mac the text is moved up a bit, but if I open it on my iPad it's all good. It's especially noticeable when working with comics where the text on speech bubbles looks way off on my Mac. It doesn't seem to be a font related issue as it has happened on all fonts I've tried so far.

[Hangman]

Hi @Tuhis,

Could you upload a sample PSD, Procreate and/or IDML file where you see this issue happening so we can take a look...

[Tuhis]

Sure thing! I just also realised that the reason why it looks normal on my iPad is that apparently Affinity Designer rasterises the text there. I hadn't noticed this before. I wonder if this has always been the case with the iPad version, that you can't open PSD files with editable text, or is this a new thing?

Here are example images and the example PSD so you can also test this. The font is Arial so it should work on all devices hopefully.

I'm afraid I can't share any IDML files since I'm not an Adobe user and all the files I have are from clients and those are under NDA. But the I'm seeing this same issue when opening IDML files on Publisher. 

Text_problem_test_file.psd

[Oufti]

40 minutes ago, Tuhis said:

Many times the text appears to be too high, like it's moved up a bit after opening the file.

The only thing I notice in the file you provided is that text in the Text Frame is vertically aligned with a "Default" Initial advance. If you change it to "Montée" (the option in the middle of the popup menu, Ascender ?), it seems to be corrected. 

Another strange thing (but without apparent impact) is the -0pt value in the Characters panel > Leading override (negative null value). 

[Hangman]

Hi @Tuhis,

Many thanks for the file...

Opening the file in Pixelmator Pro shows the same issue, but if I correct it in Pixelmator, export to PSD and open it in Designer, the text is shown positioned correctly, so I'm slightly unsure of the cause at the moment...

Could you run a quick test by changing the text so there are no descenders and then see if you see the same issue when opening the exported PSD file in Designer?

1 hour ago, Oufti said:

Another strange thing (but without apparent impact) is the -0pt value in the Characters panel > Leading override (negative null value).

This was originally logged as a Publisher bug, but while it has been fixed in Publisher, it has not been fixed in Designer or Photo...

[Oufti]

6 minutes ago, Hangman said:

[…] while it has been fixed in Publisher, it has not been fixed in Designer or Photo...

Actually, I saw that with Publisher 2.6.2… 

[Tuhis]

Tested without descenders (so removed the letter "g" there), but no change in how the file opens. 

I've also wondered if the issue is just about the text alignment inside the text box, since it often does go quite close back to normal if you change the vertical alignment to center or adjust the initial advance to ascent. But then on some cases this isn't the issue, like in my current IDML file there's one text box that shows the text too high like in these examples, but it's already set as center aligned, and changing that alignment to top will actually push the test outside of the text box! 

It is also possible that there are two different issues here, one with IDML files and another with PSD files exported from Procreate specifically, but since they seem so similar I'm assuming they have the same root cause somewhere.

[Hangman]

I think it may have to do with the leading set in the original file...

If opened in PhotoPea, the text initially aligns with the manual underlines, but if the Auto Leading checkbox is unticked, it jumps up and appears as it does when opened in Designer or Pixelmator...

The text has also been scaled, indicated by the solid blue scale handle at the bottom right of the text box when selected in Designer, which may also impact...

Could you take the same text with the descender and set the leading for the three lines of text to an actual value, e.g. 125.4 pt (or whatever value is required for the text to align to the underlines) rather than setting it to Auto or percentage height, if that is how it's been set in Procreate and then upload an updated file so we can see how the leading value is being interpretted by Designer and other software, letting us know the leading value you've applied in Procreate...