Publisher 2 frustrations

[Affinity Rat]

Getting frustrated trying to create a simple table.

Issues 

• Inability to resize column
• Inability to change cell thickness

Resolved issue with regard to resizing column, a cell in the column had white space it, I had inadvertantly put there, so until the white space was deleted, the column couldnt resize.

Help says with entire table selected, how to select it? Answer: drag the columns or rows to include all cells.  Most software I've used the table object is independent of its containing cells. I want to change the colour and thickness of the table not the cells. Ok once table selected colour easy, but help says

• Select one of the Border options in the Stroke and Fill section of the Table panel to adjust which border(s) are selected.

Ok so where is the stroke and fill section?

I’m sure its all there somewhere but not intuitive for me!

 

[Alfred]

1 hour ago, Affinity Rat said:

I want to change the colour and thickness of the table not the cells. Ok once table selected colour easy, but help says

• Select one of the Border options in the Stroke and Fill section of the Table panel to adjust which border(s) are selected.

Ok so where is the stroke and fill section?

I’m sure its all there somewhere but not intuitive for me!

As I observed in another recent thread, one of the few glaring deficiencies in the Help topics is that they only tell you how to use the relevant controls, not how to navigate the UI so that you can see them in the first place!

Please don’t hesitate to let me know if the following screenshots are missing any of the information that you need.

[Affinity Rat]

Thank you Alfred, I didnt even know about the ellipsis menu from the vertical toolbar, but found it.😊

[Alfred]

You’re very welcome, @Affinity Rat.

[Minus44]

@Alfred, can you please help me with a similar question? 

In my case, I’m trying to do something that ought to be quite simple—I want to change the fill color of two cell at the top of the table. I suppose some software would consider this a header or title row. 

I go to the set of Table > Stroke and Fill. I change the fill color as desired for those cells. But when I go back to the table and tap on any other element to continue with the design, the fill color of the cell is undone.

What am I missing? Is there some sort of default that I need to work around? 🤷‍♂️

[Alfred]

24 minutes ago, Minus44 said:

In my case, I’m trying to do something that ought to be quite simple—I want to change the fill color of two cell at the top of the table. I suppose some software would consider this a header or title row.

From your screenshots it looks as though you’ve selected the borders of the table (the first of three ‘whole table’ options). From your description, I think you want the option below that (the first of five ‘horizontal’ options).

[Minus44]

9 minutes ago, Alfred said:

From your screenshots it looks as though you’ve selected the borders of the table (the first of three ‘whole table’ options). From your description, I think you want the option below that (the first of five ‘horizontal’ options).

Eventually I’m going to address the borders. But for now, I’ve selected only two of the top-most cells and wish to fill those with a color. Whilst selecting the color, those cells preview the change I’m trying to make. However, when tapping anywhere else in the table, the change doesn’t seem to stick—and it changes back to ‘no fill’ again. Very frustrating, but I’m sure I’m missing something simple. 

[Minus44]

1 hour ago, Minus44 said:

Eventually I’m going to address the borders. But for now, I’ve selected only two of the top-most cells and wish to fill those with a color. Whilst selecting the color, those cells preview the change I’m trying to make. However, when tapping anywhere else in the table, the change doesn’t seem to stick—and it changes back to ‘no fill’ again. Very frustrating, but I’m sure I’m missing something simple. 

Is this perhaps a bug? I’m also finding that Publisher frequently crashes as I keep going back to attempt changes to the fill and stroke colors.

[walt.farrell]

1 minute ago, Minus44 said:

Is this perhaps a bug? I’m also finding that Publisher frequently crashes as I keep going back to attempt changes to the fill and stroke colors.

Can you provide a screen recording so we can see what you're doing. Please make sure that you've enabled Show Touches in the application Settings.

 

[Minus44]

13 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Can you provide a screen recording so we can see what you're doing. Please make sure that you've enabled Show Touches in the application Settings.

 

Sure thing. Here you go. I hope this illustrates a bit more clearly what I’m seeing and doing. 

[Oufti]

18 minutes ago, Minus44 said:

I hope this illustrates a bit more clearly what I’m seeing and doing. 

I'm not used to the iPad interface but I find strange that the color well (circled in red) does not reflect the chosen color but remains with No fill.

[Minus44]

10 minutes ago, Oufti said:

I'm not used to the iPad interface but I find strange that the color well (circled in red) does not reflect the chosen color but remains with No fill.

I noticed the same thing. 

Oddly, if I switch away from the “Colors” tools (e.g., Color Wheel, HSL Sliders, RGB Sliders) and use the “Swatches” instead, the choice of fill color sticks. 🤔

This is not at all optimal. Swatches are OK, but if I need a more precise method for choosing my fill color, I need access to the “Colors” panel. 

I seem to recall this being an issue a longgg time ago, either early in AfPub2 or perhaps even earlier. 

[walt.farrell]

Thanks for the recording, @Minus44. I'm seeing the same behavior on my iPad, including your new discovery that using the Swatches tab within the Stroke/Fill dialog in the Tables panel maintains the color properly, but using the Color tab doesn't. That has to be a bug, and I can't find any existing threads that have reported it so it doesn't seem to be logged yet.

[Minus44]

2 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Thanks for the recording, @Minus44. I'm seeing the same behavior on my iPad, including your new discovery that using the Swatches tab within the Stroke/Fill dialog in the Tables panel maintains the color properly, but using the Color tab doesn't. That has to be a bug, and I can't find any existing threads that have reported it so it doesn't seem to be logged yet.

Thank you for testing it, @walt.farrell. 

Here is some info in case it helps with making a bug report:

Affinity Publisher Version: 2.6.3.3322 (App Store)
Operating System: iPadOS 18.5
iPad Pro (11-inch) (4th generation)

[walt.farrell]

46 minutes ago, Minus44 said:

Here is some info in case it helps with making a bug report:

Affinity Publisher Version: 2.6.3.3322 (App Store)
Operating System: iPadOS 18.5
iPad Pro (11-inch) (4th generation)

You could make a report in https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/129-v2-bugs-found-on-ipad/ or I could make one there, or you could wait until someone from Serif gets to this topic and logs it for you. If you make a report, you can refer to this topic, but I would suggest including your recording and the other information listed in the forum header (including what you just supplied here).

[Minus44]

On 6/15/2025 at 10:00 AM, walt.farrell said:

You could make a report in https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/129-v2-bugs-found-on-ipad/ or I could make one there, or you could wait until someone from Serif gets to this topic and logs it for you. If you make a report, you can refer to this topic, but I would suggest including your recording and the other information listed in the forum header (including what you just supplied here).

@walt.farrell thanks again for your help with this, as well as the motivation to report it in the proper bug sub-forum. I did so, and the staff has acknowledged and logged it as a bug. Hopefully it gets some attention in the near future.

[walt.farrell]

You're welcome, @Minus44, and thanks for reporting it.

[Affinity Rat]

On 6/9/2025 at 12:25 AM, Alfred said:

how to navigate the UI so that you can see them in the first place!

So why is when you click on a table, the table context menu doesnt show up?, when you click on a paint brush, the paint brush options appear! Inconsistent, UI.

[walt.farrell]

19 hours ago, Affinity Rat said:

So why is when you click on a table, the table context menu doesnt show up?, when you click on a paint brush, the paint brush options appear! Inconsistent, UI.

The Context Toolbar is associated with a Tool. So,

• If you click on the Paint Brush Tool, you get its Context Toolbar.
• If you click on the Table Tool, you should (similarly) get its Context Toolbar.

But if you click on a Table (not on the Tool), you should still have the Context Toolbar for your active Tool. You would only switch the Context Toolbar if clicking on a Table also caused a switch to the Table Tool. I'm away from my desktop right now, so I'm not sure how Publisher reacts there, but on the iPad selecting a Table does not automatically switch Tools.