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importing PagePlus files into Affinity


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Hi oldwestern,

Welcome to Affinity Forums.

PagePlus (.ppp) files are an old/legacy format and aren't supported directly by Affinity products.

You can export PagePlus projects as PDF or SVG and they should be imported without much loss into Affinity apps.

 

 

As you will be well aware, neither of those "import" files are vaguely intelligent file formats.  It's nearly as much use as defaulting to the  import of a *.txt file into a modern word processor - marginally better than copy-typing, but all the formatting and typography has been lost.

 

As Serif now classify PagePlus as "legacy" and are apparently no-longer updating even X9, the product and its *.ppp format can have very little commercial value to them.

 

As you are clearly simply abandoning your loyal old users, how about releasing the *.ppp file format documentation to the Serif community so that a community effort can have a stab at developing an "intelligent" xml parsing routine for an open source alternative like Scribus?

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Casper, while it would benefit X number of users who desire to transfer PP native files to an Affinity application, it would make more sense for the transfer to be to Affinity Publisher. 

 

The use of PDFs is just fine for the current line-up of Affinity Designer for the types of publications/documents AD is capable of making. PDFs for short work such as pamphlets, brochures, fliers, posters, etc., generally open in a vector design application fine.

 

Here's the thing for me. I generally simply stop using the former application and use the new application for current and new work. I have seldom needed to move native files from a layout application into a different layout application. I maintain the former application (e.g., PagePlus) to easily edit work that was done in it. I use another application (e.g., InDesign or QuarkXPress) for new work for a particular client. If and when the time comes that I need to move a now-defunct file format (e.g., Ventura Publisher) into a new application, I open the former application, move the text into the new application, note the images used and with the applications open side-by-side, re-layout the new format. I have done this for a series of technical manuals and the process works just fine.

 

All that said, in the last few years I have moved a number of publications from InDesign to QuarkXPress. And having access to a plug-in to facilitate a large number of documents from one to the other application was a boon. But even with these plug-ins, it was a painless experience and much work had to be redone (foot/end notes, running header/footer variables, indexes, TOCs, hyperlinks where needed, etc.). It was quicker that the above method of side-by-side, but it wasn't a whole lot faster.

 

Mike

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Not knowing much about MAC software, I can only surmise that, as there are freeware plug-ins available, such as XTensions, the relevant MAC XML file formats must be available.  

 

I believe that Adobe released a complete specification of the XML version of their IDML format, so "community" effort has gone into developing translators.  What is needed here is for Serif to follow suit and to release the XML spec for the *.ppp format - and even offer an "in-kind" reward for anyone who writes them an Affinity Publisher translator/importer for *.ppp.  

 

I know the Scribus community is working on a *.ppp importer, so there are people out there with the skills required - all that's needed is for Serif to prime the pump with their XML specification?

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Serif now classify PagePlus as "legacy" and are apparently no-longer updating even X9

 

A second patch for PPX9 has been promised, but it's unlikely to be released before the end of this year.

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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Not knowing much about MAC software, I can only surmise that, as there are freeware plug-ins available, such as XTensions, the relevant MAC XML file formats must be available.

You seem to be assuming that the *.ppp format & the Affinity native formats both have internal structures enough like XML that it would be possible & practical to write a plug-in or some such to import the former into the latter.

 

I have no idea if this is true, but I do know the Affinity developers have said the details of the Affinity native file formats are considered proprietary information, so I suspect we will never know if it is.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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You seem to be assuming that the *.ppp format & the Affinity native formats both have internal structures enough like XML that it would be possible & practical to write a plug-in or some such to import the former into the latter.

 

I have no idea if this is true, but I do know the Affinity developers have said the details of the Affinity native file formats are considered proprietary information, so I suspect we will never know if it is.

 

PagePlus files are in the main XML files in a ZIP container. But it is a complex structure of XML. In short, it is much like a database.

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I can understand that Serif file formats are propriety & have (had?) commercial value to them, but as they have declared PagePlus obsolescent and have no commercial intention to support it with an Affinity importer, where would be the commercial/propriety loss in releasing the *.ppp format to let the wider community develop a translator? 

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I can understand that Serif file formats are propriety & have (had?) commercial value to them, but as they have declared PagePlus obsolescent and have no commercial intention to support it with an Affinity importer, where would be the commercial/propriety loss in releasing the *.ppp format to let the wider community develop a translator? 

There is no way to know how much of that format is still of value to Serif. For example, it may include some proprietary techniques that are also used in the Affinity format.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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