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Aff.Des. Lock/unlock workarounds and tips


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Affinity Designer 1.6 (some tips also apply to Photo 1.6)

Since Affinity (Designer) is not the best tool when it comes to locking/unlocking objects and generally managing objects I have been searching and coming up with workarounds ever since I tried the Windows beta.

Here they are:

1) Selecting and editing a locked object directly on canvas using Outline mode:

+ does away with endless searching in the Layers panel
+ the operation does not affect other (strategically) locked objects ... unlike Unlock All
- doesn't work in case the object is hard/impossible to select in Outline mode (pixel image)
- more work required if you want to quickly edit several locked objects

AffinityD_Unlock_Outline_workaround.gif.b69973d64f83234d55aa6d62c054ae33.gif

AffinityD_Unlock_Outline_wrk-ar-limitation.gif.8406e45f038151bead702be491e45bed.gif

 


2) Selecting and editing a locked object directly (sort of) on canvas using Unlock All, Undo and focus in Layers panel (Preferences > User Interface > "Show selection in Layers panel" must be on):

+ does away with endless searching in the Layers panel
+ the operation does not affect other (strategically) locked objects
+ works for all objects
- is not quick or straightforward (could be improved if Designer had scripting, maybe AutoHotkey/AutoIt could be used)
- a lot of work required if you want to quickly edit several locked objects

AffinityD_UnlockAll_workaround.gif.aec86145b8a1c4a7265b3f05ebe03040.gif

... TIP: assign a keyboard shortcut to "Unlock All" for quicker operation


Serif Should really improve the UX of the Affinity apps as far as locking and managing of objects is concerned. These are just workarounds. There are some now ancient apps with much better UX than what we have today.

If you have any more "lock/unlock" or "show/hide" tips or workarounds, please share them.

 

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