Find & Replace Tool for Affinity Designer

[JDW]

4 minutes ago, BBG3 said:

Although Serif is a very small company, it is moving forward quickly. The company is young, and it needs time.

I worked with a small company name SoftPress (based in the UK) as an end user, and I can say that they implemented a lot of what I suggested.  That was many years ago though and has no bearing on what Serif does.  SoftPress and Serif are both UK companies, but their leadership is completely different.  I even visited Softpress offices twice in the past (again, many years ago), and working with those folks was great.

Now consider that I've been in this forum almost 10 years.  They have ignored many of the simple suggestions I've made over the years. (Totally opposite of how SoftPress treated suggestions.)  Some of those suggestions could have been coded over a weekend.  The sad fact is, this hasn't been done because Serif leadership only codes what THEY deem is best.  They couldn't care less what we think (as evidenced by their absence in their own forum), which is crazy because we are the users of their product who truly do define its future.

I refuse to buy Publisher only for a search feature that should appear in Affinity Designer.  The only thing their current "ploy" does is upset me more than I already am.  Their track record for listening to users and trying to make a true replacement for Adobe apps is abysmal.

Again, I directly challenge Serif Managing Director Ashley Hewson to prove me wrong through ACTIONS.  Be decisive.  Tell one of your top coders to implement a FIND command in Affinity Designer within the next 14 days.  Yes, it can be done.  Show us that Serif really does listen and act on what it hears.  That will have me warm up to Serif leadership REAL FAST.

Ashley Hewson, the ball is now in your court, sir.

 

 

[Catshill]

36 minutes ago, JDW said:

the ball is now in your court, sir.

It’s actually in yours.

[JDW]

3 minutes ago, Catshill said:

It’s actually in yours.

Remarks like that indicate you're shilling for more than just cats.

Through the years, Status Quo Worshippers in this forum have often tried to undermine my pointed words.  But none of their nonsense every pushed the apps forward.  It's nothing more than: "life's perfect now, so stop trying to get the powers that be to make it better!"

Sorry, but that will not deter me from speaking my mind in the least.

I simply cannot fathom people that don't want something to become better.  It makes ZERO SENSE.

[BBG3]

On 8/19/2024 at 1:36 AM, JDW said:

I've been in this forum almost 10 years.

You are a precious and loyal user, with no doubt. If I were the owner, I would give you all the other applications for free because of the valuable time you spent in this forum. Please consider the value of your time, which can be between $20 and $350 per hour; I don't know. No one is perfect, nor are there any applications. Find the tools that help you to reach your goals. The software companies each have their resource limitations and different goals and targets to achieve that may not align with ours.

Like any other forum, there are some valuable and non-mature members. I personally found many of the staff and members here are excellent, trying to help as much as they can as soon as possible. 

I hope my beliefs and thoughts will help you, my friend. ❤️

[meridian360]

On 8/19/2024 at 12:36 AM, JDW said:

I worked with a small company name SoftPress (based in the UK) as an end user, and I can say that they implemented a lot of what I suggested.  That was many years ago though and has no bearing on what Serif does.  SoftPress and Serif are both UK companies, but their leadership is completely different.  I even visited Softpress offices twice in the past (again, many years ago), and working with those folks was great.

Now consider that I've been in this forum almost 10 years.  They have ignored many of the simple suggestions I've made over the years. (Totally opposite of how SoftPress treated suggestions.)  Some of those suggestions could have been coded over a weekend.  The sad fact is, this hasn't been done because Serif leadership only codes what THEY deem is best.  They couldn't care less what we think (as evidenced by their absence in their own forum), which is crazy because we are the users of their product who truly do define its future.

I refuse to buy Publisher only for a search feature that should appear in Affinity Designer.  The only thing their current "ploy" does is upset me more than I already am.  Their track record for listening to users and trying to make a true replacement for Adobe apps is abysmal.

Again, I directly challenge Serif Managing Director Ashley Hewson to prove me wrong through ACTIONS.  Be decisive.  Tell one of your top coders to implement a FIND command in Affinity Designer within the next 14 days.  Yes, it can be done.  Show us that Serif really does listen and act on what it hears.  That will have me warm up to Serif leadership REAL FAST.

Ashley Hewson, the ball is now in your court, sir.

 

 

I'll echo much of this. For forums to be useful, we can't defend the indefensible. 

The Find and Replace is desperately needed in <DESIGNER>, not just Publisher. 

And and all the talk about moving text in and out of any app to do F/R is a red herring. For, if I were going to do honest-to-Betsy replacements, I'd use GREP in BBEdit. But that's for text in <prose> or long form. 

What about type in single word or short instance form? I make maps with <thousands> of labels. That stuff is imported into Designer from the GIS. Sometimes it takes hours to export, so I really don't want to mess with the data there and re-export. Moreover, you seriously expect me to copy and paste all of those into, (ahem) Publisher to change all the road labels from 'Road' to 'Rd'? -- Put simply, that's nonsense.   (Affinity apps don't remember layer structure when you copy and paste between files, let alone apps, so that's a big problem right off the bat. Then Publisher is usually made for books, not 60x60" sheet maps.) 

As to the coding things in short order, I've mentioned things in a user forum for said GIS app before. The head code guru, replied and within a day or two, there was a new nightly build with the feature included. This is no small program either. But the company listened. The app was made better for it. And I continue to buy their licenses for it. 

Affinity Designer and Publisher share the same code base, right? Why doesn't Designer have such a <basic> feature? 

[walt.farrell]

@meridian360: Usually there is no need to copy data from one application to the other. You have other choices: 

1. From Designer, File > Edit in Publisher, which transfers the complete file and lets you use the functions of Publisher. You can transfer it back to Designer later if you need to with File > Edit in Designer.

2. Or, often easier, just do all your work in Publisher, switching between the Designer Persona and the Publisher Persona if you need something one of them doesn't provide. If you own all three apps, then you have everything from Designer in Publisher to do your work, except for the Export Persona. So you could just do everything in Publisher, and if you need the Export Persona you can you File > Edit in Designer at that point.

 

[meridian360]

30 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

@meridian360: Usually there is no need to copy data from one application to the other. You have other choices: 

1. From Designer, File > Edit in Publisher, which transfers the complete file and lets you use the functions of Publisher. You can transfer it back to Designer later if you need to with File > Edit in Designer.

2. Or, often easier, just do all your work in Publisher, switching between the Designer Persona and the Publisher Persona if you need something one of them doesn't provide. If you own all three apps, then you have everything from Designer in Publisher to do your work, except for the Export Persona. So you could just do everything in Publisher, and if you need the Export Persona you can you File > Edit in Designer at that point.

 

This is the kind of post I'm talking about, Walt. I'm sorry. Not a personal attack, but pushing Publisher again is not helpful. It avoids the base issue entirely. There's a lot of us that are trying to ween ourselves from the subscription meanies and we <know> how things work, or at least should work. So, this goes for everyone, please have trust in fellow users that we have reasons for asking for features, especially basic features like Find and Replace Text. And we know saying to use Publisher is like telling someone to use InDesign to make a poster. It's just not how things are done. 

So, for me, I'm <not> ever going to use Publisher for making maps, ever. Period. Publisher is not intended for that, Designer is. 

Publisher doesn't have the tools that Designer does for <all the other> graphic tasks I need for my work.

But ok, let's try your suggestion, let's File> Edit in Publisher. ...

1. In Designer, my road labels are in a Layer named "Road Labels".    2. I do the command File> Edit in Publisher.. 3. The working file disappears from Designer (if you haven't saved it, it's just gone from Designer which is weird imo) 4. But there's the text objects in a properly sized document in Publisher, yeah. 5. BUT....the layer structure is just...gone. No layer, just nothing. Just the text objects without <any> layer structure. -- This is the same between two Designer documents, as well. 6. If I try to send it back to Designer, all that work to keep my file organized is lost. That's not going to work. 

So, no. I can't just use Publisher. A) lack of needed design tools, and B) trying to pop text in and out loses data structure that <I> use to get my work done. 

Easiest thing? Just. Add. Find-And-Replace. Text. to. Designer. Done! -- No switching. No personas. Let us work where <we> want to work and let us <work>. 

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, meridian360 said:

Publisher doesn't have the tools that Designer does for <all the other> graphic tasks I need for my work.

Examples, please?

1 hour ago, meridian360 said:

 3. The working file disappears from Designer (if you haven't saved it, it's just gone from Designer which is weird imo)

It has transferred to Publisher. It must disappear from Designer, as otherwise you have the same file open in both applications, and changes made in one would conflict with changes made in the other. But ideally you would do a Save or Save As before the Edit in... in case the transfer fails.

1 hour ago, meridian360 said:

5. BUT....the layer structure is just...gone. No layer, just nothing. Just the text objects without <any> layer structure.

The layer structure should be identical, and is in all the cases where I've done it.

If it's not, that is a topic for a Bug report. Please provide a sample document where this happens.

1 hour ago, meridian360 said:

6. If I try to send it back to Designer, all that work to keep my file organized is lost. That's not going to work. 

No, if this approach were to lose any of the data it would, of course, not work and I wouldn't recommend it. But it is not supposed to lose anything, and never has for me.

1 hour ago, meridian360 said:

Easiest thing? Just. Add. Find-And-Replace. Text. to. Designer. Done!

OK. And the next user wants text to flow between text frames. And the user after that wants automatic-hyphenation. And another wants columns in text frames. And another.... And it never stops.

Serif has positioned Publisher as the application with all the neat functions related to text handling, and my guess is they intend to leave the functions partitioned that way. (But only Serif knows, of course.)

[meridian360]

7 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Examples, please?

It has transferred to Publisher. It must disappear from Designer, as otherwise you have the same file open in both applications, and changes made in one would conflict with changes made in the other. But ideally you would do a Save or Save As before the Edit in... in case the transfer fails.

The layer structure should be identical, and is in all the cases where I've done it.

If it's not, that is a topic for a Bug report. Please provide a sample document where this happens.

No, if this approach were to lose any of the data it would, of course, not work and I wouldn't recommend it. But it is not supposed to lose anything, and never has for me.

OK. And the next user wants text to flow between text frames. And the user after that wants automatic-hyphenation. And another wants columns in text frames. And another.... And it never stops.

Serif has positioned Publisher as the application with all the neat functions related to text handling, and my guess is they intend to leave the functions partitioned that way. (But only Serif knows, of course.)

Walt, Designer is a Design app for layouts and such. Publisher is for publishing text. Same is it has been for decades. This is not reinventing the wheel. Just the fact at Affinity even has Publisher should tell you there is different tool sets. 

Create a file A in Designer. Create some objects, any objects. Create a Layer, rename it something unique. Move objects into that layer. Select all objects, Copy.

Make new Designer file B. Paste. Layers are gone. See attached screenshot from up-to-date version of Designer from seconds ago. 

Yes, all those things you listed are damn. good. ideas. Why not!!!?? Those are things used in posters, brochures, flyers...things with small amounts of TEXT. Just not books, and other BOUND or multi-paged <publications>. 

So stop second-guessing other users, please. Ok? I ask that in a most gentle way possible. Questioning our workflows is not a sincere way of coming at the software issue. Saying we should have 'thought of that sooner' is condescending and borderline rude. Some of us are hours into a work flow and find ourselves stuck without a solution and turning to other users for help. Maybe we missed a hidden function. Only to find Designer doesn't even offer Find and Replace Text. For me? To change hundreds of Road to Rd or Lane to Ln would mean changing raw data files (always a bad idea) and hours of exporting again. -- If I didn't mind paying Adobe big money each month, if I didn't want Affinity to succeed, I'd just keep using Illustrator and be done in half the time. - I'm here pushing Affinity to make their product work faster and better FOR ALL OF US. 

[walt.farrell]

16 minutes ago, meridian360 said:

Create a file A in Designer. Create some objects, any objects. Create a Layer, rename it something unique. Move objects into that layer. Select all objects, Copy.

Make new Designer file B. Paste. Layers are gone. See attached screenshot from up-to-date version of Designer from seconds ago. 

Sorry, but I don't see how that is related to File > Edit in Publisher. There is no copying of anything when doing that.

But for your issue of Paste giving different results after the copy, I think it's because you copied the objects, and didn't copy the Layer. If I do that, and copy the Layer, I get everything when I Paste, including the Layer with all the objects in it.

But again, that's not relevant to my suggestion of using File > Edit in Publisher.

21 minutes ago, meridian360 said:

Questioning our workflows is not a sincere way of coming at the software issue. Saying we should have 'thought of that sooner' is condescending and borderline rude. Some of us are hours into a work flow and find ourselves stuck without a solution and turning to other users for help. Maybe we missed a hidden function. Only to find Designer doesn't even offer Find and Replace Text. For me? To change hundreds of Road to Rd or Lane to Ln would mean changing raw data files (always a bad idea) and hours of exporting again. -

I am not saying you should have thought of anything sooner, and I certainly don't intend to be condescending or rude. My apologies if it comes across that way. 

I am saying that IF you own Publisher, then perhaps just don't think of it as DTP and for making books. You can, for example, create a document in Publisher that has an Artboard instead of having any Pages. And on that Artboard you can do all your design work just as though you were in Designer.

And IF you own Publisher, you can simply take your file that you currently have in Designer, and either open in Designer and use File > Edit in Publisher or simply Open it in Publisher, and continue working. Do all your Find & Replace operations. Save the file. Keep working in Publisher or transfer it back to Designer with File > Edit in Designer, or close it and Open it in Designer. 

It's all the same file format, and both applications can work on it equally well (though one at a time). No need to rework anything. No need to copy/paste. No need to change raw data files.

Just switch applications and do the work. You don't lose anything you've already made. You don't need to rework anything you've already made.

Now, if you don't own Publisher this does not help you immediately. But then you have some choices:

1. Struggle along using Designer until such time as it gets Find & Replace. Realistically, this may take a long time.
2. Switch to a different application suite entirely.
3. Buy Publisher (if you don't have it), and you can do what you want to do today, using your current file and with an application (Publisher) that will work almost exactly the same way as the application (Designer) you're using now, using the same file you're using now.

To me, using Publisher is the logical choice at this point. It has the functions, it works with the same files. It just takes a small change of mindset to avoid thinking that it's only for desktop publishing and making books. It is really Designer with additional capabilities, if you own all three applications. And one lost capability: the Export Persona. So for that you need to switch to the full Designer application. 

Yes, Publisher is marketed as being for DTP. But it's not limited to doing that.

[meridian360]

13 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Sorry, but I don't see how that is related to File > Edit in Publisher. There is no copying of anything when doing that.

But for your issue of Paste giving different results after the copy, I think it's because you copied the objects, and didn't copy the Layer. If I do that, and copy the Layer, I get everything when I Paste, including the Layer with all the objects in it.

But again, that's not relevant to my suggestion of using File > Edit in Publisher.

I am not saying you should have thought of anything sooner, and I certainly don't intend to be condescending or rude. My apologies if it comes across that way. 

I am saying that IF you own Publisher, then perhaps just don't think of it as DTP and for making books. You can, for example, create a document in Publisher that has an Artboard instead of having any Pages. And on that Artboard you can do all your design work just as though you were in Designer.

And IF you own Publisher, you can simply take your file that you currently have in Designer, and either open in Designer and use File > Edit in Publisher or simply Open it in Publisher, and continue working. Do all your Find & Replace operations. Save the file. Keep working in Publisher or transfer it back to Designer with File > Edit in Designer, or close it and Open it in Designer. 

It's all the same file format, and both applications can work on it equally well (though one at a time). No need to rework anything. No need to copy/paste. No need to change raw data files.

Just switch applications and do the work. You don't lose anything you've already made. You don't need to rework anything you've already made.

Now, if you don't own Publisher this does not help you immediately. But then you have some choices:

1. Struggle along using Designer until such time as it gets Find & Replace. Realistically, this may take a long time.
2. Switch to a different application suite entirely.
3. Buy Publisher (if you don't have it), and you can do what you want to do today, using your current file and with an application (Publisher) that will work almost exactly the same way as the application (Designer) you're using now, using the same file you're using now.

To me, using Publisher is the logical choice at this point. It has the functions, it works with the same files. It just takes a small change of mindset to avoid thinking that it's only for desktop publishing and making books. It is really Designer with additional capabilities, if you own all three applications. And one lost capability: the Export Persona. So for that you need to switch to the full Designer application. 

Yes, Publisher is marketed as being for DTP. But it's not limited to doing that.

I shouldn't have to right-click on separate layers to keep the structure. I shouldn't have to buy another app just to change basic text.

All that just to say... I have my content in DESIGNER and it doesn't have the tools to what I need. Leave it at that. This "why would you want to do that" attitude is what kills user forums. 

Good day. 

 

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, meridian360 said:

I shouldn't have to right-click on separate layers to keep the structure. I shouldn't have to buy another app just to change basic text.

Again, that is not related to what we're discussing, nor the recommendation I made. If it's a problem for you I would encourage you to post a separate topic about it so it doesn't get lost.

As it currently stands, you're right, Designer doesn't do what you want. 

[BBG3]

Hi @meridian360, I'm a designer like you, and I know it will be a pain to switch between apps. I don't get paid by Serif, but I made a video of the workflow of finding and replacing text for a person who has both the Designer and the Publisher. As you can see in my video, it doesn't take much time. Having said that, I still think the Designer needs a find-and-replace tool.

[JDW]

I'm going to step in, yet again, to defend sanity and meridian360 too.

While some users may appreciate all the effort spent on type out how to WORK AROUND the current LACK OF FUNCTIONALITY in Affinity Designer, it is illogical to remain complacent and not speak up by way of asking Serif to do the right thing and add a Find/Replace command in Designer.

The more than Affinity app fans focus on work arounds while at the same time remain 100% quiet about the need for a Find/Replace feature in Designer, the more likely it is that Serif will continue to do as they always do...

NOTHING.

I know full well from working with other software companies that getting new features added requires either a huge monetary investment (not from an individual, but from another company, and I was involved in that before), or by having a large and noticeable number of USERS voice their desire to have the said feature.

Talking about work-arounds does nothing to move feature development forward.  All it does is make the software developer happy that they don't need to worry about lifting a single finger to implement anything new.

I once again challenge Serif Managing Director Ashley Hewson to show us some action.  Implement Find/Replace in Affinity Designer ASAP.  Thanks.

@meridian360

Not sure which GIS app you used, but my daughter was an intern at ESRI HQ this summer, and I learned a lot about the internal workings of the company.  Beautiful campus, and some pretty incredible people there too. Unlike Serif, ESRI actually cares what their users think, and they act on input.

[walt.farrell]

@JDW: Thanks for your thoughts.

As you can probably tell, I have a different viewpoint. To me:

• Serif have made a careful decision to restrict Find/Replace to Publisher, as the application targeted to working with large amounts of text (in whatever form).
• They have also provided compatibility of file formats between the 3 applications, and made it easy to transfer work between them when the user needs the functions that are only present in a different application. A part of that is File > Edit in... and a part of it is the StudioLink function that gives you all of the Designer Persona functions in Publisher.
• And in one of his videos, perhaps the one where he announced Publisher when it first became available, Ash even referred to this design and functionality as the reason they chose the name Affinity in the first place.

So, to me personally, what I've suggested is not a workaround, but the carefully planned, implemented and intended way of working in the Affinity applications. Target each application at a specific purpose, giving it the main tools Serif think the user needs for that main purpose, but make it easy to switch among the applications when you need the functions of one of the others.

Of course, they may turn around tomorrow and surprise me and implement Find/Replace in Designer, too. I certainly won't complain if they do, and I would probably find a use for it sometime. But I truly believe that what I've suggested (transfer the file) is what Serif has intended from the very beginning as the best way of using these applications.

(Serif don't seem to believe in my approach of simply doing all the work in Publisher, but I also believe that's the best approach in many cases for owners of the compete application suite. Publisher makes a good environment for doing both the vector and raster work in that case, with the text functions thrown in for a bonus.)

 

[Dazmondo77]

I'm with Walt, although, I really don't understand all the app switching malarky when studiolink is such a workflow revelation - I do all my vector work, photo work and layout work all in Pub and only need to open Designer once, when there's an update, so pub can access all designers features (apart from export persona) and only use Photo for working with RAWs in develop and tone mapping personas and the occasional liquify, everything else is done in Publisher it's just great to have 95% of the full suites features and tools all in one app 

[MikeTO]

+1

I don't care if Designer ever has the full Find & Replace panel that Publisher has, I just want to be able to find a text object in a diagram with hundreds or thousands of text objects. I'd be happy if I could do plain text find and replace but that would be icing on the cake. I don't need wildcards, formatting, presets, GREP, or even a panel with a list.

Fortunately, the introduction of scripting will make this a non issue. Find and Replace will be one of the first scripts I write for Designer.

[GRAFKOM]

1 hour ago, MikeTO said:

Fortunately, the introduction of scripting will make this a non issue. Find and Replace will be one of the first scripts I write for Designer.

Do you really believe that scripts will be introduced to Affinity?

[MikeTO]

8 minutes ago, GRAFKOM said:

Do you really believe that scripts will be introduced to Affinity?

Serif has stated many times that it is in development and has shared updates and screen recordings. I believe them.

I have no inside knowledge but it's such a big feature that even if it were already done it might be delayed until the next paid upgrade.

[GarryP]

18 hours ago, GRAFKOM said:

Do you really believe that scripts will be introduced to Affinity?

See this post which is pinned to the top of the "Feedback for the Affinity V2 Suite of Products" section of the forums: