Layer "decoration" - what's this for?

[GaryLearnTech]

Due to a corrupted file, I've reverted to a previous version (last worked on using v1.7.0.140) and observed something I don't recall seeing before.  There's a red striped "decoration" down the left edge of many of the layers (text frames, shapes, curves) in the Layers panel.  Where this exists on a group, it is present on each sub-layer when the group is expanded.  This is a Master page which is, initially not applied to any document pages.  After applying the master to a document page, the red stripes change to a solid red line which is now present on every layer.

Looking back to previous versions of this same file, those lines are present there too.  It's the sort of thing I'd like to think I'd notice and I don't recall spotting them before.  Makes me think this has arrived with 1.7.0.145…

I can't find any reference in either the Layers section of the manual or the Layer Panel page in the Help.  I also did a quick search across the forum and drew a blank.  Can anyone explain what these stripes signify?

[Old Bruce]

My initial reaction was Symbols but they aren't Dashed lines, all the Master Page Elements have a solid line as do the Symbols. The Master Page Layer shows a graded line faint at the top and thick at the bottom. Those dashed lines are a mystery.

[Tom Schülke]

I am not exactly sure anymore.. 

But arent´t those symbols able to copy  Features of an object to other symbols, but when you "desynchoronise" those symbols, you can change special Features, while others stay the same.

for example you could position a rectangle on the masterpage, which gets copied as with symbols to the pages, the masterpage is aplied to..  now you can desynchronise the symbol , change for example the x scale of the rectangle, synchronise the symbol again, and you are still able to change the color of the rectangle on the master page and the color changes on the page too, even when the x scale has changed...

I think those dotted line might indicate something like this ?  But just guessing...

 

[MEB]

Hi GaryLearnTech,
These are symbols which have a few attributes unlinked. This means some of its properties/attributes are not being synchronised with the original symbol anymore, while others still remain linked. This is achieved trough the Symbols panel where you can turn Sync off for one (or more) of the instances, make some change to it (change the fill colour for example) and then enable sync again. The solid orange line will become a dashed one to let you now that a few attributes have been unlinked. If you then change/update the attributes of the original symbol, that instance will reflect all changes made to the original except the attributes you have changed yourself on that instance with sync off.

To know which attributes you have unlinked in a symbol, mouse over its layer's label a few seconds in the Layers panel - a tooltip will appear with the unlinked attributes listed.

[GaryLearnTech]

Thanks @Old Bruce and @Tom Schülke for your responses and especially to @MEB for the definitive response.

Here's the thing though - symbols are something I've not used yet.  (Had them listed as something to look at, but nothing further.  I don't think I'd even opened the Symbols panel yet.)  I've slightly simplified the file, removing a couple of elements with phone numbers, etc, but the oddity remains.  Maybe a bug?

I've attached a screenshot of the empty Symbols panel and the fully expanded Layers panel side-by-side, as well as the simplified version of the document.  The affected page is the master page called "01 Front Cover".  (NB this was my first project that I was tinkering with.  I've realised that my design approach was wrong, so am recreating it from scratch.  The attached file is basically a development dead-end for me.)

template (1.7.0.58-140) 02 copy 9 (for submission).afpub

[walt.farrell]

Master Pages are based on Symbol technology, somehow, under the covers. So, have you been doing anything to the content of your Master Pages via the Layers panel, or playing any games with the layers that your document pages are inheriting from an applied Master Page?

[GaryLearnTech]

Hi @walt.farrell - I can see the similarity between the two technologies, but I don't think this is down to anything funky that I've been tinkering with.  I was approaching this project (a template document) from the point of view of preparing the master pages first.  There's only a single blank document page which, if I remember correctly, might have had a master page briefly applied - but then removed again.  Most of my work had been going into setting up various styles for the different pages, to recreate the original design.

As I said before, when I can find the time to work on it, I've restarted this little project of mine from scratch (probably just using a single master page in this one, rather than the several redundant ones in the first attempt) so this is more of an academic curiosity for me.

[Jordy Meow]

Hi guys,

I am new here :) I am getting those red lines as well, and can't find any documentation about what it is. On this thread, I can see that they are used by the elements which are linked/synchronized but I never did that, and I have no idea how it happened. I have also looked for the "Symbol" panel and I can't find it, I have the feeling that it was changed and it's not under this name anymore. I would love to know what this all is. Thanks :)

[dominik]

10 minutes ago, Jordy Meow said:

Hi guys,

I am new here I am getting those red lines as well, and can't find any documentation about what it is. On this thread, I can see that they are used by the elements which are linked/synchronized but I never did that, and I have no idea how it happened. I have also looked for the "Symbol" panel and I can't find it, I have the feeling that it was changed and it's not under this name anymore. I would love to know what this all is. Thanks

Hello @Jordy Meow,

welcome to the forum.

If you placed a text frame on a master page and then edit the frame's content on a publication page in 'detached' mode the orange lines turn into dashed lines. This is to indicate that the frame is part of the master page but was locally changed.

Search the help for 'Master pages' and half way down the page you find under 'Master pages as layers':
'Any master page elements edited on your publication page will show dashed orange markers on their layer entry.'

Does this apply to your document and your question?

d.

[Jordy Meow]

Indeed, it's that :) Thank you so much! I got a bit lost, looking for that Symbols panel, which seems not to be existing anymore.

[dominik]

5 hours ago, Jordy Meow said:

Indeed, it's that Thank you so much! I got a bit lost, looking for that Symbols panel, which seems not to be existing anymore.

Glad this helped.

If you switch to APub's Designer Persona you find the symbols panel under 'View > Studio > Symbols'. This is due the fact that symbols are considered a AD feature.

d.