my tool bar disappeared

[Shell]

My tool bar has disappeared on affinity photo - how do I get it back .

I am on a mac power book.

I am also a complete beginner!

 

[Callum]

Hi Shell,

Welcome to the forums

Please could you try going to View > Show Tools this should bring your tool bar back!

Thanks

C

[MEB]

Hi Shell,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
I'm not sure to what toolbar you are referring here:

• If the tools on the left go to menu View and make sure Show Tools is ticked
• for the I main toolbar on top go to menu View ▸ Show Toolbar.
• for the context toolbar (the toolbar right above the work area which changes according tot the tool selected go to menu View ▸ Show Context Toolbar

EDIT: Callum was faster...

[Shell]

I did and I got my tools - I chose the tool I wanted and dropped it into the main left side column ...all ok 

but then the full tool display takes up too much space on the screen - so I closed (show tools) and it all disappeared again.

How do I have the main tools on the left and enough space to work on my page ?

[MEB]

You can set the number of columns for the left toolbar on the bottom of the Customise Tools panel. Not sure I've addressed your issue properly. So make sure Show Tools is ticked, then go to menu View ▸ Customise Tools... and set the Number of Columns on bottom to the value you want.

 

[Shell]

show tool bar is clicked on ...but no tools are showing

the show dock tools is clicked on but is lighter in shade

i went to customise tools panel and I cant see anything that allows me to customise columns  

[Shell]

Ok - I got my tool bar back .Thank you

Can you tell me how to hide the library ...it takes up too much space on the screen and I dont know what it is for anyway.

[MEB]

Library? I believe you mean a panel? You can enable/disable panels through menu View ▸ Studio and ticking/un-ticking the respective panel's name.

[Shell]

Could you send me any links on how to use the text tool in Affinity photo .

I cant find anything on line specific to that.

I am tring to make a customised blog page 

[MEB]

Hi Shell,
You can find all info about the text tools in Affinity Photo's Help topics. Click this link (online Help), then expand the Text topic on the list on the left. All info/subtopics about text are accessible through there. Note that Affinity doesn't export any code. You can only use it to design the pages visually and export images/elements from the design.

[Shell]

Thank you - I am on the help page now.

Can I ask you : I am using affinity to design my word press website, and to do that I am preparing various headlines for the blog pages.

so its mainly text but also the occasional logo . When I start a new file in Affinity what would be the best ( get off on the right foot ) settings

should I choose the preset web page ? 

 

[MEB]

Hi Shell,
As noted above Affinity apps are not able to export webpages/code so you can't use them to design and export a fully functional website. They can only be used to design/create the graphic assets that will be used on the website no matter if you are using Wordpress or any other system to build it. When you select the Web preset you are simply specifying the document size, units and colour format/profile you will be using when working in Affinity. It has no relation with your Wordpress website dimensions unless you are designing the whole website visually in Affinity to help/guide who will code it later in a web development software (or by hand).

[Shell]

No exactly - I am only pre-preparing images, graphic elements and titles in jpeg format, which I can then upload onto my blog - I am definitely not creating my website on Affinity.

I have chosen a basic free website from the WP library and I just want to add a few design elements to make it my own - like a logo etc.

 I am a total beginner so just need  informed advice on what are simple basics for a website - for example, I know heavy images can slow down a website - I dont even know what a good image size is ok for a web page ??? Really basic stuff.

So what I was asking is e.g I want to create a piece of text which says "OUT NOW "or "JUST RELEASED" I want a nice font and a colour - I thought I could create something with artistic text - make it a Jpeg and then upload to my website. So when I select new file, it gives me a set of choices, do I just go with the web page preset ? 

[MEB]

Ok. In that case select the Web preset and design/draw the headers and graphic elements you want on canvas. Group the layers that belong to the same asset. Then with the group selected go to File ▸ Export..., select the format you want (usually JPG or PNG) and change the Area dropdown on bottom to Selection with (or without) background depending if you want a transparent background or not. Note that for images/elements you want to have a transparent background you must select PNG - JPG's don't support transparency.

If you prefer to export several groups at once rather than go to File ▸ Export for each one, one at a time, you can use the Export Persona. Create a slice for each group in the Layers panel in Export Persona (there's a Create Slice button on the bottom left in the Layers panel there) then switch to the Slices panel, select the slice you created and pick the desired export options for it on the Export Options panel above (on the top right of the interface). Do this for all slice then press the Export Slices button on the bottom right of the Slices panel.

For detailed information on Exporting and the Export Persona check the following video tutorials. They were created for Affinity Designer but they work the exact same way in Affinity Photo:

• Exporting
• Exporting: Layers
• Exporting: Slices
• Exporting: Continuous
• Exporting: Automatic Directory/Folder Creation
• Exporting: Multiple Outputs from a Single Slice
• Exporting: Transparent and Coloured Backgrounds

[Shell]

I will look at all you suggest ....but it looks more advanced than were I am at - but I will try.

One thing I cant get my head around is sizes - that is, if I want to pre create my blog page with a title and a few paragraphs and maybe an image , (very simple).

I design all the elements on different layers and then group them > save as a jpeg or PNG and then upload to my blog post...how big will it look on the blog post ????

how can I make sure its readable - not too small or too big - how do I control that ?

[Shell]

Is there such a thing as snap-to-canvas in Affinity ? I have looked in the magnet tool bar - but I cant see a snap-to-canvas there.

I have imported a pdf with a template of a circular label. I make a circle to match the underneath circle ( as that is the size I need)

but when I print it off in order to check the dimensions - its too small.

[frankDIZON]

HI.. I still have this massive problem of not seeing the basic tools on the lest pane of my screen. I tried all of the solutions, but I cannot see it. HELP!

[MEB]

Hi frankDIZON,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
I'm not sure i understood you. Do you mean the left toolbar is missing or that you cannot see all the tools in the left toolbar because the screen height is too small to display them all?

[Tim Moerman]

My toolbar disappeared (Affinity Photo) and I can't get it back.

Went to the View window, it shows that "Show Toolbar" is clicked on. However none of the tools is visible, at all. This has happened a lot before. However, a new twist: the "other" toolbar (the one that usually, for instance, lets you set the tolerance and contiguous options for e.g. the magic wand) itself has no features on it. It's just a gray rectangle with one little "double arrow brackety thing" on it.

Tried logging out and logging back in. Same result.