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The Help within the app is pretty comprehensive, and you can also view and search it online.

https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/index.html

The workbook is a collection of project-based tutorials, so it’s neither a manual nor a substitute for one.

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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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5 hours ago, Cath said:

Can't find 99 x undo icon on the toolbar

Can't import serif page plus 9 files as promised when I upgraded from 8.

Is there going to be a word search as well as topics

A manual would be good

Which program are you asking about?  Serif have been at pains to point out that Affinity Publisher isn't an upgrade from PagePlus, and a word search is already there. 

AP, AD & APub user, running Win10

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On windows, while in Affinity Photo/Designer, press F1 and the digital manual will open.

αℓƒяє∂ added the link to the online version of the manual for Affinity Photo.
The equivalent for Affinity Designer would be this one;
https://affinity.help/designer/English.lproj/index.html

Edit; there is also a PDF version available made by ve2cjw.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/d3uxmmypdx9ruzw/Affinity Photo Manual.pdf?dl=0
 

 

Edited by myclay
added PDF link

Sketchbook (with Affinity Suite usage) | timurariman.com | gumroad.com/myclay
Windows 11 Pro - 22H2 | Ryzen 5800X3D | RTX 3090 - 24GB | 128GB |
Main SSD with 1TB | SSD 4TB | PCIe SSD 256GB (configured as Scratch disk) |

 

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  • 8 months later...

Hi - I have tried to use your manual to select and move an object in an image. It is a bird in flight against a blue sky. I selected the blue sky using the flood select tool and then inverted the selection so that the bird itself is selected. After feathering the selection I then moved it using the free Hand Selection tool as you suggested (why you can't simply use the move tool on it's own is a mystery - I'd never have worked this out without your manual). An 'empty' shape of the bird does move, but it is simply an empty shape surrounded by 'marching ants'. The original bird remains in it's original position. I can only compare this to photoshop, where I select in exactly the same way and when I move it, the selection actually moves, leaving a 'hole' where it used to be. This I found simple and in fact I could then drag the selection to another image if need be. I'm currently evaluating Affinity Photo as a replacement to Photoshop and am finding this function a little bit frustrating! Can you advise - I assume I'm doing something wrong........

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1 hour ago, BC15 said:

Hi - I have tried to use your manual to select and move an object in an image. It is a bird in flight against a blue sky. I selected the blue sky using the flood select tool and then inverted the selection so that the bird itself is selected. After feathering the selection I then moved it using the free Hand Selection tool as you suggested (why you can't simply use the move tool on it's own is a mystery - I'd never have worked this out without your manual). An 'empty' shape of the bird does move, but it is simply an empty shape surrounded by 'marching ants'. The original bird remains in it's original position. I can only compare this to photoshop, where I select in exactly the same way and when I move it, the selection actually moves, leaving a 'hole' where it used to be. This I found simple and in fact I could then drag the selection to another image if need be. I'm currently evaluating Affinity Photo as a replacement to Photoshop and am finding this function a little bit frustrating! Can you advise - I assume I'm doing something wrong........

You need to distinguish between moving the selection (the marching ants marquee), which you can do with the FreeHand Selection Tool, and moving the contents of the selection, which you would do with the Move Tool. But note that if you're working on your background layer, it is locked by default. You would have to unlock that layer, or duplicate it, before you can move the contents of the selection.

You should also check that you're working on a layer shown as a (Pixel) layer in the Layers panel, not one shown as an (Image) layer. In the latter case you would need to rasterize the layer before operating on its pixels.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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On 10/29/2018 at 8:36 PM, myclay said:

Edit; there is also a PDF version available made by ve2cjw. 

Any idea where to get a PDF of the Help for Designer and Publisher, too?

I find it hard to navigate for details with their whole context in the project-related workbook; it appears more like an eye catcher for first impression than a handy reference to me.

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

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9 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Any idea where to get a PDF of the Help for Designer and Publisher, too?

I find it hard to navigate for details with their whole context in the project-related workbook; it appears more like an eye catcher for first impression than a handy reference to me.

The Workbooks are not intended as reference manuals. They are teaching aids.

I'm not sure anyone has made PDF versions for Designer or Publisher, but you could create your own from the HTML files installed with your Affinity product, as the user who created the PDF for Photo did.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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On 10/29/2018 at 6:50 AM, Alfred said:

The Help within the app is pretty comprehensive, and you can also view and search it online.

https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/index.html

The workbook is a collection of project-based tutorials, so it’s neither a manual nor a substitute for one.

file copyrighted?  Downloadable on IPad Pro? Thank you.

Cecil 

iMac Retina 5K, 27”, 2019. 3.6 GHz Intel Core 9, 40 GB Memory DDR4, Radeon Pro 580X 8 GB, macOS,iPad Pro iPadOS

 

Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection 

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6 minutes ago, Cecil said:

file copyrighted?  Downloadable on IPad Pro? Thank you.

I'm not sure what you're asking, in the context of the post you quoted, Cecil.

Yes, the Affinity Help files are copyrighted. But the link that Alfred posted is to Serif's online version of the Help files.

If you were referring to the PDF made from the earlier Help files by an Affinity user, Serif has never objected publicly (that I have seen) to the distribution of that PDF.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

I'm not sure what you're asking, in the context of the post you quoted, Cecil.

Yes, the Affinity Help files are copyrighted. But the link that Alfred posted is to Serif's online version of the Help files.

If you were referring to the PDF made from the earlier Help files by an Affinity user, Serif has never objected publicly (that I have seen) to the distribution of that PDF.

I apologize that I was not clear in my post.  I was referring to the PDF link.  As Affinity has not objected, I tried many methods to download to IPad; however, each method (local storage, iCloud, save PDF to Apple Books) saved only the first page.  I did bookmark link.  Thank you.

Cecil 

iMac Retina 5K, 27”, 2019. 3.6 GHz Intel Core 9, 40 GB Memory DDR4, Radeon Pro 580X 8 GB, macOS,iPad Pro iPadOS

 

Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection 

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3 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

you could create your own from the HTML files installed with your Affinity product, as the user who created the PDF for Photo did.

Any idea how to get there? I tried with Acrobat Web Capture from a local copy of the help inside the app package – but Acrobat didn't pick the images.

The Photo Help PDF info tells to be created with Microsoft Word 2007. My Word opens the single index.html – but does not collect all other pages.

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

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Well for Word 2007 you would probably have to copy/paste all the HTML contents (from all HTML files) into one word file and at the end export/generate from the whole a PDF file. - Instead you can try some tools like ...

 

☛ Affinity Designer 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Photo 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 ◆ OSX El Capitan
☛ Affinity V2.3 apps ◆ MacOS Sonoma 14.2 ◆ iPad OS 17.2

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On 10/29/2018 at 3:36 PM, myclay said:

On windows, while in Affinity Photo/Designer, press F1 and the digital manual will open.

αℓƒяє∂ added the link to the online version of the manual for Affinity Photo.
The equivalent for Affinity Designer would be this one;
https://affinity.help/designer/English.lproj/index.html

Edit; there is also a PDF version available made by ve2cjw.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/d3uxmmypdx9ruzw/Affinity Photo Manual.pdf?dl=0
 

 

I just clicked on Dropbox link, you may have to copy and paste, was directed to Dropbox, clicked on PDF, clicked on upper right three dots, 

option to download, I selected iBooks and it downloaded.

Cecil 

iMac Retina 5K, 27”, 2019. 3.6 GHz Intel Core 9, 40 GB Memory DDR4, Radeon Pro 580X 8 GB, macOS,iPad Pro iPadOS

 

Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection 

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  • 1 year later...

I'm addressing the opening question of why there is no user MANUAL for Affinity Photo.

I've had in my possession several 'work books' and returned them all; mostly because I'm not interested in 'lessons,' but also because of crummy screen shots (I'm much more visually oriented than text oriented) in either size (unreadable) or quality. Videos DEFINITELY don't make the cut as a reference tool except for the MOST basic of operations.

I, and apparently a good number of others, are looking for an actual manual with a detailed index. I do not want to work through exercises and then when I come to  a question of a technique I need to use I have to remember  which lesson out of witch book utilized that technique.

Thank you.

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As mentioned above, the Help which is supplied with the applications - and the online copies of such - can be considered to be the 'user manual'.
While the Help is pretty good for getting an idea of what the applications can do, there are some areas where it is not comprehensive and could be improved.
In these instances, posting a well-worded question - with visual aids where it would help - in the forums can usually get you the answer you need, and the answer you get will probably be tailored to your specific needs, which is something a user manual cannot be expected to do.

General Note: The Affinity applications are updated so often that a printed version would be (at least in part) out-of-date by the time it was printed, so the Help is one of the best places to start looking for up-to-date reference material.

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I understand and I can also understand your 'General Note,' but are updates to such a huge degree that a 'basic' manual would ever be out of date? Updates that would be so profound that the user (that would be me) would make re-learning the basics a real chore.

As an example, it took me a very long time to understand, at least to some degree, the concept of 'nesting,' which in Affinity Photo is a very basic operation. I don't want to sound like an ungrateful pain because I really like AP, but just as with electronic products there is a 'manual,' usually as a PDF for economy, and which no one bothers with, there is usually also a 'quick start' just to get the user up and running.

Anyhow, I thank you for the opportunity to throw in my two cents.

Dave

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  • 2 weeks later...

So pleased to read from other posts, that I am not the only person desperate to have a AFPUB manual/hand book like the companion ones for photo and design. Something I can study in bed!! 

I do like a challenge but after a session with Publisher I usually find myself returning to SerifPPX9 for my documents - never had much of a problem with that and I have been using Serif products for more years than I can remember. And there was once technical help at the end of a phone!!

Wondering what newcomers will use now? Rather like learning to read with the Encyclopedia Britannica! 

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Actually Affinity Community is pretty good. Not as 'mysterious' as most communities. The only problem when asking for help is using terminology and sentence structure, i.e., how to pose a question.  Most of my learning is through trial and lots and lots of errors. Fun project while enduring COVID. (FUN? Not so sure about that!)

RE: A manual. I don't see the problem with a simple manual addressing the most basic operations. I would hope that basic operations remain unchanged. An example: In the very beginning it took me quite a while to learn that to SAVE an image you EXPORT it. I'm still learning LAYERS. It took me a long time to figure out how to modify a SELECTED part of an image. Simple. You turn the SELECTION into a separate LAYER. Picked that up off the Internet.

These very basic, simple operations could be explained (with decent screenshots) easily in a 20 page user's manual. I can almost guarantee that these very basic operation would not be subject to editing by Affinity Photo.

Thank you.

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  • 5 months later...

I got so frustrated with Affinity Photo that I use it only with very specific applications. Yeah there's a LOT of Affinity Photo vids on YouTube and yeah, if you pour through the various Affinity Photo workbook 'projects" (and remember where you saw a particular application) and have the time a patience to plow though ... I bought Photoshop Elements as it's much logical, at least to me.

There is absolutely NO excuse (other than profits) that Affinity Photo cannot SELL (and make money!) a brief manual of the very basics. The excuse that Affinity Photo evolves so often that it's impossible to have a manual is horse pucky! The basics don't change.

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I rarely use the help within the application and when I do, I typically remember why that is.

 I also understand the conflict between a continually updated product and a printed manual. An official pdf manual though would be appreciated however.

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@towelhead and @DaveS 71 I suggest that you check out some very useful official information on the basics of Photo, Designer, and Publisher that is posted here and readily available on the forums.  It is a little hard to find, but there nevertheless.  Go up to the top of the Forum page, click on the word “Affinity” then click on “Spotlight.”  You will open a vast resource of official Affinity articles.  Scroll down to the section titled “Learning” and click on that.  More very useful “how to” articles.  Then scroll to “Top Learning Articles for Affinity Newcomers” and you will find — among other things — three specific articles:  “Jump Into Affinity Publisher,” “Jump Into Affinity Designer,” and “Jump into Affinity Photo.”   All are very helpful and very easy to understand.  NOT a “stinking pile” of anything.  Hopefully Spotlight will help you on your way.


24" iMAC Apple M1 chip, 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16 GB unified memory, 1 TB SSD storage, Ventura 13.6.  Photo, Publisher, Designer 1.10.5, and 2.3.
MacBook Pro 13" 2020, Apple M1 chip, 16GB unified memory, 256GB  SSD storage
,  Ventura 13.6.   Publisher, Photo, Designer 1.10.5, and 2.1.1.  
 iPad Pro 12.9 2020 (4th Gen. IOS 16.6.1); Apple pencil.  
Wired and bluetooth mice and keyboards.9_9

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