Lock but edit

[Seneca]

I would like to be able to lock an object in place to prevent from accidental move and still be able to edit.

I'm thinking of being able to lock a text frame for example and still able to edit the text within it. Or being able to lock a box and still able to its colour.

[fde101]

Actually, the current "Lock" feature does allow you to edit content and attributes - you need to select the text box in the layers palette then switch to one of the text tools to edit (frame text tool or artistic text tool both work).

This is very similar to how the Lock Position function in QuarkXPress works, except that in Quark double-clicking on the box switches tools automatically even when the position is locked, which is not the case in Affinity Publisher (though that would be a good enhancement...)

 

It would be nice to have a separate "Lock Content" option, but that is probably less important than the ability to lock the position, which it offers right now.

[Seneca]

3 hours ago, fde101 said:

Actually, the current "Lock" feature does allow you to edit content and attributes

You are right! I swear I tried it before and it "didn't work". I work with inDesign and I find this feature invaluable. Obviously, for some strange an unexplained reasons I didn't realise that it was working already. Brilliant.

[Alfred]

4 hours ago, fde101 said:

This is very similar to how the Lock Position function in QuarkXPress works, except that in Quark double-clicking on the box switches tools automatically even when the position is locked, which is not the case in Affinity Publisher (though that would be a good enhancement...)

I’d like to see this, too. There are some scenarios where it would be convenient to be able to select a layer on the canvas instead of being forced to hunt for it in the Layers panel.

[Seneca]

Yes, it's too cumbersome to work with the locked layers at the moment.

InDesign and QuarkXpress offer better alternatives.

What I wold like to see is to be able to select a text frame, for example, and the layer pallette would automatically reflect the selection.

You could then switch to the text tool and make your changes.

Also, as suggested upstream, we should be able to double click the locked text box to start editing the text.

InDesign offers an option to Prevent Selection of Locked Objects, which I never enable. So all locked objects are selectable by default but still locked in place.

[xmsx]

I also would like to request a separate lock for movement only. It's definitely too easy to accidentally nudge an element without noticing it, yet locking it makes it harder to work with (ex: text layers).