Top/bottom from/to text on frames with flowed text

[daibhidh]

If there's a way to do this, please advise. I don't see it.

When text flows into additional frames, I would like to specify text for "to" and/or "from" pages. These variables would be associated with a block of text. The "to" text would appear at the bottom of a frame, the "from" text would appear at the top. Formatting for "to" and "from" text could be specified as default document-wide.

For example, the "to" text could be "See OWNER BITES DOG on page <topage>". The "from" text could then be "OWNER BITES DOG from page <frompage>". 

If a frame is moved to another page, page numbers would change accordingly.

For this purpose, a block of text could be specified as a named "story," and to/from text could be assigned to the story.

For newspapers and magazines, this is a must have.

[dominik]

13 hours ago, daibhidh said:

If there's a way to do this, please advise. I don't see it.

When text flows into additional frames, I would like to specify text for "to" and/or "from" pages. These variables would be associated with a block of text. The "to" text would appear at the bottom of a frame, the "from" text would appear at the top. Formatting for "to" and "from" text could be specified as default document-wide.

For example, the "to" text could be "See OWNER BITES DOG on page <topage>". The "from" text could then be "OWNER BITES DOG from page <frompage>". 

If a frame is moved to another page, page numbers would change accordingly.

For this purpose, a block of text could be specified as a named "story," and to/from text could be assigned to the story.

For newspapers and magazines, this is a must have.

Hello @daibhidh,

welcome to the forum.

I find this idea very interesting. I assume this is rather a feature that will (if at all) arrive in Affinity Publisher because that one is targeted at print layout while Affinity Designer is more targeted at illustration and design.

If you don't know there is a public beta version of Affinity Publisher over there to test and participate in bug hunting 

d.

[walt.farrell]

First, it sounds like you're talking about Publisher, unless Designer has linked text frames (which I've never seen).  In that case the Discussions and Suggestions for Affinity Publisher Beta on Desktop forum would have been a better place to post

Publisher does have linked text frames, and you can put your own text into a frame, such as

Quote

See OWNER BITES DOG on page <topage>

where, to get the <topage>, you would use Text > Insert > Fields > Next Frame Page Number. On the target frame you can insert text like

Quote

OWNER BITES DOG from page <frompage>

where, to get the <frompage> you would use Text > Insert > Fields > Previous Frame Page Number.

If you move the linked frames, the numbers will change automatically.

[daibhidh]

Thanks for the replies and apology for the misplaced post. I installed Affinity Publisher beta a few days ago, registered to comment yesterday, and somehow managed to put my first post in the wrong place. (No serious issues with Designer or Photo, they are just what I needed for my not-for-profit work in retirement!)

Inserting fields into the text isn't what I'm after, as text editing in one frame could change the position of the fields in every subsequent frame. I tried putting text and field into an unlinked text frame and then moving that frame into a linked frame as a subframe, but when I do that the text disappears.

I posted my suggestion in the correct forum.

[walt.farrell]

7 minutes ago, daibhidh said:

Inserting fields into the text isn't what I'm after, as text editing in one frame could change the position of the fields in every subsequent frame

Yes, it could. But ideally you would do your composition of the text separately from placing it into the publication, so that wouldn't happen very often.

[MikeW]

5 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Yes, it could. But ideally you would do your composition of the text separately from placing it into the publication, so that wouldn't happen very often.

It can happen quite frequently with magazines and newsletters. These publications, at least in a group environment, can be ever-changing during layout. Stories removed, added, or moved, edited for content, images swapped out, sizing of images (which affects text flow), etc.