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Opening PagePlus files


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30 minutes ago, Diesel said:

for me, transition to Affinity Publisher is just the latest version

But Affinity Publisher clearly isn’t the latest version of PagePlus! It may be written by (some of) the same developers, but it has a different feature set and a completely new code base.

There’s no guarantee that a purpose-built converter for PagePlus Publication (*.ppp) files would work any better than the current PDF import, so developing such a utility would be a waste of valuable time and effort. Having said that, it would be extremely useful to be able to import WritePlus (*.stt) files so that we could easily import entire ‘stories’ with their formatting intact.

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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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OK, Alfred, yes I agree that clearly Publisher isn't just the next version, but do understand that having used PP from version 1,  switching over to Publisher was the natural thing to do, as if it were simply the new version...  I don't believe it couldn't have been done - and it would have been a great feature to support dedicated Serif users. I'm not a designer, so every file isn't new - I use this for business publications which are constantly updated. The problem I'm faced with right now is to put aside a lot of time to re-create my files or to hand it over to someone else to manage, in which case they are likley to re-write them all the Indesign. Hmmm, any comments anyone?

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Thanks, good comment - the fact is that I have continued using PagePlus but it is now old and unsupported and one day it's going to bust and leave me completely in the lurch. Clearly the way forward is to migrate the files over to Publisher...

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I recommend keeping the old files in Page Plus (it'll run fine for a number of years -- I know someone still running Ventura from 2005 on modern computers for professional work), and simply create all new files in Publisher if you feel you have to stay current -- this way, the issue sorts itself over time.

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  • 5 months later...

I no longer have PagePlus after having to reformat my PC, and don't have the serial for it, so I can't just download it again (it was quite an old version). If the work to create a 'proper' PagePlus to Affinity converter is too great, would it not be possible to create a very simple converter that is a basically a wrapper round a copy of PagePlus that exports to PDF and a copy of Affinity that imports the PDF and then saves as afpub?

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3 minutes ago, djeyewater said:

I no longer have PagePlus after having to reformat my PC, and don't have the serial for it, so I can't just download it again (it was quite an old version).

How old was it? You should be able to retrieve your product key by following these instructions. In case your version is too old for a direct download, the FAQ article includes a link to open a support ticket.

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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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  • 4 months later...

Having been thinking about moving on from Pageplus X8 for some time now, I find it utterly extraordinary that there is no PPP import function. I automatically assumed there would be and was about to shell out for the new software when I decided I ought to double check. I have used Pageplus since version 2 I think (it arrived on around 12 floppy discs). Looking on Wikipedia this is clearly a widespread concern that isn't limited to a few "awkward" users. I get that it is a completely new program and Serif is trying to move on but really? What incentive do I have to upgrade? I have over 8500 PPP files some of which have migrated from version 2 to 5 to 7 to 11 to X3 to X5 to X8. Is it really too much for a customer to ask to transfer files between the same company's similar software? I think it is utterly appalling and I will continue using X8 until it dies. Even a basic converter would be better than nothing - clearly the demand for it is out there judging by the sheer volume of discontent over the issue. Doesn't exactly breed brand loyalty really does it? Serif, please reconsider your refusal over this issue. Where there's a will, there's a way...

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On 11/21/2019 at 11:55 PM, Bunceyboy said:

Having been thinking about moving on from Pageplus X8 for some time now, I find it utterly extraordinary that there is no PPP import function. I automatically assumed there would be and was about to shell out for the new software when I decided I ought to double check. I have used Pageplus since version 2 I think (it arrived on around 12 floppy discs). Looking on Wikipedia this is clearly a widespread concern that isn't limited to a few "awkward" users. I get that it is a completely new program and Serif is trying to move on but really? What incentive do I have to upgrade? I have over 8500 PPP files some of which have migrated from version 2 to 5 to 7 to 11 to X3 to X5 to X8. Is it really too much for a customer to ask to transfer files between the same company's similar software? I think it is utterly appalling and I will continue using X8 until it dies. Even a basic converter would be better than nothing - clearly the demand for it is out there judging by the sheer volume of discontent over the issue. Doesn't exactly breed brand loyalty really does it? Serif, please reconsider your refusal over this issue. Where there's a will, there's a way...

Whilst Serif is essentially the same company, Affinity is a totally different concept from the previous line of products. None of the range of Affinity products is backwardly compatible for quite obvious coding reasons.  I also had a large number of Pageplus & Drawplus files and simply converted them to appropriate formats (PDF, SVG) so I could import them into the Affinity products. Serif isn't the only company that has been through a similar change in product architecture that has resulted in their having to abandon backwards compatibility. I also recognise that I no longer have any use for the majority of the documents I created in the past and if I'm simply retaining them for archival purposes then keeping a pdf version of a PPP document is absolutely fine for me especially knowing that I can always import it into APub and work on it. When Pass through is eventually sorted that should make the process even easier.

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On 1/24/2019 at 3:05 PM, Jens Krebs said:

Why don't you continue using PagePlus?

I get the feeling the key people behind PP are no longer with the business. 

An alternative (and better option) might be to create an export from PP (rather than an import into Publisher) - either way, its unlikely. I ended up importing PDFs into publisher, which was not ideal, but after a few weeks, i got all the documents cleaned up.

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1 hour ago, magicdesign__ said:

get the feeling the key people behind PP are no longer with the business. 

Kind of correct — Serif as a company has moved on to the Affinity range and PP is not developed / updated any more. No reason, not to use the software if you like it and it does what you want it to do, as long as your computer runs it, though.

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22 hours ago, Jens Krebs said:

Kind of correct — Serif as a company has moved on to the Affinity range and PP is not developed / updated any more. No reason, not to use the software if you like it and it does what you want it to do, as long as your computer runs it, though.

Yes - clearly they have move on to the affinity range. 

My point was that the bigger reason behind that was because the brains behind PP left for pastures new.

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