Alignment markers not visible - request

[thetasig]

I am using a number of framed photos in a document. What I'm observing is, sometimes, when you are moving one frame, the nearby frames are "inactive", i.e., not showing the distance to/from, not showing a "centering" line, not snapping, etc.  The workaround (which slows down the workflow a lot) is, using the "Move Tool", is to click one or more nearby frames to make them "active" for a second and then go back to the frame you want to move and click it (only one frame selected) - then start dragging it. Then, the alignment markers (centering, distance, snap) appear as you move the frame near to other frames. I guess I'd characterize this as a "request" to make most objects "active" on a frame so they will automatically report centering, alignment, distance, etc.  This seems to be "worse" after there is a lot of editing of each frame going on (Replace Image, update linked file, add a text frame, etc.).

[MEB]

Hi thetasig,
You can set the behaviour for this in the Snapping Manager (menu View ▸ Snapping Manager...). Try the other options in the Candidates dropdown besides the Candidate List which is probably the one you have selected or increase the Maximum number allowed for snapping candidates in the Maximum input field right below the dropdown if you prefer to use the Candidate List option.

To learn more about snapping candidates check this video tutorial:  Snapping: Candidates (1.5) it's for Designer but works the same way in Publisher.
You may also cwant to check this one:  Snapping and Dynamic Guides (1.5).

[thetasig]

Thanks so much. This saves me much time having to click neighboring objects first. Suggestion - create tutorials about all of these details, or a user's manual would be oh so helpful. A lot of my ignorance in APUB is based on the non-availability of such training.

[fde101]

1 hour ago, thetasig said:

Suggestion - create tutorials about all of these details, or a user's manual would be oh so helpful.

This behavior originates from Designer and Photo and since there are some good tutorial videos for those (two of which @MEB pointed you to already) which largely apply to Publisher as well it might be worth going through a few of them to help understand how the basic Affinity suite features work.

Publisher has been changing so much during the beta it should not be surprising that Serif would be hesitant to spend a lot of time on creating similar videos until things have stabilized a bit more... though there are a few on the site that apply mostly to the earlier builds.

The online help is a work in progress and I suspect there may eventually be a nice "workbook" on the store like there are for the two existing products, but would not expect that last one immediately upon release.