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Where can I get a manual for Publisher?


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12 minutes ago, Fairportfan said:

This is what i'm talking about - you got it as part of the PPX9 download.

Would it kill Serif to provide similar for Affinity?

Do you have some specific objection to using the built-in Help, or the online version? That Help is basically a manual. By itself, or supplemented by  the tutorial videos provided by Serif, I think it does a good job.

-- 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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32 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Do you have some specific objection to using the built-in Help, or the online version? That Help is basically a manual. By itself, or supplemented by  the tutorial videos provided by Serif, I think it does a good job.

I have tried to use the "Help" {scare quotes intended}.

Like the "Help" in PPX9 {note that i didn't mention the "Help" in PPX9 in that post}, it is essentially useless unless you pretty much know what you want to do and are just looking for last-minute detailed advice.

As for tutorials - they really don't seem to work out for me; again, i can use a tutorial to touch up my knowledge of things i already pretty much know, but they are time-consuming poorly-paced annoyances that take longer and cover stuff i neither want nor need to know in addition to what i MIGHT want to know.

I guess i was spoilt by being a Navy electronics tech and then working as a tech at several companies using test and assembly equipment whose makers supplied detailed and easily-used manuals for it.

I am used to having either hard-copy or PDF support documents that i can sit down with, refer to the index or ToC, find the actual specific knowledge i need without having to wade through extraneous clutter, and synthesise a solution.

If Serif is no longer willing to provide simple, clearly-written documentation that its users can search at their own pace and in their own manner, then i guess it's time - after twenty-plus years - for Serif and myself to part ways.

{I have been observing a tendency in the electronics and computer industry - at least in the general-public-facing parts - to provide less and less detail on use and maintenance of equipment.  I built this computer from parts, as i have several others over the years ... and if i HADN'T been building my own computers for years, the "documentation" supplied with the motherboard and semi-modular power supply MIGHT have been sufficient - but i found myself having to fill in things that had been glossed over in the "documentation" that came with things.}

Edited by Fairportfan
fix dumb typo
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5 hours ago, garrettm30 said:

Software used to come on physical media back then. Is Affinity even for sale on physical these days?

Irrelevant to the question of "Why no actual manual?"

I have observed that some software distributed only by download includes PDF manuals that are at least as good as the hard-copy ones were, and easier to search {if properly designed}

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15 hours ago, garrettm30 said:

Software used to come on physical media back then. Is Affinity even for sale on physical these days?

Thinking about it, it's obviously much cheaper to only provide downloads, rather than incurring the costs of disc production, packaging and postage. Not to mention the printing costs for manuals. So you can see why the Affinity apps are actually cheaper than the old "Plus" range used to be (at their full price!)

I agree that a PDF manual would be handy, I do find that it's often easier to "flick through" a PDF (or hard copy), rather than searching for the right entry in the help files. But, at the same time, I can see that the cost of paying people to create user guides/manuals for all three apps, allowing for the variations on the different platforms, and keeping them up to date, would probably be fairly expensive and could take resources away from development of the actual apps. I suppose it's a balancing act with available resources.

Acer XC-895 : Core i5-10400 Hexa-core 2.90 GHz :  32GB RAM : Intel UHD Graphics 630 : Windows 10 Home
Affinity Publisher 2 : Affinity Photo 2 : Affinity Designer 2 : (latest release versions) on desktop and iPad

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7 hours ago, PaulEC said:

Thinking about it, it's obviously much cheaper to only provide downloads, rather than incurring the costs of disc production, packaging and postage. Not to mention the printing costs for manuals. So you can see why the Affinity apps are actually cheaper than the old "Plus" range used to be (at their full price!)

I agree that a PDF manual would be handy, I do find that it's often easier to "flick through" a PDF (or hard copy), rather than searching for the right entry in the help files. But, at the same time, I can see that the cost of paying people to create user guides/manuals for all three apps, allowing for the variations on the different platforms, and keeping them up to date, would probably be fairly expensive and could take resources away from development of the actual apps. I suppose it's a balancing act with available resources.

I had a friend who's a professional tech writer.

She worked for Ashton-Tate - editing manuals and support documents, and she was so important to them that when she emigrated, they established a small office in her new home country so that she could continue to work for them.

Until they downsized her department.

You should hear her talk - at length and with heat - about the relative costs of providing and maintaining good manuals and of providing technical support through other means.

It's not pretty, though it is rather amusing if you don't have a dog in the fight.

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The Publisher help file is pretty well organized but I would still like to see a PDF manual that I could download, print pages as needed, and search. I could not find out how to display both the icons and text on the menu bar in the help system. I finally discovered that I could do so by right-clicking on a blank section of that bar and choosing "Icon and Text."

I also much prefer the light screen user interface rather than the default dark screen. The video tutorials that I have looked at use the dark screen where it is often hard to see just what the presenter is clicking on.

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15 hours ago, wfs455 said:

help file is pretty well organized

I would say the organization of the help files for the Affinity products is good (not great, but good), but it is rather lacking in detail in numerous places.

Still, it is better than what I have seen with various other products floating around the web...

 

15 hours ago, wfs455 said:

I could not find out how to display both the icons and text on the menu bar in the help system.

Presumably you mean the toolbar?  The menu bar does not offer that feature.  It sounds like you are on a Mac; that is a fairly standard OS convention and works on most Mac software which use the standard toolbar features provided by the OS.

 

15 hours ago, wfs455 said:

The video tutorials that I have looked at use the dark screen

While others have also expressed that they have difficulty with the dark interface, there are several good reasons why that should be the default for most users.  Less light being emitted from the display helps to reduce eye strain during long working sessions, and the darker gray colors should help to reduce the influence of the user interface elements on the user's perception of the colors within the document itself, helping to promote accuracy (assuming the display was calibrated in the first place).

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I have created a Basic PDF guide here (6.3MB), you can download and print it or add it to Mac Books to follow on an iPad ...and its FREE! :)

If anyone uses it I wouldn't mind some feedback, especially if there is something that is difficult to follow.

Ny hopeless internet connection would not allow me to upload the file here.

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Quite agree with AllaryK, that is how I do the newsletter I create.  I have used PagePlus versions 3 - 9 and found it so easy to use.  This Publisher is rubbish! I am thinking of not using and going back to PagePlus9.  I haven't got time to waste trying to do the simplest of tasks.

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  • 6 months later...
  • 1 month later...

I bought Affinity Publisher to enable me to print my photos from the templates that I create to enable me to make home printed photo books. I find not being able to get a handbook really counter-productive.  For example, on day 1, I couldn't remember how to get the rulers to appear.  I watched the tutorial about rulers;  it took me a long time to work out that I needed to tick 'Show Guides'.  Today [ after some time away]   I  added 4 photos to a page and  on export received error messages.  When I entered that message into the help box, nothing came up.   All very frustrating. I agree also about the speed of the demonstrations in the videos - too quick, can't see what is happening. 

Edited by linmarshall56@yahoo.co.uk
Missed a bit of text
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49 minutes ago, linmarshall56@yahoo.co.uk said:

For example, on day 1, I couldn't remember how to get the rulers to appear.  I watched the tutorial about rulers;  it took me a long time to work out that I needed to tick 'Show Guides'.

Actually, for rulers it would be View > Show Rulers; Guides are something different.

If you know the terminology, try the Help. For example, typing "rulers" (without the quotes) into the Help's search box will give you a list, and the first entry will tell you how to enable them. Online, it would lead you to this entry: https://affinity.help/publisher/English.lproj/pages/DesignAids/rulers.html

On the other hand, it would also give you the help entry for "ruler guides", so if you really meant guides, not rulers, then the Help would have given you the information you need, too. Online, the Help would lead you to: https://affinity.help/publisher/English.lproj/pages/DesignAids/guides.html

Searching for guides would get you there, too, if you remembered that term. Of course, if you don't remember a term, you're going to have to watch a tutorial or read the Help in more detail. The Help is a pretty good manual, if you read it.

-- 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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  • 3 months later...
10 minutes ago, pcdlibrary said:

Are the vintage PDF manuals available to download free?

I think you're referring to the manuals for PagePlux X9. Those would be confusing for a Publisher user, as they are entirely different applications. It would be like trying to use a manual for InDesign.

-- 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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  • 8 months later...
On 4/18/2019 at 3:53 PM, World View said:

I know about the tutorials. The problem is, that they do not show how the software works.

The first, for example, creating a new document. 

He opens a print document. I don't want to print. How do I create a digital magazine?

No answers.

Also: during the demo, the demonstrator swishes his cursor around fast . He clicks first and then says what he's doing. It would be better to tell me first what he's going to do, and THEN click on the button in order to give eyes a chance to see where it is happening AFTER you know what will happen. Otherwise you'd have to always roll back the recording.

For a beginner, those tutorials have very little value. If you know about Adobe InDesign, it might be OK.

So my tip is: if you want to get new customers, show them how your software works. 

Imagine someone wanted to learn Photoshop and there was no book, just a few tutorials. Absolutely impossible.

So, if I'm a desktop publishing newbie, how can I learn how to use your software? Where is the manual?

 

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I agree with the above. Every person has a different intent. I write books and am satisfied with Infinity Publisher, the the instructions do not explain how things work. It was slow learning for myself and it became a problem working from chapter to chapter because I forget so much between chapters. It was easy to learn to add pages, but was not when the numbering did not continue. I studied merging and learned nothing and no instruction mentioned sections. I selected sections and noticed that I could change the numbering to start with 1 or continue after I added a new chapter. There were no instructions mentioning the necessity of going to sections because a new placement assumes you want to start with page 1. This is a problem with the writers, they do not understand the software. I received a Job as a technical writer and learned how to operate the test equipment before I wrote the manuals. When they decided to close the plant and combine with another, I was the only one that traveled the distance but did not last long because this has happened to me before. I left companies for strange reasons and found out that even in a new building some eventually closed. Infinity Designer is better the Adobe illustrator and Infinity photo is better than photoshop. Infinity Publisher should insist the writers know the software. If they do, they are not logical thinkers. If you question me, I am 82 and I do not need work.

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  • 2 years later...
On 2/28/2020 at 3:56 PM, Fairportfan said:

How about a PDF "manual"?  Wouldn't cost anything beyond the original cost of preparing it and the negligible cost of keeping it available for download, and could be easily and quickly updated as program features change.

 

Download a free manual for Publisher 2.4 from this forum - expanded 300-page PDF

My system: Affinity 2.4.0 for macOS Sonoma 14.4, MacBook Pro 14" (M1 Pro)

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