Cannot edit, remove, or add text frame

[World View]

I can neither edit, remove, nor edit text frames.

I click on a text frame, click delete, it flickers, and then it is still there.

I cannot add a text frame either. I click on the tool symbol, drag a rectangle, and nothing happens.

The only way to remove a text frame is to delete the Master page.

 

The whole document is now stuck because I cannot add nor remove text.

[mac_heibu]

Please attach a sample file.

[Jamso]

I have a similar problem in a linked 3 column layout. In the third column only, image and inserted text boxes are un-selectable by pointing but can be selected by dragging a selection box. (As this only happens in 2 out of 3 current files originated from the same master, this may be some kind of formatting which I have inadvertently applied)

 

 

Castle.afpub

[Old Bruce]

10 hours ago, World View said:

I can neither edit, remove, nor edit text frames.

I click on a text frame, click delete, it flickers, and then it is still there.

I cannot add a text frame either. I click on the tool symbol, drag a rectangle, and nothing happens.

The only way to remove a text frame is to delete the Master page.

 

The whole document is now stuck because I cannot add nor remove text.

Check your layers Studio Panel, do you have the Master Page applied twice? I ask because these sound like  problems I had where the Master was applied twice and again there was a case where I had made two text frames on the Master Page one on top of the other. The Layers' panel can be used to select items and delete them from there.

[World View]

 

I checked the web and someone else had to turn off "visual flow" to get the text frame tool working again. This didn't work for me.

I'm attaching the whole document - it hasn't gone far until I hit the text frame problem.

On the front page I cannot change the size of the text frame, and I cannot add another text frame. The cursor shows the shape you have when you enter text, but not the shape of the text frame tool - clicking the text frame tool icon again doesn't change that.

 

Bruce and Mac, thanks for offering to look at this problem. 

I think it started when I created linked text frames as described in this tutorial: https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/tutorials/publisher/desktop/video/286540600

After that, the text frame tool went haywire.

 

PS: I opened an older file (attempt 1) and the same behavior started. Maybe there is a setting that I don't know about that takes out the text frame tool?

(I had a problem with the image placement tool, too, where when selecting the image for import didn't bring up the frame where you could tell how big the image should be - it always covered the whole page. I got around that by using the image frame tool and then fill in the image with the image placement tool)

 

I'm on a MacBook Pro 2012 retina 16 GB RAM 500 GB SSD running OS X "High Sierra"

 

 

Edited April 27, 2019 by World View
removed outdated sample document.

[mac_heibu]

This is all expected behaviour.

You should have a very close look at into Publisher’s online help. Read the entry „Pages" and there „Master Pages“.

You can edit master page elements on the master. If you want to edit them on a layout page, open a layout page, go to the „Layers“ panel and right click onto the layer „Front Page“. You will find the entries „Edit Detached“, „Edit Linked“ and Edit Frame Content“.

The first entry allows you to edit the master element individually on this layout page, the second entry allows you to edit the element, but the modifications are reflected on the master itself, the third entry allow/disallows to edit the content of the element.

And: You can’t create a new text frame, because you have a large text frame on your master. Every time, you try to create a new text  on the layout page, the master frame is activated and you write into it (you allowed to "Edit frame content“).

[walt.farrell]

26 minutes ago, World View said:

I'm attaching the whole document - it hasn't gone far until I hit the text frame problem.

On the front page I cannot change the size of the text frame, and I cannot add another text frame. The cursor shows the shape you have when you enter text, but not the shape of the text frame tool - clicking the text frame tool icon again doesn't change that.

 

I'd like to understand what you're trying to accomplish. Generally a Master Page should contain data that is static (except possibly for fields like a page number), and the document pages should have the actual text.

You seem to have two Master Pages with all of the actual content, and you've applied each of them to a document page to create a document page with the content.

In particular, I think your PAGE 2 Master should have had an empty Picture Frame and an empty Text Frame. Then on your Page 2 document page you would Place an image into the Picture Frame, and type text into the Text Frame.

What is also unclear to me is, when you say you can't change the size of "the" text frame, which text frame, on which page, do you mean?

[World View]

3 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

I'd like to understand what you're trying to accomplish. Generally a Master Page should contain data that is static (except possibly for fields like a page number), and the document pages should have the actual text.

You seem to have two Master Pages with all of the actual content, and you've applied each of them to a document page to create a document page with the content.

In particular, I think your PAGE 2 Master should have had an empty Picture Frame and an empty Text Frame. Then on your Page 2 document page you would Place an image into the Picture Frame, and type text into the Text Frame.

What is also unclear to me is, when you say you can't change the size of "the" text frame, which text frame, on which page, do you mean?

I removed the text from all the master pages. I could not remove the image, so I'll have start again with a new document.

edit: I found out why I couldn't remove a text frame: you can't remove it within the text frame tool. You you to go to the move tool to remove it.

thanks!

[World View]

2 hours ago, mac_heibu said:

This is all expected behaviour.

You should have a very close look at into Publisher’s online help. Read the entry „Pages" and there „Master Pages“.

You can edit master page elements on the master. If you want to edit them on a layout page, open a layout page, go to the „Layers“ panel and right click onto the layer „Front Page“. You will find the entries „Edit Detached“, „Edit Linked“ and Edit Frame Content“.

The first entry allows you to edit the master element individually on this layout page, the second entry allows you to edit the element, but the modifications are reflected on the master itself, the third entry allow/disallows to edit the content of the element.

And: You can’t create a new text frame, because you have a large text frame on your master. Every time, you try to create a new text  on the layout page, the master frame is activated and you write into it (you allowed to "Edit frame content“).

Thanks. 

I removed all content from the master pages. 

I actually started a new project and as I don't really need master pages, I created a simple master page with just the dark gray background.

No 2 pages will be alike anyway.

 

I found out why I could not remove a text frame:  you cannot delete text frame when you are in text frame mode. The "delete" key will not work. You have to switch to another tool, the move tool. A bit counter-intuitive, but I finally got it. 

[mac_heibu]

When you are within a text frame, „Delete“ deletes the text, not the frame. This is not „counter-intuitive“, this is the way every text editor in the world is working.

You couldn‘t delete your text frame, because you wanted to create a new one using the text frame tool, but because you clicked into an already existing text frame (the one, you created on your master page) you placed a text cursor. Now deleting of the frame of course can‘t work.

[World View]

 

Different softwares, different attitudes. I'm sure plenty of people bang their heads against wall when dealing with Photoshop, finding it not as intuitive as In-Design or Publisher, where you of course have to switch to the "move" tool to re"move" a frame.

[mac_heibu]

Again: The text tool can be used in two ways:

1. You can draw a new text frame and start writing into it.
2. You can click into an existing text frame to place a text cursor (the same cane be achieved by double clicking a text frame with the move tool).

Both variants are clearly shown by the different cursors.

You can’t activate and afterwards delete a text frame with the text tool. And please don’t tell us, this is possible in Photoshop or InDesign. The Photoshop/InDesign text tool works in the exact same way (In InDesign you can additionally use a modifier key to temporarily override the text mode, select the text frame and delete it.). You can’t use the text tool, and activate and/or delete a text element within Photoshop. And that is a very clear behaviour: If you could do this, you evidently wouldn’t be able to place a text cursor into an existing element.

[World View]

You're right, Mac. 

After so many years these things go on autopilot and I had to do it and watch myself: you have to delete the layer (without leaving the text tool - this was the part I remembered)

Well, the letter "v" will become and important one on my keyboard now

[World View]

I came across the error that caused this problem.

In this tutorial https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/tutorials/publisher/desktop/video/286534891 of master pages the presenter selects the background and changes its color. 

But he swishes so fast with his cursor that I didn't quite see which rectangle tool he selected. And I selected the picture frame rectangle tool instead of the regular rectangle tool - a difference unnoticeable for someone just spending his first five minutes with the application.

It would be a good idea to slow down and let people see what exactly you are clicking.

 

I only found out about this when I found out why I could create a text box OUTSIDE the document, but not inside.

Sure - you can't create a text box inside a picture frame as it seems.

[mac_heibu]

I don’t understand your last two sentences, sorry …

[Jamso]

Anybody got any ideas about my little problem?

[Move Along People]

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[Jamso]

Thanks. Much appreciated.

[Jim_A]

@Jamso

You can also select an object behind another object in the layer stack by option-clicking with the Move tool.

[Move Along People]

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[Jamso]

Thanks guys. I was just unsure of what I had done to cause the problem.

[Safe Homes]

I have tried to edit the text in .psd file. It changes in the layers area but does not reflect a change in the file on screen. I am new at this, can you help. Tks.

1.psd