Keyboard shortcut for selecting all text in export persona is missing/not working

[toasties]

As a developer, I love how you can now copy text (and get various attributes) directly within the Export Persona without having to switch back to Designer Persona. The one little thing that seems to be missing is the ability to use a keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + A) to select all the text for copying. This is possible withing Design Persona but not the Export Persona. Is this just a missing function or a bug? Are you planning to add this in soon? I'm using AD 1.7.0.367 on windows.

Thanks,

[R C-R]

3 hours ago, toasties said:

... I love how you can now copy text (and get various attributes) directly within the Export Persona without having to switch back to Designer Persona.

Wow! I never realized this was possible until you mentioned it!

Basically, it seems to be a hidden way to switch to the Frame or Artistic Text Tool, activated by double-clicking in an existing text block with the Slice Selection Tool, so I think that -- assuming it is not a bug -- both of those tools should be available on the Tools panel. As it is, once either tool is activated, not only does the context toolbar show all the usual text attributes (although the Character & Paragraph buttons don't work), but also either tool can be used to create new frame or art text blocks too, so in almost every respect these are just like the text tools available in the Designer Persona.

As for a 'select all' keyboard shortcut, the usual one shown on the Select menu (CMD+A on Mac; so I assume Ctrl+A for Windows) does work for me in the usual way: with nothing selected it selects all layers, whether a text block or not; & with text selected in a text block, it selects all the text in that block.

Does that not work for you?

[Old Bruce]

Select all works here, but I have to say I bet this is treated as a bug. Granted it is a Feature-like bug.

[toasties]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

Wow! I never realized this was possible until you mentioned it!

Basically, it seems to be a hidden way to switch to the Frame or Artistic Text Tool, activated by double-clicking in an existing text block with the Slice Selection Tool, so I think that -- assuming it is not a bug -- both of those tools should be available on the Tools panel. As it is, once either tool is activated, not only does the context toolbar show all the usual text attributes (although the Character & Paragraph buttons don't work), but also either tool can be used to create new frame or art text blocks too, so in almost every respect these are just like the text tools available in the Designer Persona.

As for a 'select all' keyboard shortcut, the usual one shown on the Select menu (CMD+A on Mac; so I assume Ctrl+A for Windows) does work for me in the usual way: with nothing selected it selects all layers, whether a text block or not; & with text selected in a text block, it selects all the text in that block.

Does that not work for you?

Thanks for checking at your end. Yeah the keyboard shortcut does not work for me on Windows. Are you using a Mac presumably? Maybe it's a Windows issue?

[toasties]

16 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

Select all works here, but I have to say I bet this is treated as a bug. Granted it is a Feature-like bug.

Are you using a Mac too Old Bruce?

[Old Bruce]

Yes, as per my signature.

[toasties]

11 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

Yes, as per my signature.

Ahh. The signatures don't show on the mob site.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, Old Bruce said:

Select all works here, but I have to say I bet this is treated as a bug. Granted it is a Feature-like bug.

I think you are probably right about that but I think it should not be treated as such & instead the two text tools should be added to the Export Persona's Tools panel because:

• Most of the 'under the hood' code seems to be there already
• It is a useful feature

@toasties: as you have probably already guessed, I am using a Mac (& the info is in my signature, too).

[toasties]

Yes, thanks @R C-R . I'm out of office using the mobile site so missing all the bells and whistles of the forum

Is this a good/best place for this to be spotted by someone at serif and apply a fix do we think?

[Old Bruce]

7 hours ago, toasties said:

I'm using AD 1.7.0.367 on windows.

 

Just so I am clear toasties, you are on Windows and are you still not seeing this (Select All keyboard shortcut) in the latest 1.7.1 version?

If it is missing in the latest I would report it in the Windows bug section for Designer (and or Photo) https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/74-designer-bugs-found-on-windows/ 

Originally you asked a question and we think we may have found a bug on windows.

[walt.farrell]

On Windows, in 1.7.1.404, there is no shortcut for Select All in the Export Persona that I can see. And Ctrl+A does not work.

I suspect it's a bug that it works on Mac.

It may even be a bug that (on both OSes) double-clicking on a Text Frame with the Move Tool allows editing at all.

[toasties]

2 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

On Windows, in 1.7.1.404, there is no shortcut for Select All in the Export Persona that I can see. And Ctrl+A does not work.

I suspect it's a bug that it works on Mac.

It may even be a bug that (on both OSes) double-clicking on a Text Frame with the Move Tool allows editing at all.

Thanks for checking this on Windows @walt.farrell with the latest build. I'm away from my computer atm so cannot update and check. I'll report it as a bug probably tomorrow @Old Bruce.

[R C-R]

8 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

On Windows, in 1.7.1.404, there is no shortcut for Select All in the Export Persona that I can see. And Ctrl+A does not work.

I suspect it's a bug that it works on Mac.

Why do you suspect it is a bug on Macs? CMD+A as a keyboard shortcut for select all is something most Mac apps implement & is one of the standard shortcuts many Mac users learn. After the 'big four' of CMD+C for copy, CMD+X for cut, CMD+V for paste, & CMD+Z for undo, it is probably one of the most used.

14 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

It may even be a bug that (on both OSes) double-clicking on a Text Frame with the Move Tool allows editing at all.

I suspect you may be right about that, but CMD+A to select all layers in the Export Persona (as opposed to selecting all of the text in a text block when the insertion cursor is visible in one of them) is not the same thing. It appears on the Select menu with that shortcut if assigned, as do the related shortcuts for Deselect, Select Next, & Select Previous. All of them work as expected in the Export Persona, just as they do in the Designer Persona (& the Draw Persona in the 1.6 versions as well).

[Old Bruce]

I am thinking this is all going to go away because I can ADD text once I have the text caret available, I can alter everything on the page by using the Slice Selection Tool and double clicking anything.

Colours, sizes, width of lines and fills getting changed. Objects being moved about. Do we really think that that should be possible in the Export Persona?

[R C-R]

2 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

I am thinking this is all going to go away because I can ADD text once I have the text caret available, I can alter everything on the page by using the Slice Selection Tool and double clicking anything.

I think you are right about everything except Select All, the complementary Deselect, the select next & previous items; & the keyboard shortcuts for them. If nothing else, it is useful to be able to use these shortcuts when creating Slices from layers.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

but CMD+A to select all layers in the Export Persona (as opposed to selecting all of the text in a text block when the insertion cursor is visible in one of them) is not the same thing. It appears on the Select menu with that shortcut if assigned, as do the related shortcuts for Deselect, Select Next, & Select Previous. All of them work as expected in the Export Persona, just as they do in the Designer Persona (& the Draw Persona in the 1.6 versions as well).

You have a Select menu on Mac in the Export Persona?

Windows doesn't. And without a Select menu, none of those shortcuts should work, in my opinion.

[R C-R]

5 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

You have a Select menu on Mac in the Export Persona?

Yes.

EDIT: Same thing in Affinity Photo.

[walt.farrell]

12 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Yes.

Interesting. Perhaps you should report that as a bug

(Actually, I will report the lack of Select as a bug on Windows, and let Serif decide which is broken   )

Edit: Also on Photo. Reported: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/89307-select-missing-from-designers-menu-in-export-persona-on-windows/