Missing text editor ?

[NoSi]

»Set up all the styles in APu having exactly the same name as those in the text file.«

I created a frame with the required formats in AP with some demo text and pasted this to the text processor which took the naming into account. Operating with these formats in the text processor allows seemless copy and paste back and forth between the two programs (as far as I can see currently).

[dominik]

18 minutes ago, NoSi said:

Operating with these formats in the text processor allows seemless copy and paste back and forth between the two programs (as far as I can see currently).

Hello @NoSi,

please check if pasting back and forth really works as you would expect. From my observation (and as others have mentioned) if you paste back text with styles they are not 'reused' but they are added as additional styles. You can check if this is the case by looking at styles with the exactly the same name but with added numbers (e.g. Body, Body 1, Body 2, etc.).

This is a current shortcoming of APub and this may be one of the reasons why some people are aksing for an internal text editor.

Cheers,
d.

PS: I do not want to discourage you to participate in the forum, just the contrary. I just want to point out that you may have missed something that 'you can't see currently'  🙂

[MarkusKr]

32 minutes ago, Joachim_L said:

What do you mean by this?

1. You write your text in your editor and set styles.

2. You place the text file in APu.

What do expect now from APu? To use the Text styles in APu with the same name? Unfortunately if there are styles of the same name, the styles from the text file will be changed from e.g. "fliesstext" to "fliesstext 1".

But there is a small workaround. Set up all the styles in APu having exactly the same name as those in the text file. Save the APu document as textstyles.afpub somewhere. Make a new blank APu document (without styles), place the text file and import at the text styles panel the document textstyles.afpub. You will be now asked what should happen with the conflicting styles. Replace them.

Or use Find and replace to replace the styles from the text file with the ones from your APu file.

I expect APu to not change any style name coming from the text document, rather use the existing definition already in APu. As you say, it doesn't work that way.

I can Find and replace styles, but it is to clumsy to be used every time I want to change something.

This leads me to the conclusion: Import of a text document is a one time thing. Once the text is imported, you work with it in APu. You don't go back to the external editor.

That is why I find an internal editor useful.

[MarkusKr]

38 minutes ago, NoSi said:

»Set up all the styles in APu having exactly the same name as those in the text file.«

I created a frame with the required formats in AP with some demo text and pasted this to the text processor which took the naming into account. Operating with these formats in the text processor allows seemless copy and paste back and forth between the two programs (as far as I can see currently).

I shallow test may not reveal any flaws. I just confirmed that I still get duplicate style names. After going back and forth a couple of times it was completely messed up.

[jrkay]

All I can say that anyone who has experience with a separate word editor, either in PagePlus or InDesign and with a multi-page books,  knows full well what the advantages are.

If the people who confess that don't know why we want it could confirm that they have had this experience and have used either of these programs themselves we would maybe more sympathetic to their suggestions which do not seem to be based on any practical hands-on relevant use.

 

[Fixx]

10 hours ago, jrkay said:

All I can say that anyone who has experience with a separate word editor, either in PagePlus or InDesign and with a multi-page books,  knows full well what the advantages are.

If the people who confess that don't know why we want it could confirm that they have had this experience and have used either of these programs themselves we would maybe more sympathetic to their suggestions which do not seem to be based on any practical hands-on relevant use.

That is a complicated sentence.... I did use text editor in PageMaker and early InDesign, and the reason was that editing and tagging text in layout was too - s - l - o - w -. After macs got faster it was no problem.

Now, I can understand there are users who prefer to edit text in editor. For some workflows it may be ideal. And an editor window is not really problem for other users as it goes away when you do not need it.

[NoSi]

I have to admit that after a more intensive investigation the result is a bit more mixed.

Under limited conditions, texts with formatting can be copied back and forth between AP and a word processing program. However, this is fragile.

Because of the really very impressive speed of text editing in the frame and the available tools for formatting, I would like to correct my original entry or formulate it more concretely:

"I" can - for my way of working - see no need for an independent editor.

[Cranky Old Huckster]

A text editor would be a great feature. Especially when dealing with longform text and multiple sections. I use it all the time in InDesign. And I want to eventually be able to leave InDesign.

(I don't mean something like InCopy which would be nice, but overkill.)

[PaoloT]

I don't know if this can be an alternative to the request of a plain text editor, but I'll try. I've long used and loved FrameMaker (on Mac; the Win version has been a torture), for documents where text was predominant, compared to graphics.

FrameMaker gave the impression of working in a wordprocessor, while having the full power of a layout program. Hidden codes could be seen in the text flow by unhiding them. Tags were always shown in the window border.

Maybe the solution could be a "light" mode, where you focus on text, and graphics is grayed out. Not the same as a plain text editor, but maybe it can work as well, while you continue working on the actual layout.

Paolo

 

[MarkusKr]

3 hours ago, PaoloT said:

I don't know if this can be an alternative to the request of a plain text editor, but I'll try. I've long used and loved FrameMaker (on Mac; the Win version has been a torture), for documents where text was predominant, compared to graphics.

FrameMaker gave the impression of working in a wordprocessor, while having the full power of a layout program. Hidden codes could be seen in the text flow by unhiding them. Tags were always shown in the window border.

Maybe the solution could be a "light" mode, where you focus on text, and graphics is grayed out. Not the same as a plain text editor, but maybe it can work as well, while you continue working on the actual layout.

Paolo

I don't think there is a good way to export the document from FrameMaker and import it into AP.

[PaoloT]

On 6/9/2020 at 10:05 PM, MarkusKr said:

I don't think there is a good way to export the document from FrameMaker and import it into AP.

Actually, I’m not thinking to an import feature from FrameMaker (a program that should now have only a bunch of institutional users). I'm thinking to a "FrameMaker mode", where graphics is made lighter, and text is the focus.

Paolo

 

[MarkusKr]

8 hours ago, PaoloT said:

Actually, I’m not thinking to an import feature from FrameMaker (a program that should now have only a bunch of institutional users). I'm thinking to a "FrameMaker mode", where graphics is made lighter, and text is the focus.

Paolo

 

Aha, I misunderstood. Well, more or less. Here are my wishes for such an editor:

• The whole blob of text should be available by scrolling. As it is today, I might have to add extra text frames to see everything.
• I want to see the name of the paragraph style that is applied to each paragraph, without clicking it. For instance in the left margin.
• Styles should be rendered.
• Text should wrap.
• Width of paragraphs should be changeable, preferably inheriting the width of the first text box.
• Tabs should be editable directly.
• Tables embedded in the text should be editable like in a word processor.

[Old Bruce]

Thanks for articulating your ideas, I agree with the following:

7 hours ago, MarkusKr said:

Aha, I misunderstood. Well, more or less. Here are my wishes for such an editor:

• The whole blob of text should be available by scrolling. As it is today, I might have to add extra text frames to see everything.
• I want to see the name of the paragraph style that is applied to each paragraph, without clicking it. For instance in the left margin.
•  
• Text should wrap.
•  
•  
•  

These would be great to have, I would like the Character Styles to be shown as well.

The other items I disagree with, I don't want to see Drop Caps or huge size headings rendered I just want to be able to quickly fix typos and find line returns instead of new paragraphs which are in by mistake.

Tables (and perhaps Tabs) would maybe be better served with a Table Editor.

[garrettm30]

10 hours ago, MarkusKr said:

Styles should be rendered.

I don't agree with this, unless "style preview" can be toggled. There needs to be a way to see the raw text, because that is how you can work with what the text actually is, when sometimes formatting would obscure it. The only times I use the story editor in InDesign is when I need to get to something that is not readily apparent in the styled version, such as invisible text.

[MarkusKr]

2 hours ago, garrettm30 said:

I don't agree with this, unless "style preview" can be toggled. There needs to be a way to see the raw text, because that is how you can work with what the text actually is, when sometimes formatting would obscure it. The only times I use the story editor in InDesign is when I need to get to something that is not readily apparent in the styled version, such as invisible text.

Actually, yeah, that is probably better.

[fde101]

23 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

I would like the Character Styles to be shown as well.

The problem here is that there can be multiple character styles within even the same word of a paragraph, so trying to show the character style names in a margin might force the editor to wrap lines in unnatural places (middle of a word) when the style changes.

What might work a bit better would be to underline any text with character styles applied, and to change the color of the underline based on the style...  maybe hovering the mouse over the underline could show the style name in a tooltip...?

[Nicolas Mertens]

Here's a situation when a Text Editor would be useful:

1. You have some text in your layout, either artistic text or framed text.

2. You rotate the text 90 degrees. The text is now laid out vertically.

3. Later on, you need to edit the text. To edit the text in its vertical layout is terribly awkward (unless you are a contortionist). This is when a Text Editor would be useful.

Incidentally, Corel Draw—which has a text editor—is never mentioned in this topic. Is CorelDraw a dirty word?  

[jrkay]

Good point Nicholas, I often have to print a cover on card for a paperback, in Pageplus I always use the editor to alter the lettering on a spine which, of course is turned at 90 degrees.

Another factor is that editing can be done on only one chapter at a time. A big plus in a long book of more than 150 pages.

My way of working would be greatly enhanced by being able to concentrate on just one part of a very large number of pages.

John

[PaoloT]

I would welcome a text-only mode. Working on text only is very helpful for catching out mistakes. With text only shown, one is focused on it, without any distractions. I noticed that my style was better when editing in InDesign's Style Editor, than right in page.

It would be great if the Text Editor would automatically hide anything behind it, if one prefers so. A real focus-on-text mode.

Paolo

 

[OBJKT]

Posting to support the idea of having a text editor tool. This would make editing long texts much easier. 

Current lack of not able to link external text source and missing text editor were definitely disappointments as software otherwise is very nice and functioning product with excellent pricing.

[cyberlizard]

good grief... now i find out that besides lack of footnotes/endnotes, referencing features and indexing tools, it is also missing a 'story editor'.  even the open source application, Scribus has a story editor.

[christie62]

I am new to Publisher and am struggling with the lack of a text editor as well. Please add it asap! Thanks.

[fde101]

Another use case for such an editor would come into play with some types of magazine layouts.  I suspect most have seen "to be continued on page 8" paired with "continued from page 3" - in other words, a given article / story might skip a few pages, making it harder to follow and proofread.

Not that I care to encourage the use of such annoying layouts, but for those who need to deal with things like that for one reason or another, a story editor that brings the content together in one place for review and editing would clearly have its benefits.

[jonesofmaine]

On 6/24/2019 at 9:18 PM, HeeChee said:

I agree. Having come from Aldus Pagemaker to Adobe InDesign Affinity Publisher needs a "Story Editor". 

I miss Aldus

[PaoloT]

More and more, I’m losing interest in Serif adding a text-only mode to Publisher.

What I would really want is total compatibility with Scrivener. Edit in Scrivener, polish the layout in Publisher.

Paolo