Selecting Layers

[DarkClown]

Maybe I'm doing something wrong but I don't understand why I can't select more than 2 Layers on the Master Page? When I keep the CTRL key pressed and try to add a third layer to my selection the first layer gets deselected again (only when I'm on the Master page). Maybe a bug?

Another problem on the master page: I had 4 layers protected. After working with the file for some while (so I can't precisely say what I did to have the problem appearing) I was unable to unprotect these layers again. I selected a layer and pressed the lock-symbol but the lock would not disappear on the layer - even though the protocol said "un-protect layer". Pressing the lock again the protocol woul again say "un-protect layer" but the lock still remained the same. And I was not able to make any changes to the layer. Only after adding another new layer to the master-page locking and unlocking worked again for all layers as expected. Very strange behavior but surely a programming hiccup.

Cheers, Timo

[walt.farrell]

8 hours ago, DarkClown said:

Maybe I'm doing something wrong but I don't understand why I can't select more than 2 Layers on the Master Page? When I keep the CTRL key pressed and try to add a third layer to my selection the first layer gets deselected again (only when I'm on the Master page). Maybe a bug?

What kind of layers?

Can you provide a sample .afpub file that demonstrates this?

[DarkClown]

Text, Photo and Graphic layers ...

Hm,I can sent the crash report, when Publisher suddenly completely vanished while I was trying to generate that file

CrashReports.zip

 

I'll try again tomorrow...

[DarkClown]

demo.afpub

Sample attached.

Problem 1: Go to the 1st page (not the master). Open the master layers in the layer palette and try to select more than 2 layers by holding the CTRL key down and continuously adding new layers to your selection. (WiIl not work - you can't select more than 2 layers at the same time). If it is "by design" that you should neot work on master layers from the page (you never know with Serif) why can you select a master layer from a page at all? Why are master layers displayed at all? But when they are available (what I do like) they should work as expected. You should be able to work on them as usual layers - delete, move them around, add a shadow´, change opacity ... whatever... without explicitly selecting the master layer.

Problem 2: Go to the 1st page (not the master). Open the master layers in the layer palette and try to "unlock" a layer. The protocol says it is unlocked but the lock does not disappear. Switching to the master page and making it active you can't turn of the locking either. If you now add another random object to the master page locking and unlocking (or protecting) works again ...

Another interesting behavior just accrued. Even though I was working on the master Page the first new object I added was added on the first page (not on the master that was active). Not really improving trust  ...

Last but not least. In the current example I have one master page and one document page. I do get a frame on the active page I'm working on that makes it clear where is my workspace (you have to look twice but one can see it eventually). Selecting the document page and double clicking on it leaves me in complete irritation. NO page is selected any more. The layers panel suddenly only shows objects from the master page but the master page isn't selected either. Seems like I'm lost in outer space ... ahh, well ....

Cheers, Timo

 

[Pauls]

@darkclown are you using a googledrive folder for storing your files ?  If so could you try using a non syncing folder to see if that improves reliability

[DarkClown]

Hi Pauls,
no, I'm using an external USB drive to store the file.

[Jon P]

Hi DarkClown,

I've logged 2 issues with the layer selection/locking behaviour, this seems to all be Windows specific, on Mac multi master page layer selection works and locks can't be applied to objects that are on a Master Page unless editing the Master Page.

I'm not sure about your last issue, if I double click between Page 1 and Master A I always have a highlight in the pages tab around the active page

On another note, the random crashes you seem to get have been logged and are being looked at by our developers, but we are still struggling to reproduce them internally.

Thanks

[DarkClown]

When I double click on the only page that is there the blue frame (showing the page is active, I suppose) turns into a gray frame (meaning?). So the page is not active any more but what is active in that case? When I add another object now it gets added to the only existing page but the page still has got the gray frame - not a blue one any more. Now selecting the masterpage (blue frame) I still see the objects that should only be on the Page 1. And even though the master page shows a blue frame I can still select the object from page 1 and delete it - the master page remains with a blue frame. Maybe I'm getting something completely wrong here what the colors in the page panel indicate.

[lacerto]

(...)

[walt.farrell]

On 6/26/2019 at 11:53 AM, DarkClown said:

So the page is not active any more but what is active in that case? When I add another object now it gets added to the only existing page but the page still has got the gray frame - not a blue one any more.

A blue highlighted page in the Pages panel is selected for Pages panel operations, I believe. A gray highlighted one is selected for content editing in the main window.