Non-intuitive synchronization behaviour with copy/paste/duplicate

[Ashley_W]

I'm not clear what the rules are for synchronization and defaulting, but it is not intuitive. I've got some text-frames in a file which, when copied, mirror every change I make to the original object, even the position and contents. Synchronizing the contents of a text-frame seems like very odd default behaviour and I can't figure out how to unlink them. Why would I want an object that does literally everything another object does? And then there are other text frames in this same file which copy/paste as expected, creating a new independent object.

It seems if I duplicate an object instead of copy/paste, things work normally, so that's what I'll do from now on. However, if I duplicate an entire page, objects start doing this quantum-entanglement thing again. Almost seems like a bug but maybe there's a set of rules that I have been unable to find.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

ashley

[carl123]

What your describing should not be happening unless it is somehow connected to your use of Master page elements

Can you create and upload a simple document that shows 2 text frames that are linked as you have described so we can see what is wrong?

Before saving the document switch on "File > Save History with Document" so we can see the steps you took when creating the document

Alternatively, you can upload a video showing the problems you are having

[garrettm30]

If not master page elements, to me this sound like the behavior from symbols (available in Symbols Studio in the Designer Persona). I too would be interested to see a file with this problem.

[Ashley_W]

I'm glad to hear it is not expected behaviour and now I'm thinking it is perhaps a corrupted file because it is crashing the program when I interact with some of the objects. This file was created in 1.7.1 and that's when I started experiencing this odd behaviour. I upgraded to 1.7.2 hoping it would fix it and then the crashing started. I have since created a new file from scratch and rebuilt all the elements and everything seems to be working fine. Attached is the problematic file so you can troubleshoot what might be happening.

To reproduce the quantum-entanglement issue, try copy/paste on the text-frame with the heading "Gamdis Tlagee" and then move the text-frame. What happens for me is that it looks like there is no second text-frame because they both move together. And if you hide one of them in the layer pallet, the other hides also.

And on the second page of this document, if I move or interact with any of the empty picture-frames, the program crashes.

Thanks for your help!

ashley

conservation highlights report - 190815.zip

[Callum]

Hi Ashley_W 

Welcome to the forums

Thank you for providing the file in question I have been able to replicate the crash but not the duplicating text box issue if possible could you provide a screen recording of this issue?

[carl123]

@Ashley_W

Well the good news is that the quantum-entanglement issue is real

It took me a couple of tries but I can create the duplicating text box issues you are seeing by using different copy and paste methods

The Orange vertical bar on the Text Frame layers looks to be symbols related

So maybe at some point symbols were created in the document and then deleted/detached leaving just the "symbol text layer" without the usual symbol group icon

When you copy and past the symbol text layer it is just a duplicate of itself and as such any change to one affects the other, which is what you were seeing.

It's very easy to recreate this is a new document using just one text frame.  And it can be done in Publisher (using the Designer Persona) or in Designer directly

Not sure if you have Designer or there were any symbols in the document previously but everything is acting as if symbols were involved at some point.

Can you recall if you ever played with symbols in this document?

The text frames can be changed back to normal text frames (non symbol) in Publisher thus curing the quantum-entanglement issue but it's a little complex and you would need to do it for all such text frames and since you have already created a new document I wont bother with how to do it but it's good to know it can be done.

[garrettm30]

I can confirm that there is that there is some kind of symbol functionality going on. If you go to to the Designer Persona, access the Symbol Studio and deactivate sync, then you can edit each copy as expected.

However, it does not show up in the Symbol Studio as one of the saved symbols. Shouldn't the Symbol Studio show all symbols in a document, even if a document is shared with a different user?

[Ashley_W]

Thanks everyone!

Since others have managed to recreate and isolate the entanglement issue , I am going to skip the request for a screen recording.

I am very new to Affinity Software (this is only my second project) and can confirm that I was not intending to use symbols because I didn't know they were a thing. It's possible I inadvertently hit a button or keyboard shortcut that activated it. The orange bar on the left of those layers caught my eye but I couldn't figure out what it meant.

At the moment, I have only purchased Publisher, not Designer or Photo.

[Callum]

Hi Ashley,

in regards to the picture frame crash please could you tell me if these picture frames were inherited from a master page? You can convert the picture frames to curves to avoid the app crashing when you use them

C

[Gabe]

On 9/19/2019 at 1:32 PM, carl123 said:

It took me a couple of tries but I can create the duplicating text box issues you are seeing by using different copy and paste methods

Thanks. We've now replicated this in a new document and logged it with our developers.

[Ashley_W]

On 9/20/2019 at 5:28 AM, Callum said:

Hi Ashley,

in regards to the picture frame crash please could you tell me if these picture frames were inherited from a master page? You can convert the picture frames to curves to avoid the app crashing when you use them

C

No, the picture frames were not inherited from a master page. There is very little on the master page.

Thanks for the tip. I recreated the document from scratch and it's been smooth sailing!

[Patrick Connor]

We believe the issue "Symbol like behaviour after duplicate linked master page object" has been fixed in 1.8.0 [Publisher beta is currently available if you care to check].