Master pages - sizing

[faithless]

Yesterday I created a .pdf file on a copier/scanner, consisting of 38 A4 pages.

I then opened the .pdf file within Affinity Publisher.

I wanted to assign page numbers to the file, save as a new .pdf, and print.

I created a Master Page, and stipulated A4 for the page size. I created a page number group consisting of text on a white background. I managed to work out how to put the Master Page layer on top of the document page layers, but I could not see the page number group. I spent about 15 minutes trying work out WTF was going on before I finally stumbled on the fact that the master page layers were twice the height and twice the width of the .pdf pages. I pulled a work-around by reducing the size of each master page layer (38 times) just to finish the job.

So question 1: why were the A4 Master Page layers four times the size of the scanned A4 pages? (If I print the original .pdf file it will print the pages at A4 size)

Question 2: is there a way of setting the Master Page size to be the same as the existing document pages?

Question 3: have I misunderstood something about the relationship between master pages and pages?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[thomaso]

Q 2: Yes: when you created your Master Page the according options window got opened and let you set the page dimensions. After you have created the master you can right-click its icon to make a different options window appear which again allows you to set page sizes, in that window separately for existing pages.

Q 3: Master and document pages aren't related in their size. So, if you apply a master to a page it will not take the master dimensions but its content only. Th major reason for that behavior is because you can apply more than 1 master to a page (or master).

Q 1: sounds weird. Possibly some irritation initiated by the pdf creator software in the copy machine? – Can you upload the original .pdf?
In case its too large or private possibly just one page, saved from the original pdf? If yes, please check before upload whether it creates the same master page dimension issue in AfPublisher.

[faithless]

Hey, Thomaso, thanks for the reply.

I can't post even one page of the file - it's a legal document and every page is an email, with confidential contact data on it. I see that the reason you would like to look at it the file is that there could be some weirdness with its creation process - but if that was the case, one would not expect the .pdf file to print out full size on A4 sheets using, e.g., Adobe Reader (or Foxit)?

I created the file on the copier/scanner which is networked but on a different node to my computer, the scanner emails it to me, and when I printed it out on the network printer which is on my node, it came out in perfectly ordinary A4 pages.

You say 'master and document pages are not related in their size'. I don't understand this. We have a .pdf file which prints A4 pages, and so one presumes when opened in Publisher the page size is... A4. If I create a master page and assign it a size of A4, and then apply that A4 master to all the A4 pages, what is happening to make those 'A4' pages different from each other? I guess I must accept that this could be the case, but that would have to be a bug, wouldn't it? A DTP application where it is possible for a document to have only one assigned page size but where some page elements are different sizes would seem to be a recipe for problems.

I'm not trying to argue with you - I don't know enough about Affinity. But I'm hoping I can get more clarity. Maybe I can spot if I did something wrong or find a more efficient workaround.

Can I create a master page so that it is the same size as the pages that already exist? Suppose someone were just to pitch in to editing a document and then only later think: Ya know, I ought to have used Master Pages. I'll do that now'?

Thanks again.

 

[thomaso]

Possibly you can scan a few harmless papers to PDF on that machine? And possibly you can also create a new .afpub with that PDF and upload both files?

That would enable to take a look 'inside'. Consider that in a PDF different dimensions are saved, the so-called "boxes". Maybe there is a conflict between this specific printer/scanner software and Affinity with writing or reading that data? (Even though it seems hard to understand if a dimension larger than the scanned A4 papers comes up).

On 9/19/2019 at 12:39 AM, faithless said:

If I create a master page and assign it a size of A4, and then apply that A4 master to all the A4 pages, what is happening to make those 'A4' pages different from each other?

Not in that case. But in general it is possible to have different dimension for master and document pages; applying a master does not influence that page's dimension. – Hm, since we don't know yet what causes the issue in your .afpub we also can't tell whether the error happens on creation of master or document page, or at an earlier point.

If you haven't set document page dimension manually but let Affinity get it from the PDF only, I don't see yet a point what you could have done wrong or inefficient.

On 9/19/2019 at 12:39 AM, faithless said:

Can I create a master page so that it is the same size as the pages that already exist? Suppose someone were just to pitch in to editing a document and then only later think: Ya know, I ought to have used Master Pages. I'll do that now'?

Yes, you can create a master page anytime and in any size. One major issue with the UI is that you can not change the document's default dimension after you set it when creating the document: each new master wants those dimensions. To change them, you must use the "Spread Setup..." options of master or document pages. You can get there by right-clicking on one of the page icons, its options vary slightly depending on master or document page. There also you have options for scaling with a document's dimensions change.