Affinity Publisher 1.9 is out!
While there is several new features and improvements, two things pop out: Package and Data Merge.
The Package feature is finally here and I tried it. Thumbs up!
It package fonts and images just like InDesign.
Interesting is that when you open the folder with the package files, it saves a copy of the Affinity Publisher (.afpub) as a package document (.afpackage) which you can open in Affinity Publisher.
And my understanding is just like InDesign, Publisher loads the fonts temporary while working on the document.
So this is a huge step! I believe more people, especially those that want to dump Adobe, will flock to AP.
Then there is Data Merge!
Was kinda surprised that this feature came around sooner, but don't get excited. I already found a problem with it.
When importing a mailing list with empty fields for envelopes, there is no place to tell it to skip the empty field like you can in InDesign.
So you end up with a AP document that has blank address lines. So you have to go through and delete the blank lines.
Kinda disappointed but hope that Serif fix that soon or maybe I am missing something. Maybe there is a work around.
But I do believe more people will start to use Affinity Publisher over time.
-Joe
Cool, I need to update. I'd honestly not done anything with it since the first release.
This is first time I am trying PUblisher (I've had Designer since beta days) and big news is that allows "passthrough" for placed PDF's.
That was kind of let down since it was "re-frying" your PDFs and screwing embedded fonts, not it can pass PDF intact through.
I downloaded trial and will be testing it for 90 days, thanks to new offer but I am already inclining to pay.
What I see in the future will be challenge of Adobe fonts, but we'll cross that bridge.
Now, if someone can come up with Acrobat replacement, that would be really something that would be something...
Quote from: zox on February 07, 2021, 03:09:40 PM
This is first time I am trying PUblisher (I've had Designer since beta days) and big news is that allows "passthrough" for placed PDF's.
That was kind of let down since it was "re-frying" your PDFs and screwing embedded fonts, not it can pass PDF intact through.
I downloaded trial and will be testing it for 90 days, thanks to new offer but I am already inclining to pay.
What I see in the future will be challenge of Adobe fonts, but we'll cross that bridge.
Now, if someone can come up with Acrobat replacement, that would be really something that would be something...
I think they should hook up with Google Fonts just like they did with Unsplash, Pixabay, and Pexels.
I know this thread is old BUT...
We just got a job that was designed with Affinity Publisher.
Has anyone else used this application and what thoughts do you have on it.
I have it. It works. Can't beat the price but you get what you pay for. If I was still working professionally I would go with Adobe CC. But I am just a poor retiree so that is what I have. ;D
Quote from: RMPrepress on July 13, 2022, 02:19:16 PMI know this thread is old BUT...
We just got a job that was designed with Affinity Publisher.
Has anyone else used this application and what thoughts do you have on it.
We don't use it at work because of some limitations with the pdf "distiller".
Also, it can't open InDesign-Layouts, making a switch long and tedious
I think it can open IDML documents from InDesign. Unless they dropped that functionality. Never really had a need for it so I don't know how well it worked.
Quote from: Joe on July 14, 2022, 06:43:55 AMI think it can open IDML documents from InDesign. Unless they dropped that functionality. Never really had a need for it so I don't know how well it worked.
I think you're right.
So, as I said tedious. Each time you'd have to re-do something or update some dates or else, you'de either have to do it with pitStop or convert the File with InDesign first, which basically means we'd have to still pay adobe for like 5 years until all of our database has been converted or outated. I think it'll never happen but it would be amazing. I mean, 50 bucks for DTP is unbeatable
Thanks guys.
Downloaded the trial and it looks interesting especially the way they have integrated their versions of Photoshop and Illustrator right into Affinity Publisher. One thing i noticed right away is how much quicker it is compared to InDesign.
It seems to be gaining some traction out there as the reviews are very positive.
It has only been out about two years so Im sure it will only get better.
Who knows could be a scenario like 15 - 20 years ago when InDesign came along and slowly but surely squeezed out Quark as the de facto page layout/desktop application.
Quote from: RMPrepress on July 14, 2022, 06:59:20 AMThanks guys.
Downloaded the trial and it looks interesting especially the way they have integrated their versions of Photoshop and Illustrator right into Affinity Publisher. One thing i noticed right away is how much quicker it is compared to InDesign.
It seems to be gaining some traction out there as the reviews are very positive.
It has only been out about two years so Im sure it will only get better.
Who knows could be a scenario like 15 - 20 years ago when InDesign came along and slowly but surely squeezed out Quark as the de facto page layout/desktop application.
Yeah, the Persona function is amazeballs.
I sure hope it does. It doesn't really sit right with me giving adobe money in the light of what they've done to my lovely Substance Designer :(
We'd use it here (would save us over $3,000 a year) except in the trial I couldn't find a way to view separations or check ink density. Another weird issue was that the data-merge issue of blank lines hasn't been addressed (the ability to skip empty fields/blank lines hasn't been added in). Lastly, data merge makes files insanely huge, but I didn't test that with master pages to see if it didn't make the file huge - it crashed on my m1 mac mini at work and filled the hard drive with what I imagine was a temp file, then when I rebooted it went back to previous hard disk space.
Besides that I liked the program a lot.
Yup! Stumps me how simple things like that can (must be) so difficult to implement.
Official suggestion is to write a PDF and then check it in Acrobat/reader.
Way to go for the "Adobe-Killer" smgdh
Been waiting for a blend tool like in Illustrator for Designer for years. A lot of these versatile vector functions that don't even seem that complicated. Blender is free software, and dealing with this stuff effortlessly and in more sophisticated ways, and it's free.
If I could mangle points and anchors in a vector program the way i could in blender, my Illustration productivity would go up at least 150 %
EDIT: Oh, did I mention blender does it in THREE DIMENSIONS? That's one more than necessary! Yes, bezier curves, not just wavefronts!
Quote from: bornrd on July 19, 2022, 02:14:42 AMYup! Stumps me how simple things like that can (must be) so difficult to implement.
You have to remember that the people doing the coding don't really know the ins and outs of what they are coding for. That is the biggest reason why a lot of software doesn't work exactly as we think it should. Hello Adobe....
Quote from: Joe on July 19, 2022, 07:20:06 AMQuote from: bornrd on July 19, 2022, 02:14:42 AMYup! Stumps me how simple things like that can (must be) so difficult to implement.
You have to remember that the people doing the coding don't really know the ins and outs of what they are coding for. That is the biggest reason why a lot of software doesn't work exactly as we think it should. Hello Adobe....
That is also the reason why blender adds more amazing features avery 3 months as if it's the second coming of christ.
The power of open source and community!
So I use Affinity Publisher a fair amount in my shop. It does some things really well. I use it to check fold panels, it gets insanely high percentages. If I have a PDF that need real editing, it's really pretty great, for the most part.
I have thrown hail Mary's and won and intercepted to the opposition when all I had to do was sit on the ball. But that being said, it's not ready for prime time, but has it's purposes. Hey, they have Pantone!
I had a 1 color job that i had to adjust the panels for folding and it would process the file out no matter what. That sucked. I have a job we take in regularly that comes in process that should be k + 368. I set up Master pages and it's worked great. Has cut time down on a number of jobs to next to nothing.
It won't replace InDesign, but it can work along it, and in some ways is way better. I use it a lot to check for folio placement and it's great set up one page and check em. I like it a lot.
I don't think any of us mind Adobe getting some real competition.
Quote from: Possum on April 06, 2023, 01:49:40 PMI don't think any of us mind Adobe getting some real competition.
Exactly.
Thinking about using non standardized programs comes with some issues. I think partly the known issues of the industry standard programs leads many to believe they are perfect, when in fact we do little workarounds that once seemed so big, and learning, really learning a program is hard, to each their own.
I laud Serif for having the temerity to do what they think is right. Personally, I love both Publisher and Designer a lot. Photo, well lets just say, it's not always easy for me, a curves photo imaging kinda guy compared to that behemoth!!
Type engine could be better, some fonts get all kinds a whacky and have to be outlined to export well (fun fun fun~!), but I am trying to learn it. You could do worse with a page layout program (quark since who knows when!!, what happened to that once great program!!?) than Publisher.
I do use Publisher as pdf editor as well, it's pretty neat, it gets the page sizes right, you embedd then edit. it's pretty neat.
I never thought about using it to edit supplied PDFs, might give it a go and see how it handles font mappings from a customer supplied file. That part makes me a little uneasy.
Ya know if ya got a client who wants work done in page layout program (switching vendors, wonder why!!) but only has a PDF this is a great way of getting there. It is not perfect, Affinity Suite is not ready for Prime Time, but it's good if you have no other choices.
Serifs forum is kinda hideous, but there is some good knowledge there too.
Found a perfect work job for Affinity 2.04. digital (this way I can fix it in InDesign if need be after proofing) job that was sent both sides on a letter size sheet (I mean, c'mon like I have to do your diaper clean up again?). Drop n crop 11 sets to 22 half letter sheets. Nice and quick.
I will keep it going as the confidence level rises. Honestly, when disaster hits I usually put it a way for a bit, but it's like I am a fly to flame with Affinity software. Hurt me more.
In case anyone uses the affinity forums...
QuoteDear Affinity forum member (XXXXX),
Unfortunately we have become aware that personal data relating to users of the Affinity Forums (https://forum.affinity.serif.com/ (https://serif.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f5f6238157b5f39ffc969a9a3&id=be18701eda&e=0617c5c71c)) may have been accessed from outside the company following a cyber attack on 6 April 2023. It appears that an administrator's account was compromised, allowing access to our forum members list.
What data was accessed?
The data which may have been accessed is what is on your public forum profile (e.g. username, post count, reputation, joining date, etc.), but additionally includes your Email Address and Last Used IP Address which would ordinarily be private. Thankfully we can be sure it would not have been possible to access your forum account password so that has definitely not been compromised in this breach.
Please also be reassured that any information accessed does not include any financial data, purchase history, physical addresses, phone numbers or anything else held within your main Affinity account / AffinityID. The forum is a standalone system which is completely separate from your Affinity account.
We cannot tell what proportion of our forum members' email addresses were accessed – and it's possible this does not affect you in anyway – but we are making all members aware as a precaution.
We have reported this incident to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as well as taken immediate steps to make the forum system more secure to avoid this type of attack in future.
What should you do?
We do not think you need to do anything, other than be mindful that this happened and to follow general advice around email and online account security.
One thing to be particularly diligent with is possible email "phishing" attempts. This will be when someone contacts you pretending to be us, requesting you change your password or give other account information to them. If you are concerned about any email being legitimate, don't click any links in the email. If you wish to update any of your forum account details type forum.affinity.serif.com into your browser and log into your account from there to be sure.
Generally, if you do receive any suspicious email which you think could have originated via this breach (for example if an email you receive addresses you by your forum username) please let us know.
If you wish to make any such reports or have any further questions, then please contact us at dataprotection@serif.com (mailto:dataprotection@serif.com?subject=Affinity%20Forum%20Data%20Breach). Full details of Serif's Privacy Policy are available on our website https://affinity.serif.com/privacy/ (https://serif.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f5f6238157b5f39ffc969a9a3&id=d4e8a877b3&e=0617c5c71c).
Customer data security is something we take extremely seriously and, while cyber attacks are an unfortunate reality of doing business today, we are incredibly sorry that your data may have been accessed in this way.
Sincerely,
Ashley Hewson (Managing Director)
Patrick Connor (Data Protection Officer)
So lets add one to Affinity for being a hail Mary toss and saving the day!
So owners wifes friend had a file for a job that is due tomorrow, a 40 page playbill (41, actually LOL, ditched one page) self. My place is very particular about stuff and generally do not take these kinds of rush jobs. Customers printer broke, first n prolly only job :) we will do!
So PDF comes in no bleed, all images. well I gotta get that cover n back to at least bleed.
Well here is Affinity to the rescue. With ID or any other page layout you gotta bring each page in, time consuming, then check that they are in right position. Yadda Yadda. Well Infinity is different, open Publisher then file new and go to the pdf and it opens it right up. Well I did some creative work on the cover to attain bleed (made pdf 5.75 x 8.75) and reduced ad pages to an acceptable margin and pdf proof made in short order.
I can't say I rely on Publisher as there are some funny items with it, but if all I have is a PDF and I need to do some major editing, it's becoming used more regularly.
So upon my last conquest, I hit some low hanging fruit, a Photoshop PDF that had process black type (NOICE!) and was not the correct size with bleed top and bottom. Boom. Worked fine, but this is low hanging fruit. I expect most page layout programs handle this.
So an issue comes up.
I have been using Publisher for fold panel checks, well now the updated pdfs don't move ;)
Arrrgghhhh.
I'll restart my computer and see if that somehow does the trick
2.1 update – May 2023 (https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/whats-new/?utm_source=serifemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2_1_update&utm_id=us&utm_content=v2_owners)
So just got an interesting item perfect for Affinity Publisher.
we do small folders run on our digital press. Customer has just sent a pdf only this go round. have to add text and photo. Guess what? Only half bleed going one way :). So I "File" open instead of import and I have all the fonts, we are good to go!
Makee the bleed, give enough bleed for die where it needs it, change the type, add the photo. Actual work about 6 minutes vs at least half hour in pitstop, plus I have easy live type to work with in case there are any changes.
Affinity Publisher (awful name, btw) is an up and down program for me, but sometimes I do force it. It's really pretty slick. Where text did reflow it actually was better than the pdf that was from InDesign.
so it opens the pdf and then it is live text? hmm that is interesting
Yes it does. But there is a cool thing too, you can open a pdf (say a catolog) the whole enchillada or import and embedd then edit the pdf from inside. It's really pretty danged cool.
Now fair warining, there are workarounds that have to be learned that are not what we in prepress would normally have to do, but it's very powerful for a number of situations.
So I had an interesting issue yesterday, with hair falling out of my head precipitously yesterday. Affinity Publisher 1.1.1 the latest and greatest! Well, file won't bleed for an envelope. Try as I might, was terrible. Then I put it into InDesign cause it's the master of the univers, right? Well blah blah blah, same!! WTF! So, some dummy forgot to use the bleed setup in Elecroc. Any guesses? 8)
Quote from: Rodi on July 14, 2023, 09:00:07 AMAffinity Publisher 1.1.1 the latest and greatest!
Latest and greatest is version 2.1.
Quote from: Joe on July 14, 2023, 09:44:37 AMQuote from: Rodi on July 14, 2023, 09:00:07 AMAffinity Publisher 1.1.1 the latest and greatest!
Latest and greatest is version 2.1.
Giambattista Bodoni was a great printer from Parma. His printing was excellent, however, his pages were strewn with typos!!
Quote from: Rodi on July 26, 2023, 09:07:21 AMQuote from: Joe on July 14, 2023, 09:44:37 AMQuote from: Rodi on July 14, 2023, 09:00:07 AMAffinity Publisher 1.1.1 the latest and greatest!
Latest and greatest is version 2.1.
Giambattista Bodoni was a great printer from Parma. His printing was excellent, however, his pages were strewn with typos!!
I think he also invented the chicken parma. ;D ;D ;D
Quote from: Rodi on July 26, 2023, 09:07:21 AMQuote from: Joe on July 14, 2023, 09:44:37 AMQuote from: Rodi on July 14, 2023, 09:00:07 AMAffinity Publisher 1.1.1 the latest and greatest!
Latest and greatest is version 2.1.
Giambattista Bodoni was a great printer from Parma. His printing was excellent, however, his pages were strewn with typos!!
Hey Rodi, what's that guitar and what's it's significance? Just wondering is all
Hey pspdfppdfxhd,
It's a wonderful guitar made by Mike Shishkov, formerly of Hamer guitars. He builds them one at a time, with master skills, excellent design great wood and great hardware. Top is Sitka, Hondouran Mahogany body, real brazillian rosewood fretboard (from out growth, perfectly legal). The pickups are fantastic, medium output single/humbucker (with a push pull for another single coil) that is close to 1980s Hamer pickups.
Also 25.5" Scale.
I also have a double cut Jr model by him.
So, I had a pdf of a job with type 1 fonts, Oh the humanity. Well. I took into Affinity Publisher and was able to do the changes (a letterhead and second sheet, which was changed to a combo, nice exact repeat work!) much easier than editing in Pitstop/Acrobat (if I told you what version of Pitstop I'd have to kill you). Short order, it kept the spots and now it's a page layout file and en exported pdf.
I keep using it more and more for these kinds of things. I figure if I have to spend time on a file, I may as well bite the bullet once and then get a good file out of it.
So Affinity Suite is up to 2.31.
I am now using it quite regularly for simple items. Since there are so few production users that I know of, I have to come up with the solutions to problems or ditch it in favor of InDesign, which happens at times. Presently, for me the biggest issue is in exporting to PDF for right spot colors and not processing out of items that should be black and the links are correct. It's work. Affinity is great, but works in it's own way, and sometimes its frustrating. Sometimes it's just stupid how they get from one point to another, for me.
you seem to be a person that likes to tackle problems!!
I know they have a Forum, do they take any kind of usability Suggestions? Seems like you have a pretty decent working knowledge of the app, I've only ever fired it up at home on occasion to mess around.
Quote from: Tracy on January 09, 2024, 09:14:27 AMyou seem to be a person that likes to tackle problems!!
It's forced upon me, have to figure out how to get files to plate... and given the negative budget, I gotta get it done. I work in a trade shop, it's ugly sometimes, and it's up to me for a lot because the next guy down the line may not have the way to fix it... I fail enough of the time, lol.
Quote from: Slappy on January 09, 2024, 12:10:28 PMI know they have a Forum, do they take any kind of usability Suggestions? Seems like you have a pretty decent working knowledge of the app, I've only ever fired it up at home on occasion to mess around.
Forum is a mess over there, I post occasionally, but it's not a pro kinda thing. However they answer some good technical questions like how far from the decimal will go 0.123 is standard but 0.123456 .
They can't answer this plaguing issue for me that happens since publisher came out. One color (Pantone) PDF adjusted for folds, well if it happens to be the same file twice and they touch, it goes to process... Now I just skip it or do other stupid workarounds... but it's a good little program. On font snob sites they decry how the fonts are done, but they don't question lack of spot colors in Adobe.
So I bought a brand new computer for home, a cheapie, and ACER 1780 I5 13400 processor, but I added 32Gig of Ram and will add a 4 Terabyte internal SSD at some point. It has changed my relationship with the Affinity Suite for the better! Many issues I had with Affinity Suite was in crashing and performance, but my old Dell was only letting one program at a time work....
So I would suggests to any prepress types to look into it for one reason... PANTONE Colors... It is kooky and crazy that a little program can slay the king in this critical area.
When the desktop revolution started there was a claim of doing all work in one package (layout, vectors and rasters) and I have worked on two other programs that tried (Canvas big fail!, Oris PDF Tuner, works but costly) Affinity hits a sweetspot. They have a cool robust brush plug in community too... Though I buy em and forget em, lol.
All good things must die...
Screenshot 2024-03-26 at 6.42.00 AM.png
:shoots_self:
Time to go sit behind an elephant and wait for it to take a dump so that my morning is complete. I use affinity at home. Dammit....
I've been using this at home for about a year and was just getting used to it. This is terrible news. Get ready for the switch to a subscription model.
According to the FAQ page it will not change anything in version 2.x. It says nothing about version 3.x though.
Exactly. I've worked at way too many print shops where they get bought up (swallowed) by a bigger company. They always say nothing will change but things always change. I believe Canva is a subscription model.
It makes me believe there may not even be a version 3. Canva may just swallow the products up by then.
:o :donotlook:
UPDATE:
Screenshot 2024-03-27 at 7.57.20 AM.png
Screenshot 2024-03-27 at 7.57.38 AM.png
Screenshot 2024-03-27 at 7.57.54 AM.png
Can't see why you'd choose the subscription unless the perpetual version license is going up significantly and you don't have the full wad of cash at the time, or they are saying Canva integration is only with the subscription to both services.
The game changer here is pledge #3. Giving out the Affinity suite for free to schools and non-profits will create a new generation of users who only know Affinity. It may not happen in my lifetime but this could kill the dynasty that is Adobe. I hope it is successful as Adobe became greedy once they became the only game in town (sorry Quark). Time will tell.
Quote from: jv58 on March 27, 2024, 12:45:40 PMThe game changer here is pledge #3. Giving out the Affinity suite for free to schools and non-profits will create a new generation of users who only know Affinity. It may not happen in my lifetime but this could kill the dynasty that is Adobe. I hope it is successful as Adobe became greedy once they became the only game in town (sorry Quark). Time will tell.
They were always greedy. Their plan was always to destroy their competition and then stick it to the users. Worked like a charm.
That is terrible news!
Well, at least I can still work it out on Windows 11.
For all the things it has done right, this isn't one of them!
Canva is a no win situation from my perch.
Doomed.
Quote from: Rodi on March 27, 2024, 05:42:58 PMThat is terrible news!
Well, at least I can still work it out on Windows 11.
For all the things it has done right, this isn't one of them!
Canva is a no win situation from my perch.
I don't think they're merging the 2, maybe Canva wanted an entry into the desktop arena & this is the easiest way to do that? Time will tell.
I hope you're right. Something like using a stripped down version of Photo and Designer to create the assets you lay out in canva online, but the standalone desktop tools stay basically as they are. I'm not holding my breath at all, but I don't wanna look like a smurf for my final moments, but I hold out hope...