Written Tutorial Issue 006

by Carl Surry
Nov 2025

First Look At The New Affinity

Hello and welcome to this written tutorial for So, it is predominately text based, but it can
Affinity by Canva. As you will all no doubt handle graphics like images and shapes with
know, Canva brought Serif and their products no problems.
- Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher.
In issue three of these tutorials, I made 10
On Oct 30th 2025, Canva released a new paged book set up that was 10x10 inch in
version, I guess you can call it version 3. But size.
now where there were three programs, now
there's just one and that one is just called In the image below, you can see on the left
Affinity. the Pages panel, with the graphical
representation of the pages.

Note that in the Layer panel on the right side

of the interface, no layers are showing.
In this issue I want to look at some of the
things you can do with the Layout (Publisher) Like I said in a previous issue, the document
Studio. The Layout Studio, is what you would area you can see on screen, is just a visual
use to make publications like books, flyers, aid, technically there is nothing there. Even
posters etc. the inner and outer guide lines are just aids.

Page 1
Those guide line are there, from when I set Note the top arrow shows that the solid
up the document in issue 3. The inner guide orange area extends visually, to the Bleed
is called the Margin, and just gives you an guide lines. The image is bigger that the
idea of where the printer may not be able to Bleed area, but you can only see things in
actually print to. side the Bleed area. Helping you to judge and
see , what will be lost when the document is
Not such a problem for my odd 10x10 inch made into a PDF or is printed.
document, but might be important if you are
doing a standard size like A4 or Legal for The lower red arrow, shows the extent of the
example. Not all home or office printers can Margin. I kept the tops of the word Affinity
print up to the edges of the paper. This and Canva, inside the top horizontal Margin
Margin guide just reminds you that you may guide line. Mainly because if a home or office
be getting close to a printers limits. It may printer is going to lose an area of print, it will
not be a problem for you, but your readers be at the top. So, I may lose some of the
printers may not be so good and will then be orange, but not the text.
a problem for them, when they want to print
out your publication. On the other hand, both the ‘A’ of Affinity and
Canva extend beyond the vertical Margin
guide lines. I am gambling that most printers
now-a-days can go that close to the side
edges of the paper.

Disclaimer

Now, before I go much further, I do want to

point out I am not a designer. I do get
criticism for the look and layout of my
tutorials (as well as the typo errors). Mainly
saying, my poor design is not a good advert
for a graphics program.

I hold my hand up for the typo’s, sorry I am

not a great speller and if the spellchecker
misses them, then so will I.

As for the design element, I do what I find

pleasing and I hope they are easy to read and
follow. I am not too bothered about, doing
The outer guide line is called the Bleed. This some fancy design thing. I will leave that to
guide line is really used if you are going to the experts.
have something going off the document area
So, bear this in mind with what follows. This
and you need to know where and what you
is not tutorial about how to design a booklet
will lose when it’s made into a PDF or sent to
or anything else.
an outside printers and will cut off anything
outside of the 10x10 inch area. I am just showing you how to do certain
things. How you use this knowledge to design
your own documents is up to you.

There are not too many (that I know of)

Affinity ‘Design’ tutorials about. Most are like
mine, a how to do something, not why you
should do something.

The one most likely to be most helpful when it

comes to designing a document is Elaine
In the image above, I have added the orange Giles.
Affinity by Canva heading I use for these
tutorials. [Link]

Page 2
Master Pages To the right of the sections name, are three
icons. These are, Add Master, Duplicate
When you start a new document in the Layout Selected Master and Delete Selected Master.
Studio, on the left is the Pages panel.
In the previous image, you can see there is
no Master Page displayed. So, I clicked on the
Add Master icon, and then a new Master Page
options panel is displayed.

It has various options, which I didn’t alter, I

This panel, gives you a visual aid to what is just clicked the OK button. This panel closed
on your documents pages, and you can and now a Master Page is showing in the
double click the various pages to go to that Master Page section.
page.

The Pages panel, it has other functions of

course, one being Master Pages. If you are
making a single paged poster or flyer, you will
most likely not use a Master Page. Which is
why (I guess), by default it starts as a closed
section. Just click on the small arrow to the
left of its name to open that section.

It has been given the name Master A, but you

can renamed it, in the Add Master panel.

Note, that although I have made a Master

Page, it is not showing up as a layer in the
Layers Panel as the first or any page in the
document.

Page 3
The Layers panel is just displaying the logo,
not the Master Page.

If I right click the view of the Master Page, a

new menu opens. One of its options is Apply
Master To Pages.

The Layers panel, is now displaying the

Master A layer. The Master Page(s) will always
be placed below all other layers.

What is a Master Page?

Now you know how to make a Master Page,

you may want to know what it is.

Unlike the other pages in your document, that

you will add text and graphics to, which will
all be different.

A Master Page, hold the items that are going

to be the same on multiple or all pages in
your document. Things like logos, page
This will open, another options panel. numbers etc.

I also use them to hold guide lines that I want

on every page, to save me having to make
them for every page.

You can make multiple Master pages. So, for

example have page numbers on every page
using Master A.

Then have a logo on every odd numbered

page using Master B.

This is what I will do with my 10x10 inch

document.

But first I will add my Guide Lines. Images

From which you can decide to just apply the and objects do not snap to the column guide
Master Page to a certain page, odd pages, lines. So I place Guide Lines where the
even pages or all pages. Plus some other columns will be on the Master A page.
options.
There may be easier and clever ways to do
I just selected all pages, and clicked on the this. My way feels a bit ham-fisted, but it
OK button to make the changes. works for me.

Page 4
I double clicked the Master A display in the To better line up the Guide Lines to the Text
Pages panel, to open that page in the main Frames guide line, I find it better to do this
image screen. zoomed in.

I then select the Text Frame Tool, and draw In the image on the left,
out a text frame to fit the size of the Margin the Text Frame guide
Guide lines. line has the white
circular node on it. If I
put the cursor over it,
with the Move Tool
selected, nothing
happens. Yet, if I put
the cursor over the Guide Line, it will change
to a double ended arrow. I just need to click
and hold the Guide Line, and move it on top
of the Text Frame line. I find the nearer I am
zoomed in the more precise it will be. I just
need to repeat this with the other three Guide
Then using the option in the Context Bar, I lines.
changed the number of columns from 1 to 2.
Once I have positioned the Guide Lines, I
Now I am not going to keep this text frame right click the Text Frame layer, in the Layers
on the Master Page. I am just going to use it panel, and delete it.
to help me place the Guide Lines.
In theory, I should be able to keep the Text
I have my Rulers active, at the top and left Frame on the Master Page to use on all the
side of the document window. To activate the document pages. I could never get that to
Rulers, use the View>Show>Rulers menu or work in Affinity Publisher, so I doubt it will
use Ctrl+r. work in Affinity. I have gotten used to doing it
this way, you may wish to give it a go.
With the Move Tool selected, I clicked and
held on the left hand ruler and dragged out a If I return to my first page with the Affinity
Guide line. I put it near one of the vertical heading (by double clicking on it in the Pages
lines of the Text Frame, I will fine tune the panel). You can see the Guide Lines, going off
position better later. I then repeated the the page on the Margin Guides outer edges
process three times. and the two down the middle.

In the image above, the new Guide Lines are This will be the same on all the pages in this
the ones going off the page area. 10x10 inch document.

Page 5
These Guide Lines are my way of making sure
items I add, like images and shapes, will snap
to (as long as Snapping is turned on) the
Guide Lines and stay within the bounds of the
columns (unless I want to make them bigger
or smaller than the columns). You can turn
Snapping on and off via the View menu. I
believe it is on by default.

I once more double clicked on the Master A

document in the Pages panel. I am now going
to add page numbers to each page.

I selected the Text Frame tool and drew a

small frame in the middle, but just under the
bottom Margin Guide line.

If you want just page numbers, don’t type

anything, but if you want the word page (or
something else) to be there, type that.

All I need to do now is, with the Move Tool,

re-position and resize the text frame so it will
sit centrally, with enough space in the frame
the word ‘page’, and the number of pages in
your document. A single number like 9 takes
up less space than 999. You will need to
position the text frame to suit the number of
pages you have.

I randomly double clicked on one of the pages

in the Pages panel, it just happened to be
Then go to the Text menu, then find, page 4.
Insert>Fields>Page Number.
As you can see the hash on the Master Page
There are other options like inserting Date is now a number on the actual page. I may
and Time, or the date the document was still tinker with its positioning, but it is OK
made. I will leave that up to you to where it is
investigate. for now.
When you select Page Number, a hash (#)
symbol will be placed into your Text Frame.
I now want
The hash symbol tells Affinity to put ever to add a
increasing numbers on each page that is second
using this particular Master Page. Master
Page.
Page 6
I clicked on the Add Master icon, in the I then right clicked the Master B page in the
Master Pages section of the Pages panel. Pages panel. Then selected, Apply Master To
Pages, to open the options panel.
When the Add Master panel opened, I kept
the Master Page name as the default Master
B.

In the image above you can see, I opted to

make Master B, appear on only odd pages. I
But I did click on the yellow colour disc in the also removed the tick from the Replace
Label section. This will colour code the Master Existing. I want both Master A and Master B
B layer in the Pages panel and later when I to appear on the odd numbered pages.
apply it to layers, in the Layers panel.

You can see

in the image
on the left,
that there is
now a yellow
dot on the
Master B In the image above, you can see that page 7
page. (and all odd pages) has a yellow line above
it’s page displayed in the Pages panel. Page 6,
I double doesn’t have the new text but page 7 does.
clicked this Then on the right, in the Layers panel. Page 7
page, to start has two layers displayed, both Master A and
adding Master B. With Master B having the yellow
something to colour coding at the end of the layer.
it. In the
image below, I have added a Text Frame Making it hopefully helpful and easier not to
below and under the left corner of the Margin mix up which layer is which, because the
Guide. I then added some text, set its colour names are so similar.
to blue. Note the yellow colour coding on the
layer in the Layers panel. I have only really scratched the surface of
what you can do with Master Pages. But I
hope this gives you some ideas, of what you
can do with them in your own projects.

You could for example, add a logo in the

middle of the pages, lower its opacity and
have it as a sort of watermark in the
background of the text you want to add.

Adding Text Frames to the pages and Text

Styles is what I will look at in the next issue.

Thanks for your support - Carl

Page 7