Autoflowing images and documents

You might use autoflow to place images in repeating page layouts—either a single layout or a sequence of different layouts—such as for a lookbook or similar image gallery.

If there are insufficient pages in your document to accommodate all items, autoflow adds more pages and, if you choose to place in picture frames, it clones the layout of picture frames from existing pages to the new pages the necessary number of times. The pages remain fully and independently editable after autoflow.

Using autoflow

Autoflow is initiated by selecting two or more items on the Place panel and then interacting with the document view. The interaction you choose determines autoflow's behavior and results:

If you drag or tap outside of a picture frame:
- One item is placed per page.
- Items are placed on existing document pages, starting from where you dragged or tapped.
- If the document's last page is reached and there are still items to place, additional pages are appended, one per item.
If you tap on a picture frame:
- Affinity searches for empty picture frames, page by page, and from back to front on each page (bottom to top in the layer stack)¹.
- The search stops at the first spread that contains no empty picture frames or, if no such spread is found, at the end of the document.
- One item is placed per picture frame.
- If there aren't enough empty picture frames to place all the items, picture frames found during the search will be cloned onto new pages until all items have been placed.
- New pages are inserted after the last page/spread on which an empty picture frame was found. In a document with facing pages, if this position is:
  - in the middle of the document, new pages are added as whole spreads.
  - at the end of the document, new pages are added as individual pages.
- Each cloned page has the same master pages applied and picture frames as its corresponding source page but won't include other objects.

¹ Picture frames on the starting page that are lower in the layer stack than the one tapped are ignored. To populate all empty picture frames on the starting page, ensure you tap the one that is bottom-most in the layer stack.

To place multiple pieces of content using autoflow:

Select the Place Tool.
From the pop-up dialog, do one of the following:
- Tap Place from Files, navigate to and select the files you wish to place, then tap Open.
- Tap Place from Photos, then navigate to the photos you wish to place, tap Select, tap the photos, then tap OK.
The Place panel will appear, displaying the items you selected.
(Optional) If autoflowing pages from multi-page documents, tap Show All on the panel.
To select items for autoflow, do one of the following:
- Tap Select All on the panel to select all items.
- Tap only the items you wish to autoflow to select them.
To autoflow the selected items, do one of the following:
- Tap on the page to place each item at its default displayed size.
- Drag on the page to set the position and maximum size of placed items.
- Tap on a picture frame to use as autoflow's starting point.
The items are placed according to autoflow's defined behaviors, then removed from the panel.
If the panel contains no more items, it will close automatically. Otherwise:
- repeat from step 4 to place additional items.
- tap Cancel on the panel to cancel further placement and close the panel.

Using autoflow

SEE ALSO: