Affinity Studio for KDP: Mastering Margins & Auto-Flow (Step 3)

Welcome to the third installment of our series, 'Affinity Studio for KDP Publishers.' In this tutorial, Igor demonstrates the essential steps for transitioning from a raw manuscript to a professional book layout by mastering margin settings and automated text flow.

About This Video
Building on our previous steps of cleaning your manuscript and initial document setup, this video focuses on the technical 'heavy lifting' of layout design. You will learn how to configure margins that account for book binding (gutters) and how to use Affinity Publisher’s 'magic' auto-flow feature to import hundreds of pages of text in seconds.

Key Steps Demonstrated

Precision Margin Setup: Learn why unlinking your margin settings is crucial for professional formatting.

Recommended Print Margins:

Inner (Gutter): 0.75 in to 1.0 in to ensure text doesn't get lost in the binding.
Outer: 0.5 in for a clean look.
Top & Bottom: 0.75 in to leave room for headers and page numbers.

The Auto-Flow 'Magic' Trick: Discover how to avoid the tedious task of manual page creation. By holding Shift and clicking the red triangle on your text frame, Affinity Publisher will automatically generate the exact number of pages needed for your entire manuscript.

Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction to document margins
00:23 – Accessing Document Setup
00:43 – Adjusting Inner, Outer, Top, and Bottom margins
01:28 – Preparing your 'clean' manuscript for import
01:45 – Creating the primary Text Frame
01:58 – Importing text via File, Place
02:22 – The Magic Trick: Using Shift + Click to auto-flow text and generate pages
02:51 – Verifying the import is complete (The Blue Triangle)

The Full Series

Step 1: Cleaning your Manuscript Formatting
Step 2: Correct Paperback Setup (Trim Size & Facing Pages)
Step 3: Mastering Margins & Auto-Flow (This Video)

Software: Affinity Studio free