Alfred's Serif Users' Forums — Some boxes go to front and won't allow anything in front of them

Re: Some boxes go to front and won't allow anything in front of them

2025-05-06T03:25:49Z

I do not see those problems. Text frames, shaped text frames, and quick shapes can be positioned over or under each other in any order, whether touching or not.

You say you are not using layers, but you are! Only one layer perhaps, but if you check the Layers tab you will see a list of all the objects on it. They are listed in the order front to back, and may be reordered by dragging them in the Layers tab.

You cannot change a shaped frame back to a quick shape, but you can convert it to a graphic.

Re: Some boxes go to front and won't allow anything in front of them

2025-05-06T01:05:03Z

When I create the boxes using the default toolbar on the left, PagePlus calls them "Quick Rectangle". The textboxes it calls "Standard Text Frame".

As far as I can tell they aren't locked. When I right-click and choose Arrange, one of the choices is "Lock Objects".

I'm not using layers.

Oh--I think I've narrowed it down. I see that it's possible to unwittingly convert Quick Rectangles to Shaped Text Frames by inadvertently typing within them. Then the behavior happens apparently depending what the Shaped Text Frame is touching. I have an example that I just converted (on purpose), and if I slide it over to touch another Shaped Text Frame, it goes to the top and won't allow standard text frames to appear on top of it. But if I slide it away from any other Shaped Text Frame, it does allow standard text frames to appear on top of it.

I don't see away to deconvert Shaped Text Frames back to Quick Rectangles, but I can go through and recreate them, making sure not to inadvertently type within them. But just out of curiosity, is there a way to make these Shaped Text Frames allow standard text frames to appear on top of them even if they are touching another Shaped Text Frame?

Re: Some boxes go to front and won't allow anything in front of them

2025-05-05T23:56:41Z

I'm not sure what you mean by "boxes" and "text boxes". I guess the latter are text frames, but what are the other boxes? Graphics?

How about a sample file that illustrates this problem?

Do you have layers and/or objects locked?

Some boxes go to front and won't allow anything in front of them

2025-05-05T17:41:11Z

I have a PagePlus X9 project with lots of boxes and lots of textboxes. Sometimes the boxes will go to the front and then never allow anything to be arranged in front of them.

Once the problem happens, it doesn't help to tell the box to go back one, or to go to the back. It just stays at the front.

I've tried replacing the boxes but often the same thing happens to the new box.

Any suggestions?