Here’s an easy way to bring a shape (path) from Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop into QuarkXPress as a native QuarkXPress item. QuarkXPress 9 (or QuarkXPress 8 with Quark’s Print Selection XT, available here) has a hidden feature that lets you convert an embedded clipping path into an editable Bézier box within QuarkXPress. Here’s how it works:

• Copy the path from Illustrator
• Paste it into Photoshop
• Save the Photoshop file
• Import the Photoshop file into a QuarkXPress picture box (or just drag it onto a QuarkXPress page)
• In QuarkXPress, select the picture box and choose Item> New Box From Clipping

You can then edit the new Bézier box however you like:  change its shape, stroke it with a Frame, fill it with a picture, text or gradient, add a drop shadow, and so on.

This is also an incredibly handy way to get those ever-useful, built-in vector shapes from Photoshop into QuarkXPress:

If you want to get your new shape back into Adobe Illustrator, you can copy your new QuarkXPress box to a new Layout and then export the Layout in EPS format using File> Export> Layout as EPS. Then open that EPS file in Illustrator.

Jay Nelson

Jay Nelson is the editorial director of PlanetQuark.com, and the editor and publisher of Design Tools Monthly. He’s also the author of the QuarkXPress 8 and QuarkXPress 7 training titles at Lynda.com, as well as the training videos Quark includes in the box with QuarkXPress 7 . In addition, Jay writes regularly for Macworld and Photoshop User magazines and speaks at industry events.