Category: Tip

QuarkXPress trick: delete pages to reassign masters

Tip1 Comment

Sometimes a well-meaning client wants to tweak a project, but messes up the assignments of master pages. Just yesterday I was working on a book and noticed that the document pages had shifted in an upredictable way.

Rather than manually dragging the pages around in the Page Layout palette, I made use of a little-known feature in QuarkXPress: when you double-click the last page in the Page Layout palette, QuarkXPress will add a new page linked to that page.

Since our chain of text boxes flowed through the entire document, all I had to do was delete the problem pages, then double-click the last page in the Page Layout palette a bunch of times. The result: new pages with fresh master page items, filled with our existing text!

(Note: I’m using QuarkXPress 10—I’m not sure when this feature was added. Also, I tried dragging the Master Page icon onto the document pages in the Page Layout palette, but that didn’t solve the problem.)

Use .docx to import hyperlinks from Word into QuarkXPress 10

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One of the new features proudly announced in QuarkXPress 10 is its ability to import hyperlinks from a Microsoft Word document. Those hyperlinks will appear underlined in blue in the QuarkXPress document to indicate their status as a hyperlink, and the hyperlinks will appear in the Hyperlinks palette. But most importantly, those hyperlinks will be included when you export the QuarkXPress document to PDF format.

However, there’s one BIG requirement: the Word document must have been saved in the “.docx” format, rather than the much older “.doc” format.

Some users are confused when they import a “.doc” format file (and rightfully so), because the hyperlinks from that document show in QuarkXPress with blue underlines, but they don’t appear in the Hyperlinks palette or when exported to PDF.

So, the bottom line is: use “.docx” format when saving from Word and all should be well.

And here’s a tip for QuarkXPress 9 users: If you can’t use QuarkXPress 10 for production quite yet, you can still take advantage of this new ability. Temporarily launch QuarkXPress 10, import the Word document, and export the QuarkXPress project down to version 9, where you can continue to work on it. Read our full tip on this topic here.

Tips for nudging items in QuarkXPress

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Many designers like to nudge items around a page by using the arrow keys on their keyboard. In QuarkXPress, each tap of the arrow key moves the selected item(s) by one point (1 pt).

But if you hold down the Shift key while pressing an arrow key, the item will move 10 times that distance, or 10 pt. The Item Tool preference lets you change that setting, or change it back to the default of 10 pt:

Prefs>Print>Tools>Item_Tool

But what if you need to move the item LESS THAN 1 pt? Just hold down the Option or Alt key while pressing the arrow keys. With each tap, you’ll move your selected item(s) by 1/10 pt (0.1 pt)!

Mastering Palette Sets in QuarkXPress 10

How-to, Learn, Tip6 Comments

You can customize the workspace in QuarkXPress 10 to an amazing degree. And for Mac users, it’s even more powerful.

For example, if you’re more comfortable with the way Microsoft and Adobe’s arrange their palettes (where the panels & options bar sit at the top of your display), you can easily do that in QuarkXPress. Just drag the title bar of the Tools palette near the top of your display, and the whole area will be highlighted in blue. Let go of your mouse button and the Tools palette will be docked to the top of your display:

Tool_palette-Top
Drag the Tools palette’s title bar near the top of your display until the blue area appears.

 

Tool_palette-Top-docked
The Tools palette is now docked to the top of your display!

 

To complete the Microsoft/Adobe look, add the Measurements palette under the Tools palette—just click the sprocket icon on the Tools palette’s title bar and choose Measurements. This creates a Palette Set that includes the Tools and Measurements palettes:

Tool-Meas_palette_set-Top
Click the sprocket to add the Measurements palette to the Tools palette as a Palette Set.

Note that you can also Turn Hiding On, which makes these palettes disappear until you mouse over the edge of your display.

Tool-Meas_palette-Top-docked
The Measurements palette is now added to the Tools palette as a Palette Set.

 

This technique of attaching palettes together also works on every palette or palette set—on both Mac and Windows computers. Just click that sprocket icon and choose the palettes you want to include or remove from the palette set:

Palette_Set_menu

To dock the Tools palette to the left side of your display, just drag its title bar into that area and release your mouse button when you see the blue area appear:

Tool_palette-Left-b
Drag the dark gray palette header…

 

Tool_palette-Left
Or drag the palette’s title bar.

 

Tool_palette-Left-docked
The Tools palette is now docked to the left side of your display.

 

You can also dock palettes and palette sets to the right or bottom edges of your display. To un-dock them, just drag them away from the edges.

When you find a palette arrangement you like, you can save it as a Palette Set to easily recall later. Just choose Window> Palette Sets> Save Palette Set As…

 Window>PaletteSets>SaveAs

 

And then give it a name, and optionally a keyboard shortcut:

SavePaletteSetAs_dialog

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In my opinion, Quark has the most advanced and efficient palette system ever developed for graphic designers. Just watch as a palette set expands and collapses palettes as you use them!

For a quick, 1-minute video showing these and other ways to customize your QuarkXPress workspace, see Quark’s video here.

QXP10_video_customize_workspace

Video: Create mirrored text in QuarkXPress

How-to, Tip, Video TutorialNo Comments

Mirror_text_movie

Quark has a 1-minute video that shows a nifty trick for creating mirrored text in QuarkXPress. Watch it here.

The technique involves converting the text to a picture box, flipping it vertically, and filling it with a linear blend from black to transparent.