Category: Quark

QuarkXPress 2017 Now Available

Feature, News, Quark, QuarkXPress 2017, UpgradeNo Comments

New Version of QuarkXPress Introduces Non-Destructive Image Editing and Adds the Ability to Create Responsive HTML5 Publications and “Unlimited” iOS Apps; Continues to be Available as a Perpetual Lifetime License – No Subscription Necessary!

Quark Software Inc. announced the official availability of QuarkXPress 2017, the newest version of Quark’s fully-integrated graphic design and desktop publishing software for professional print and digital production.

QuarkXPress 2017 introduces new graphics and image editing capabilities, such as non-destructive image editing, and extends text and typography features, such as text stroking and shading. The new version includes a range of the top user-requested features and continues to be sold as a perpetual license.

New Features Delivered
Hundreds of thousands of users around the world who value quality and performance choose QuarkXPress as one of their primary design tools based on its performance, stability, sustainable pricing structure, and consistent feature innovation. QuarkXPress 2017 delivers on all counts with new powerful features that span image and vectors, typography and text, digital publishing, and many new customer wish list features.

Major Highlights
Just a few of the many new features in QuarkXPress 2017 include:

  • Non-destructive Image Editing: Edit images by adjusting levels and curves, changing brightness and contrast, applying gamma correction and much more. All adjustments are non-destructive, so original images stay intact.
  • Adaptive Layout Conversion for Print and Digital: QuarkXPress supports the rapid conversion of print layouts into digital media or even from one print layout to another. Adaptive conversion lets designers duplicate a layout and automatically resize all design elements, even if the layout is converted to different aspect ratios.
  • Responsive HTML5 Publications (Multi Device Output): QuarkXPress 2017 can export multiple digital layouts of different sizes as a single HTML5 package. For example, designers can create a layout for an iPad (vertical and horizontal orientations), duplicate the layout using Adaptive Settings for an iPhone and adjust it accordingly.
  • Convert to Native Objects Enhancements: With the introduction of this game-changing feature, QuarkXPress is the first layout application to convert almost any third party content and layout such as PDF, Adobe Illustrator, EPS, InDesign and Microsoft Office files to native, editable QuarkXPress objects. Based on user feedback, this capability has now been greatly enhanced. For example, converted images can optionally be saved to disk and linked to the QuarkXPress layout, keeping their resolution, color model, and color profiles.
  • “Unlimited” Free iOS Apps: Use the QuarkXPress digital layout capabilities to create innovative interactive experiences, all 100% based on HTML5. Now designers can create as many single iOS apps as they would like. No subscription, no per-app fee, all done directly from within QuarkXPress 2017. ˚‡

These are just a few of the many new features included in QuarkXPress 2017. For more information please visit: www.quark.com. For a comprehensive overview of QuarkXPress 2017, check out the What’s New video. Download the free Trial Version for a fully-functional test of the new version.

QuarkXPress 2017: Switch, Upgrade, or Purchase a New License
To purchase or upgrade to QuarkXPress 2017, visit the Quark eStore, call Quark Telesales, or find an Authorised Quark Reseller.

Upgrade or Purchase: Users on any previous version of QuarkXPress (versions 3-10 and 2015) can upgrade to version 2017 for $399/£345/€399. QuarkXPress 2016 users can upgrade to 2017 for only $185/£159/€185, and new licenses are available for $849/£709/€829. Education licenses are available for $79/£69/€79.

Switch with the New Competitive Upgrade Offer: For a limited time, users of alternative graphic design software products who want to switch or add QuarkXPress to their workflow can purchase a full new license of QuarkXPress 2017 (Mac/Win) for just $399/£345/€399.

With eligible proof of ownership of a qualifying competing product, any designer can get a new full QuarkXPress 2017 license for the low price of an upgrade. Eligible products are: InDesign®,  FrameMaker®, Lightroom®, PageMaker®, Photoshop®, Capture One® Pro, CorelDraw®, Microsoft® Publisher, and Serif PagePlus®. All versions of qualifying products are accepted including, perpetual and subscription licenses, single products, or licenses that are part of a Creative Suite or Creative Cloud®. To learn more about the competitive upgrade offer please visit: http://content.quark.com/switch-to-quarkxpress-us.html.

˚ Restrictions apply
‡ Own Webserver/Domain is required

How to see previews of QuarkXPress documents – even without having QuarkXPress running or installed

How-to, Learn, Plug-in, QuarkXPress 10, QuarkXPress 2015, QuarkXPress 2016, QuarkXPress 2017, QuarkXPress 9, TipNo Comments

QuickLook / Quick View images and other files

Often you need to see a preview of documents that you have on Mac. With images that’s easy, by setting the right preferences MacOS / OS X will show you thumbnails of images and even previews when you select an image and hit the spacebar.

That’s possible because Apple built an interesting technology into MacOS / OS X called QuickLook.

QuickLook can either create or extract previews in certain file types and present them to you, so that it is easier to find out whether it is the right file.

JPG, PDF, movies, audio files, text files and many more.

What about QuarkXPress documents?

You might not have QuarkXPress running or need to visually see a QuarkXPress document on a Mac where you do not have QuarkXPress installed.

On Macs, where you have QuarkXPress installed, this is easy, just hit the spacebar. As QuarkXPress will have installed a QuickLook plug-in on first launch, Finder can show you thumbnails and previews of QuarkXPress documents.

On Macs, where you do not have QuarkXPress installed, you can install a free QuickLook plug-in (made by Quark) to also see previews and thumbnails of QuarkXPress documents. Here’s an extract of an article on forums.quark.com:

Free QuickLook plug-in to preview QuarkXPress projects
This will allow you to see thumbnails of QuarkXPress Projects (.qxp) in Finder and also provide a QuickLook preview.
This works for .qxp files created with QuarkXPress 7, 8, 9, 10, 2015 and 2016; regardless whether you have QuarkXPress installed or not.

1. Download the zipped QuickLook plug-in: Click to download QXP QuickLook plug-in

2. Unzip it.(Unzip by double-clicking the downloaded file.)

3. Navigate to folder /Library/QuickLook/(That’s the main ‘Library’ folder on your Macintosh HD.)

4. Put the QuickLook plug-in into this folder.(So copy the file ‘QuarkXPress.qlgenerator’ there. Finder will probably ask you for permission. If you already find one in there, replace it.)

5. Log off and log on again.

—

(To test whether it works, you can download a sample QXP file: Click to download sample QXP)

And what about “exotic” file formats?

If you have other file formats that you often need to preview and out-of-the-box MacOS doesn’t handle them, then have a look at the following great site, it lists all known QuickLook plug-ins – free and commercial – available for MacOS / OS X:

http://www.quicklookplugins.com/

How to open older QuarkXPress Documents

Learn, Quark, QuarkXPress 10, QuarkXPress 20155 Comments

How do you open QuarkXPress documents that you have maybe created ten years ago or even in the early 90’s?

If you are using QuarkXPress 9 (or below) that’s not an issue, as QuarkXPress 9 opens all previous files from version 3 to 9.

However with version 10, QuarkXPress has cut some fat and removed the legacy technology (e.g. the non-Unicode type engines) of QuarkXPress 6 and below. Remember, with version 7 QuarkXPress introduced OpenType and Unicode, smoothly rendered type display, glyphs that could hang outside the text box, basically everything you don’t want to miss nowadays anymore.

So how do you open older QuarkXPress documents with QuarkXPress 10 or QuarkXPress 2015 or newer?

If your document was last saved with version 7, 8 or 9, it’s no problem you can just open them directly. However, what of you still have documents last saved in version 6 or even v3?

Then the QuarkXPress Document Converter comes to the rescue. It basically is version of QuarkXPress 9 without user interface. It opens older documents, version 3.1, 4, 5 or 6, and resaves them in the version 9 format. And then QuarkXPress 10 and 2015 can open the converted document.

Even better, if you have a bunch of documents, then QuarkXPress Document Converter can batch convert them:
QDC_10
(just use the right button to point it to the folder with subfolders that contains your QuarkXPress documents)

QuarkXPress Document Converter will not overwrite your files, instead it will create a copy, so that your original file stays untouched.

And of course QuarkXPress Document Converter is free of charge and runs on OS X and Windows, up to El Capitan and Windows 10. You can download it here: http://www.quark.com/Support/Downloads/Search_Results.aspx?pid=1&ftid=3

Please note that if you are using a file extension to classify your files, then the correct file extension for QuarkXPress 3, 4 and 5 documents is .qxd, for QuarkXPress 6 it is .qxp. Otherwise the QuarkXPress Document Converter might not recognize the file correctly.

Bottomline:

  • You are using QuarkXPress 9 (or below)?
    -> You can directly open all documents up to v9.
  • You are using QuarkXPress 10 (or higher)?
    -> You can directly open all documents from version 7 onward.
    -> And for documents last saved in version 6 or below use the QuarkXPress Document Converter first.

Future versions of QuarkXPress

QuarkXPress 7 was the first version of QuarkXPress that uses a modern type engine (Unicode, OpenType), that’s why we decided to make the cut to not incorporate the old type engine in modern versions of QuarkXPress.

Good news are that going forward this means that also future versions of QuarkXPress – like for example QuarkXPress 2016 or QuarkXPress 2018 – will continue to be able to open documents from QuarkXPress 7 or newer.

New Facebook Group about QuarkXPress

Learn, UsergroupNo Comments

QuarkXPress’ Facebook Group was founded 3 months ago today.

Here’s some history about it:

A bit over three months ago, customers asked Quark why we don’t create a Facebook Group for QuarkXPress.

Quark already had a Facebook Page for QuarkXPress, so I first was hesitant. The Facebook Page is handled by Quark’s Social Media team and “pushes” out news and information about and around QuarkXPress. Sure, Facebook pages also allow a back channel, via comments or a “post to page” at the side, however both is not very prominent. A Facebook Page still feels dominated by the creator of the page, it feels like a push channel. So I was hesitant to create “just another page”.

When I looked at Facebook Groups, it felt like this could be different. A bit more like forums, more user interaction, as everybody can post on the main page.

So exactly three months ago, on July 21, 2015, I created the QuarkXPress Group on Facebook, a bit of an experiment and to see whether that is valuable for QuarkXPress users and fans.

And it was. Almost 700 members after one month, currently at 870 members and every day another fan or user asks to join. So this Group will stay and has become an important communication method between the QuarkXPress team at Quark and QuarkXPress users. And it also helps QuarkXPress users and fans to communicate with each other.

There are many posts by the members of the group, sharing memories of QuarkXPress 3, asking questions on how to do something in QuarkXPress 10 or QuarkXPress 2015, seeking help or participating in small polls. For example an ongoing Facebook Group poll asked about the best version of QuarkXPress so far, and 66% think that it’s QuarkXPress 2015 (see here). And it feels a bit like a QuarkXPress User Group. Another poll asks which feature is more important and thus directly influencing development at Quark.

And it even spans into the real world, when I presented at a tradeshow in Birmingham last week, five members of the QuarkXPress Facebook Group came to the show to talk to me in person.

 

So if you are a QuarkXPress user, fan or just want to see what’s going on,
why don’t you join the group?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/quarkxpress/

 

QuarkXPressFacebookGroup

QuarkXPress 2015 now supported on El Capitan

News, Quark, QuarkXPress 20152 Comments

Quark just released the El Capitan Update for QuarkXPress 2015.

Just run Auto Updater inside QuarkXPress or use the following link to download the El Capitan Update for QuarkXPress 2015:
http://www.quark.com/Support/Downloads/Details.aspx?fid=322

And Quark is getting quicker when it comes to adding support for new versions of OS X:

  • When Apple released Mountain Lion, it Quark 19 days to release an officially supported version of QuarkXPress (which was QuarkXPress 9.3.1)
  • When Apple released Mavericks, it took Quark 17 days to release an officially supported version of QuarkXPress (which were QuarkXPress 9.5.4 and 10.0.1)
  • When Apple released Yosemite, it took Quark 20 days to release an officially supported version of QuarkXPress (which was QuarkXPress 10.5)
  • Now, with El Capitan, it took Quark just 9 days to release an officially supported version of QuarkXPress (which is QuarkXPress 2015)

Still, when upgrading your OS X to El Capitan please remember to create yourself a backdoor beforehand:
http://www.planetquark.com/2015/09/28/how-to-create-yourself-a-backdoor-to-downgrade-os-x/

Users of QuarkXPress 10, 9, 8 and earlier:
Quark will not support any version prior to QuarkXPress 2015 on El Capitan.
Though not supported QuarkXPress 8 and 9 seem to “work” ok on El Capitan (with some flaws). QuarkXPress 10 crashes badly on El Capitan. The engineering team will look into the crash issues of QuarkXPress 10 on El Capitan to determine whether anything can be done about it, however we might not be able to, so this is not a promise. I will probably be able to comment on this in maybe 5-6 weeks from now.

QX2015-ACXTBundle-OfferScreen-US