Quark files

What do I need to know?

[D_Blackwell]

I'm being sent a batch of "Quark" files, which I know nothing about except that they are coming from a Mac person. Will Photoshop handle these, or do will there be conversion issues?

[limbo]

yep - you'll need quark to open quark files.

Best get the 'Mac person' to save them as EPS files. Then you can open them in photoshop. This will remove the data preserved by quark to edit the file so in effect you will be dealing with an image. If this is ok then you can save for web and optimise as normal. If you need to edit the files then you will need to run a copy of quark - not sure how PC's and Mac's handle cross platform files swaps these days - it used to be a nightmare - Macs could generally open PC quark files but it was a no go sharing the other way.

Ta

Limbo

[katana_one]

Don't convert them to Photoshop except as a last resort. Have the author of the documents save them as PDF instead, with fonts embedded. That way, at least, you can still make minor copy edits in Acrobat if you have to, and there will be no cross-platform issues. And in a pinch, you can open PDF files in Adobe Illustrator (thus preserving any vector data present) or Photoshop (which will flatten and rasterize the file).

Other things to know about Quark files:

The files usually convert well across platforms - except for fonts.
Images used in Quark files are placed by proxy, so all Quark files are usually accompanied by the image files used in them. The links to these image files will need to be reestablished in the Quark document once you receive them. Quark does not display the images at full resolution (saves screen re-draw times and conserves RAM) until you are ready to print. If you print a document with missing images or broken image links only the low-res proxy image will print.
Quark is designed for desktop publishing and not web design (it has a web design feature that, IMO, is very poorly implemented).
Adobe InDesign is supposed to be able to import Quark files (but I have never tried it).
And, finally, QuarkXpress 6 retails for $945.00 USD.

For these reasons, I usually send all my Quark-created files as PDF and have never had any problems or complaints from the recipients.

[limbo]

Don't convert them to Photoshop except as a last resort

I agree with what you were saying but it does depend as to what format you want to output the file. If you want the files as JPEG/GIF so you can render them without 3rd part support (acrobat reader) you'll have to convert via photoshop IMO. If you want the file to remain as a document then PDF is the way to go.

I suppose the important questions now are; what do you intend to do with the files once you have them? Print? publish to web? catalogue? redistribute? and what is the content? 2 page full colour ad or 200 page b&w booklet? this will sway your decision.

Also it always worth asking for the raw files as backup too - keep these VERY safe.

Ta

Limbo

[kittimakai]

Ooh, another Quark thread!

Guys/Gals can you take a look in the Mac webmaster forum at this thread [webmasterworld.com] please. You might be able to shed some light on a problem I am having with my version of quark and printing.

Tia, kitti.

[D_Blackwell]

Thanks all. The responses were just what I needed, and right when I needed them. The files will be published on the web, so I'm wanting .jpgs. I've since been able to get some more info from the Quark person, and though they typically output only for print I think we're going to be ok.