QuarkXPress Tips

Note: This page is in progress

A shortcut a day, keeps the trainer away

Learn a shortcut a day—using keyboard shortcuts can double your speed (and hopefully, productivity) in XPress. Quark ?s manual has 1-1/2 pages of keyboard commands to activate menu options, such as Command-B [Frames] or Command-Shift-B [Bold], and it has about four pages of ?hidden ? commands. These are commands that you can learn only by referring to the manual, trying them out, and remembering them. (Some of these commands are in this article.)

What are you doing with that other hand?

Next time you see someone working on a computer, watch how they use their non-mouse hand. An advanced operator uses two hands: one on the mouse and the other on the keyboard—ready to activate a command-key shortcut. Start keeping your other hand on the keyboard (I keep my thumb hovering over the Command key). As you learn more shortcuts, you can activate them the moment you think of them, rather than waiting for your hand to get back to the keyboard from who knows where.

Keep that monitor clear

Is your current monitor crowded from keeping all those palettes open? Can ?t afford a second monitor? No problem. With a flick of your wrist, you can call up the palette you need, do your work, and then hide it again. The most important commands are F10 to show/hide the Document Layout palette, F11 to show/hide the Style Sheets palette, and F12 to show/hide the Colors palette. (By the way, if you can afford it, a smaller, second monitor is a great place to store the palettes for many publishing programs.)

Hide Guides/Snap to Guides

Set your Guide preferences (Edit>Preferences...>Guides) to Front. Then use F7 to hide/show the guides. If you need the guides showing, but don ?t want to snap to them, use Shift-F7 to turn off/on snap to guides.

Bring to Front/Send to Back

Stop wasting time using the menus to send items to and fro. Start using F5 to bring items to the front and Shift-F5 to send them to the back. But wait, there ?s more: Option-F5 will bring an item forward one item-level at a time and Option-Shift-F5 will send them backward one item-level.

Type Formatting Shortcuts

Starting at the bottom of the keyboard, press the keys indicated along with Command-Shift or Command-Option-Shift keys. Watch your Measurements Palette to see the changes.

The comma and period keys make type size smaller or larger by one menu size or one point at a time. The semi-colon and quote keys make the line spacing (leading) smaller or larger by one point or one-tenth of a point. The open and closed brackets make the kerning or tracking (depending on how type is selected) smaller by ten steps or one step. (A step is 1/200 of an em space.) The hyphen and equal sign make baseline shift move up or down by one point (Command-Option-Shift only).

Switch to Item (Move)Tool

You ?re not moving the mouse all the way to the Tool Palette every time you want to move an item, are you? Just hold down the Command key and the Content tool changes to the Item tool. This works only for one item at a time, if you need to move multiple items, you need to use the Item tool.

K is for Dead

You can delete (kill) an item at any time, no matter which tool you have selected, by pressing Command-K. But whatever you do, NEVER press Command-Option-Shift-K!

Changing Tools

If you ?ve upgraded to Mac OS 8.5 or higher, you ?ve probably noticed that the Command-Tab or Command-Shift-Tab no longer switches to Quark tools. Instead, it will switch you to another program. You need to change the Application Switcher settings. To do this, just follow these simple directions (it ?s not as bad as it looks):

1. Open the new Apple Help system by using the Help menu at the Finder. If that doesn ?t work, locate the Help Viewer (System Folder>Help>Apple Help Viewer).

2. After the help system opens up, click on these hot-links: Mac OS Help>Files & Programs>Switching between open programs>Help me modify the keyboard shortcuts. You may be asked to locate the Application Switcher; you will find it in the System Extensions folder. You can disable the application switching or select another keyboard command (I would suggest using Control-Tab).

Command-Option-Shift-Click multiple layers

If you have multiple items on top of each other and each item is carefully placed, how do you modify the bottom item? What ?s a designer to do? Simply ?Command-Option-Shift-Click ? your way through the items until you select the one you want.

Moving Items

When you have the Item tool selected, you can move items by the arrow keys. The items move one point (1/72 ?) at a time, but if you hold the Option key down, they move 1/10th of a point.

Exact Copies

To make a copy of an item and ?paste ? it in the exact position as the original, use Step and Repeat... (Command-Option-D). Leave the repeat at ?1 ? and set the offsets to ?0. ? It may not look like it, but you will now have an exact copy on top of your original. ?Why would I want to do this? ? you ask. Well, I like to put black drop shadows behind light-colored type on a photo or busy background for readability. Using the above shortcuts, you can achieve this: position the text where you want it; duplicate it with Step and Repeat (zero offsets); Select the original, lower text item (one Command-Option-Shift-Click); with the Content tool, color the text black (or other desired color); finally, switch to the Item tool and use the arrow keys to position the ?shadow ? type.

Changing views

You ?re not going to the Tool palette to use the Magnifying Glass, are you? To zoom between 100% and 200% (two of the most useful views), simply ?Command-Option-Click. ? Wherever you click becomes the center of the monitor. To ?fit in window, ? use Command-Zero. My favorite view changer command is ?Control-V ? to highlight the page view percentage in the lower left corner. Then all I have to do is type in the percentage of view I want. If you simply must use the Magnifying Glass, hold down the Control key and your cursor changes into the Glass. If you click-and-drag while holding down the Control key, you can select the area you want blown up. Quark 4 will zoom in up to 800%, while Quark 3 goes up to 400%.

Typography

Do it with Styles

If you work on any job that has repeating typographic specs (magazines, newspapers, newsletters, etc.), you will need to be using Style Sheets (Shift-F11). These keep over two dozen type settings—including size, font, color, line spacing, and paragraph rules—that you can apply with a single mouse click (or user-determined keystroke). Better yet, Quark 4 now includes character styles. These let you change only the type you select, rather than the entire paragraph. (Quark 3 users will have to use a third-party extension.)

Importing Styles

If you ?Get Text ? from a word processing program, such as Microsoft Word, you can import the styles into Quark. If you already set up styles in Quark with the same name, your Quark formats will override the word processor styles. Just make sure you apply only the bold and italic settings in the word processor. If the text comes in with unwanted formats, you can remove them by Option-Clicking on the name in the Style Palette (however, you will lose all applied bold and italic formats as well).

H&J Settings

If your files are ever combined with others, such as ads placed in a magazine layout, you should set up custom hyphenation and justification settings. When files are combined or one file is placed in another file, the original file ?s default settings override the other documents. If the settings are different, all your type could re-hyphenate and reflow (and overflow!). When you create your settings, make a duplicate and turn off the hyphenation; use this setting for headlines and subheads. Of course, if you really want good-looking type, you could make different settings for each font style and size usage.

Line Spacing

You can set Line Spacing (leading) three different ways in Quark: 1) by the automatic setting, 2) by the incremental setting, and 3) by the absolute setting. Avoid using ?Auto ? line spacing; your settings could be changed if someone else overrides your preferences, thus changing your layout and possibly making your type overflow. (Auto leading is determined via the Typographic Preferences. The default is 20% of the type size, but can be changed to an incremental setting.) Increment setting adds a set amount to the type size and is entered as ?+2 ? (with the number being determined by the designer). Using the +2 example, 24 pt. type would have a line spacing of 26, while 48 pt. type would have a spacing of 50. Absolute settings are those that don ?t change unless you change them. For example, if 14 pt. type with an absolute line spacing of 16 pts. was increased in type size to 24 pt., the line spacing would stay at 16 pts. until you change it.

By the way, let ?s stop using the phrase ?leading. ? It ?s outdated and often mispronounced. ?Line spacing ? is a much more effective and descriptive term.

Paragraph spacing

Don ?t double return after paragraphs to add space between them. Use paragraph spacing—it ?s more efficient, easier to control, and easier to change.

Paragraph Rules

Let ?s say you have a headline styled with paragraph rules. However, when the headline does not have a paragraph return after it, the rule does not show up. The problem: when you use a percentage for the Offset measurement, the rule is inserted between the space of the headline and the line below it. To avoid this, simply enter an absolute measurement (such as 0p9 or 0.125 ?) in the offset box. That way, your rule will appear without requiring a following return.

Text indents for Paragraph Rules

Everyone knows that you can use paragraph rules to create tables, right? But how do you indent the text from the left and right edges of the rules? Set your paragraph formats to indent the left and right indents (Command-F). Then set your rule; don ?t worry if the rule indents with the text when you click ?Apply ?—it ?s supposed to. Then set the rules ?From Left ? and ?From Right ? settings to the exact negative of your indent. Your text will indent, but your rules will butt to the text box edge!

Baseline Grid

If you layout magazines, newspapers, or newsletters, you should be using Baseline Grid. Found under the Typographic Preferences (Command-Option-Y), baseline grid is set to the main body copy line spacing and adjust where the grid starts on the page. Then, you lock each paragraph to the grid via the Formats menu (or by Style Sheet!). All text locked to the grid will now cross-align, even across spreads.

If using the baseline grid, create the subhead using multiples of the body copy ?s line spacing. For example, if your body copy line spacing is 10 pt., the subhead could be set to 12 pt. with 5 pt. paragraph spacing above and 3 pt. below. 12 plus 5 plus 3 equals 20—an even multiple of 10.

To Dingbat and back

If you need a single Zapf Dingbat character while you are typing, press Command-Shift-Z and you will switch to Dingbats for one character, then switch back to your previous settings. One of the most popular Dingbats is the ?fat ? bullet l, which is a lowercase ?L ? on the keyboard.

Selecting Words, lines, and paragraphs

You ?re not still clicking and dragging to select words, are you? For shame! Double-click on a word to select it. That way, you won ?t accidentally miss a character at the end of a word. A triple-click selects an entire line (not sentence), while a quadruple-click selects an entire paragraph.

Short Lines and The 25% Rule

Use positive and negative tracking to eliminate the last line of paragraphs that are less than 25% of the paragraphs width. For normal body copy, 9-10 pt., don ?t track tighter than -3 or looser than +5. Otherwise, the spacing becomes too noticeable.

Keep with next "? and Keep Lines together

When creating styles for subheads, be sure to select ?Keep with next "? ? to make sure the subhead does not separate from the following text, and ?Keep Lines Together ? to make sure the subhead does not split across columns or pages.

Preferences

Set ?em and forget ?em

Set all your tool and program preferences with no documents open and the settings will be applied to every NEW document. Old documents still have to be updated individually.

Auto Save & Auto Backup

?Auto Save ? can cover your butt during a crash! It creates a temporary file that can recover unsaved work if you bomb. Naturally, you have the option of not using the temporary file. Auto Backup makes another copy of the file whenever you save, and is especially handy if you have a second hard drive or fast network server. If your internal drive ever dies, you have a backup of your work. Both are located in Application Preferences.

Text boxes Preferences

Most text boxes do not need a run-around applied to them—so turn it off (the background color will automatically change from White to None). Of course, you can still turn the run-around ?on ? when you need it. While you ?re at it, set the text inset to ?0 ?—that way you will know the text width. Be sure to increase the inset if you put a frame around the box or color the background.

Picture box Preferences

Picture boxes are usually OK the way they are, except for one setting: the run-around—made it wider. One point is too small, it should be 9 or 12 pts., so text is not crowding it.

Auto Picture Import

Set Auto Picture Import to ?On-verify ? so you will be notified of missing or modified pictures when you open a document. You still have the option of ignoring it.

Auto Page Insertion

If you are not importing type styles from a word processor, turn off Auto Page Insertion. Format the text to the body copy style first, and then add the pages through the menu Page>Insert... command. That way you can link the pages for auto flow.

Guides

Page-Only vs. Spread guides

When you drag a ruler guide out, where you release it determines if it appears only on the page or across the entire spread. If the guide is released on the page, it is a page guide; if it is released on the work area, outside the page boundaries, it becomes a spread (and work area) guide. Unfortunately, spread guides set on the Master pages are not applied to the entire document.

Deleting Guides

Your page is full of guides and you want to remove them all. Do you have to drag each one back to the ruler separately? No! With the page area touching the rulers, simply Option-Click on either the vertical or horizontal ruler to delete the corresponding guides all at once. If you want to delete the spread guides, Option-Click on a rule with the page area NOT touching the rulers.

Images

Feathered Edges

So far, you cannot import transparency settings from Photoshop, so how can you import an image with drop shadows onto another image or background in Quark? You can either: 1) color the image background in Photoshop the same CMYK specs as Quark (it may look different on screen, but it will print OK); 2) build the entire layout in Photoshop—images, background and all; or 3) use a clipping path on the image and export the shadow as a high-res dithered bitmap, then layer the two images in Quark over the background.

Image Editing TIFFs

You can adjust the color/contrast of color (CMYK) TIFF images in Quark—just go to the Style>Contrast. Be sure to change the color model to CMYK or the image will not separate correctly. Use this feature sparingly. Serious image editing should be done in Photoshop.

Ghosted Photo in Type

Set your large type in a box, select the type, then convert it to paths (Style>Text to Box). Import your image into the converted box. Then use the Contrast command to lighten the image. If you import the same image into another standard picture box and position the two items carefully using the Measurements Palette, you can create the effect of ghosted type on top of a photo.

Better screen previews

If you want better previews from your Photoshop files, save your EPS images with a JPEG viewing header. TIFF images can give very nice previews by changing the Application Preferences to 32-bit display for color TIFFs and 256 levels for gray scale images. Be sure to change the settings back after you import the TIFF image(s) that require a better preview, since this greatly increases the Quark file size.

Clipping paths

Unless your images have simple backgrounds, you are better off creating your clipping paths in Photoshop rather than Quark (version 4). The amount of accuracy Photoshop gives you cannot be matched by Quark (nor was it meant to).

Fit image to Box

When you import an image, you can fit the image to the box by pressing Command-Option-Shift-F. The image will be reduced to fit the longest side, enlarge the image until both sides fill up the picture box.

The Thin White Line

If your picture boxes have a rule, always try to make an image slightly larger on all four sides than the picture box containing it. That way you won ?t get a thin white line between the frame and image when it prints. Even if you zoom in 800%, you still might not see the white line.

Items

Anchored Items

If you have small pictures that need to be in-line with flowing text, use anchored boxes. Simply create the picture box to the size you want. Then, using the Item tool, cut the box. Switch to the Contents tool and place your cursor in the flowing text, where you want the picture box to be inserted. Then paste. If you need to, you can modify (Command-M) the picture box so it either ascends or descends from the baseline. This works with text boxes, too. Quark 4 can only anchor a single item; Quark 5 can anchor a set of grouped items.

Scaling Items

A new feature in Quark 4 is the ability to scale grouped items. Just click-and-drag with the same keyboard commands that you would use to scale a single item: Command-Shift-Option. If you are using version 3, you can get third-party XTensions to scale items.

Text wrap on both sides

Finally, you can wrap text around both sides of an item in version 4. The key to this features is that the underlying text box is the one that needs to be modified. Under the Text tab of the Modify dialog box, check the box labeled ?Run Text Around All Sides. ? However, use this feature with caution because it can make text harder to read.

Item content of None

Quark 4 lets you select a content of ?None ? for boxes that are holding only a color background. Basically, this lets you create layouts with less on-screen clutter. Of course, you can always change the item back again if you change your mind.

Dashes & Stripes

Fun with Dashes & Stripes

Quark 4 lets you create your own high-quality dashes and stripes for use as rules and frames. Experiment with these by creating your own custom designs. Begin by duplicating the existing dashes/stripes to see how they are made.

Color new Dashes & Stripes

When you create new dashes/stripes, they are only in black with a transparent background. As always, you can color the rule with the Color palette. But how do you change the color of the dash/stripe background if you don ?t want it to be transparent? Go to the Frame tab of the Modify dialog box—there you will see an option to color the dash/stripe foreground AND background.

Colors

Use the Right Color Guide

Don ?t use the Pantone Solid (Spot) Color guide or the Pantone Solid-to-Process guide to pick color for CMYK jobs. Use the Pantone Process Color guide, TruMatch, or other similar, dedicated CMYK color guide. Although these guides may not be printed on the same press or paper as your job, they will give you a better idea of how CMYK color will look than a solid-color guide.

Naming Colors

If you have to use a Pantone Solid color in a CMYK job to match a logo color, use the Pantone Solid-to-Process guide to see how the spot color will look as CMYK. (This is really the ONLY time to use this guide.) Name your spot colors to indicate how you want them output. For example, a solid color meant to be output as a spot can be named ?Spot_PMS 123 ? (with the number changing with the color). If it is to be converted to CMYK, the color can be named ?4/C_PMS 123. ? That way, the service bureau or prepress will know how the file should be output in case you forget to convert the colors.

Color Management

Unless you carefully set up profiles for your scanner, monitor, proofer, and printer, you may not want to use Quark ?s built in color management. Turn it off and work in a strict CMYK mode in Photoshop, Illustrator, and Quark until you are calibrated and profiled.

XTensions

XT Manager

The built-in XTension manager in Quark 4 is a nice feature to enable/disable your unneeded XTs, but be aware that disabling them does not resolve XT conflicts. You will need to put them into another folder to make sure Quark does not ?see ? them at all. If you are using version 3, you can get a third-party XTension manager.

Keep Document Settings

If you are still using Quark 3, be sure to use QuarkPrint to automatically keep document settings (Edit>Preferences>QuarkPrint). If it was not installed with Quark, it is on the CD. Unfortunately, Quark 4 lost this feature; you will need a third-party XTension to recapture this feature.

Quark XTensions

Quark makes a number of add-on XTensions that are available for free from their web site (www.quark.com). One of the best is the PDF filter for importing PDF files into Quark and exporting Quark documents as PDF documents (this still requires Adobe Acrobat Distiller).

The Evil Pasteboard XT

A curse on the developers who made this XT! Well, maybe that ?s a bit harsh. After all, Markzware makes some fine add-ons to Quark and has a number of free XTs on their web site. Best of all, they fixed the XT with the latest releases (1.5 for Quark 4) so another user does not have to have the Pasteboard XT loaded to open a document. Get the new version or the Pasteboard XTerminator to completely remove the need for the XT at all.

Layers

You want layers? Don ?t want to wait for Quark 5? Get a third-party XTension for as little as $30 and you got ?em!

Bezier Curves

Don ?t let Quark ?s new Bezier curves fool you. Some of the commands may be slightly different, but they are essentially the same as Illustrator ?s, Freehand ?s, or Photoshop ?s Bezier curves. Of course, if you are not familiar with these programs, then you ?ve got some studying to do.

Changing a curves to text-on-a-path

You draw that nice Bezier curve with the pen tool—then you realize that you want to run text on the curve! Don ?t worry. Select the curve with the Contents tool, go to Item>Content, and change the selectionfrom ?None ? to ?Text ?. Then type away.

Other

Two-page spreads

Yes, you can make a two-page spread without having a blank page before it. Before you add a second page, simply section the first page (Page>Section... or via the Document Layout palette) to page number 2 (or any even number). It will jump from the right to the left side of the Document Layout palette. Now, add the second page on the right side. If you already have a spread built, section the left page to an even page number, then delete the blank first page.

Database Import

If you want to import preformatted data from a database file, create new export fields in the database that add XPress Tags to the existing database fields. Export only the new fields as ASCII tabbed text. Open the file in a word processor and replace all the tabs with returns. Import the text into Quark, including Style Sheets. If you coded properly, the text will be imported with formatting.

Tables

Supposedly, Quark 5 will offer the ability to create tables. But right now, tables in Quark are hard to do even with special XTensions. If you don ?t have table-making XTs, here are a few tips: 1)Use Adobe Table if you have PageMaker, which saves as EPS; 2) format the table in Excel, copy and paste into a picture box (this pastes a Pict file, so it may not print correctly on an imagesetter); or 3) format the table in Excel or similar program, save the file as PostScript, make a PDF file with Distiller, then import into Quark (using the PDF XT).

Printing

Printer Styles

If you use different printers or different size paper, consider making Print Styles rather than resetting the print options every time you print. These are application settings, so they are available to every document and can be found under the Edit menu in Quark 4. Quark 3 users can get print styles by installing QuarkPrint from the CD.

EPS clipping problem—CPSI fixer

If your EPS graphics keep printing outside the boundaries of the picture box, try using Quark ?s CPSI fixer. Because it can increase printing time and not every EPS graphic needs it, you will need to activate it each time you start Quark (Utilities>Use CPSI Fixer).

Page Ranges

You can print any range of non-consecutive pages in Quark 4 by typing page ranges with hyphens between the pages, and separating the page numbers with commas. For example, ?2-5, 8, 10-12, 14.?

Don't use a hyphen in Folio numbers

When you section pages, you can add up to four characters as a prefix. Most times, three characters are added, followed by a hyphen to separate the text from the page number. For example, the page number might read ?Mac-99. ? Rather than use a hyphen, use an en-dash (Option-hyphen); this way you won ?t interfere with printing page ranges in Quark. (Of course, you could change the Range Separators in the Print dialog box, but hyphens make the most sense and en-dashes just LOOK better: ?Mac–99. ?)

Absolute page numbers

If you use a section prefix, you will have to type in the prefix when you print your pages—otherwise, Quark will insist the page does not exist. You can get around this by typing in the absolute page number, or the actual page of the document, when you print. The fifth page of a document might be numbered ?Mac–53, ? but you can type the page as ?+5 ? when you print. This works for page ranges too: ?+5-+10 ?.

OK, you got this LONG document with multiple sections (yes, you can have multiple sections in one document). How are you ever going to figure out the absolute page number? Simply Option-Click on the Document Layout palette; the page number at the lower left corner of the palette changes to show the absolute page number. (If you Command-Click, you will get the total pages in the document.)

Get a preflight program

If you send your files out for processing or printing, you should get preflight software. This will check your files to make sure everything is OK with the file and the graphics; then it will collect everything, including Quark and EPS fonts! It can even Stuff the file and convert it to BinHex for safe Internet transmission. The most popular program is Markzware FlightCheck. You should check with your printer or prepress to see which one they use.