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Known Participant
June 7, 2018
Answered

Quark or PDF into InDesign

  • June 7, 2018
  • 3 replies
  • 3183 views

Hi, are there any changes here...

Do I still need a third party plug-in to get a Quark document into InDesign?

What if it is saved PDF, and I have Acrobat Pro... Bring it into Acrobat and then cut and paste? Lose all my formatting?

Thanks in advance.

Anita

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer BobLevine

    Nothing’s changed.

    3 replies

    JonathanArias
    Legend
    June 7, 2018

    You can bring the .pdf I to indesign with this tool:

    PDF2ID - PDF to InDesign, How to convert PDF to InDesign, Convert PDF to InDesign

    i saw this product in action today at creative pro and i save a demo. It worked great

    Barb Binder
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    June 7, 2018

    Hi Anita:

    That is correct about the the Quark to InDesign import, but the Acrobat Pro DC to Word or RTF export has been greatly approved over the past years. In lieu of cut and paste (also improved), try opening the PDF and choose File > Export to > Microsoft Word > Word Document and/or File > Export to > Rich Text Format. Now, the results will depend on when the Quark files were created, the types of files, and if they were tagged for accessibility, but it's worth a shot before you invest in a third-party plugin.

    ~Barb

    ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
    anita1390Author
    Known Participant
    June 7, 2018

    Thanks Barb, I see the Word Doc would give it tons of extra formatting but then that is all stripped with converting to the Rich Format.

    Why is that preferable to just cut and paste inside Acrobat Pro? Quark files are quite old and not tagged.

    Alternately I can cut and paste from Acrobat Pro into Illustrator first, I think AI strips formatting too. Not sure about that, just seems to be my experience.

    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    June 7, 2018

    Quite old?

    How old? I think CS6 can open up to version 4 QXP files. So if you are using CS6 or earlier and your QXP files are of that particular vintage, you may be able to open them for editing. If you have a current subscription, you can also install CS6. There is a Adobe help page at:https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/converting-quarkxpress-pagemaker-documents.html

    Convert QuarkXPress and PageMaker documents to InDesign

    And then there is, of course, QuarkXpress (with its cross-grade price). However, if the goal is to remain in ID, QXP has no equivalent to ID's export of IDML for opening in earlier versions and can only back-save one version. Depending on the file, I can walk it back and get it into ID if there is only a file or two.

    But other than the above options, there are only paid ones. Markzware also has a per document service. But if there are more than a handful, it might be justified to just use the Q2ID plug-in, which I would do/try before the PDF into ID route. There would simply be more work involved. If you do go the Q2ID, do send them a trial document before purchasing anything. I have had from not so good to quite well conversions. (Ironically, the ID2Q works better).

    Mike


    https://forums.adobe.com/people/MW+Design  wrote

    How old? I think CS6 can open up to version 4 QXP files.

    Mike, Pagemaker support ended at CS6 but even the most recent version of InDesign CC can open  QXP 3.x and 4.x files.

    I stand by my statement earlier. Nothing has changed. Things may have been improved a bit on the PDF to Word front, but there's still going to be a lot of work to do.

    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    BobLevineCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    June 7, 2018

    Nothing’s changed.

    anita1390Author
    Known Participant
    June 7, 2018

    Bummer. Thanks. InDesign should have stepped up to the plate by now, not a happy Adobe camper between this and ending Muse.

    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    June 7, 2018

    anita1390  wrote

    Bummer. Thanks. InDesign should have stepped up to the plate by now, not a happy Adobe camper between this and ending Muse.

    I'm not sure what Muse has to do with anything. It was a doomed effort from the start. Horrible code and always behind on web standards. It never stood a chance.

    Do yourself a favor and learn WordPress: https://www.boblevine.us/why-adobe-muse-and-business-catalyst-users-should-strongly-consider-wordpress/