Quark or PDF into InDesign

[anita1390]

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

[BobLevine · Accepted solution]

Nothing’s changed.

[anita1390]

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

[BobLevine]

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-wordpre...

[Barb Binder]

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

[anita1390]

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.

[Barb Binder]

Hi Anita:

In my experience, exporting from Acrobat is faster and produces better results. That said, I have not seen your files—and the results will depend on them. “Old and untagged” doesn’t sound promising.

~Barb

[MW Design]

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

[anita1390]

I followed Barb's advice and exported from Acrobat Pro DC, but went straight to EXPORT > RTF instead of through Word first. If I need to I'll go back and redo it through Word.

It seems to work well enough for what I need, although it will be tedious to reformat 12 pages. I don't trust the  third party plug-ins because the formatting required is beyond basic.

What a mess. Thanks everyone.

[BobLevine]

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.

[MW Design]

Excellent, Bob. Thanks for the info re CC opening Q3-4 files.

[BobLevine]

I can’t imagine too many uses for it at this point but Q2ID, as I’m sure you’re well aware, is still the best method of going from Quark to InDesign.

[anita1390]

BobLevine​  could you explain why Adobe killed DW for designers?

I used to use DW but it became unusable with the text dialogue boxes ruined, than drank the koolaid and went into MU.  After much research I am going into WP and using the Perth theme. A WP Meet Up group believes one should use a theme that is free because it then belongs to a true WP cult, and not a company out to make a quick buck. So Perth has a free version and then a pro paid version.

I am really screwed with 2 websites to redo, and was in MU from the beginning. When it shouldn't have been launched because there was so much to do with it it wasn't ready. As I said before, I trusted Adobe to deliver and ignored what I now look back on and see as red flags.

Thanks, I will read your WP link but would appreciate any add'l info you can give me.

[BobLevine]

My thoughts on it are all in that link but to summarize:

Muse code is garbage. Making a site responsive is a complete PITA. Muse is/was updated once or twice a year. WP is updated constantly and themes/plugins are updated constantly as well.

Learn it and thank me later.

[Jeffrey_Smith]

I know this is OT, but my thoughts...

Muse code is garbage.

This is a little harsh, while Muse's code may not have been perfect, I have yet to find a web tool that doesn't have some quirks.

Making a site responsive is a complete PITA.

Any need to modify or tweak responsive behavior with CSS in WP is a PITA as well

Muse is/was updated once or twice a year.

Some see this as a benefit...

[BobLevine]

The mark up is not good. It’s certainly better than it was at release but that was a pretty low bar.

A good theme will allow you to change the responsive behavior with just a couple of settings.

There is no benefit to a web authoring tool not staying current with web standards.

Finally, and I can’t stress this enough…if you want to build websites, I don’t care what tool you’re using, learn HTML and CSS. It is a vital skill today.

[BobLevine]

One more thing. Forget free themes and buy this one:

https://themeforest.net/item/avada-responsive-multipurpose-theme/2833226?s_rank=1

I build all my sites with it and there's fabulous support with a huge Facebook group.

Again, thank me later!

[JonathanArias]

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