QuarkXpress8 FIles to InDesign

[Ocalacoffeenews]

I publish 10 small papers per week (2 sides, 11x17). They have content in the middle and ads along the sides. I want to move into this century and start working in InDesign because I love what it can do but I cannot get these files converted. I tried the Markzware Qid2 and it did not work properly. They were kind a refunded my money and stated they are working on it (I believe them) but there was so much disjointed and disconnected that it was unusable to me. Because I have 2 decades of ads, designs and 10 layouts I need it to be all or nothing or pretty close to it. Publishing every week makes taking a week off to convert adn then correct all that is wrong just not a possibility. I am shocked that InDesign does not recognize this and jump in to help. They have the converter for much earlier version of Quark but not 8. Any ideas would be appreciated. I really really want to use InDesign(I am paying for it) but need a bigger jump in the conversion process. Help please?!

[Bill Silbert · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately, whether it was the built-in conversion feature of early versions of InDesign that worked with versions of Quark through Quark 4 or subsequentally Markzware's Q2ID that has been the standard for conversion since then, I have never seen a conversion that is any more than a good jumping off point for having the file in InDesign. The programs have never been designed in a similar enough way that conversion can be pure. If you don't like the way that Q2ID works with Quark 8 you might try the method of backsaving your Quark file as explained at http://www.graphic-design-employment.com/free-quark-to-indesign-conversion.html and using an earlier version of Q2ID for the conversion. But if you're looking for a perfect 1 to 1 conversion it just doesn't seem to be out there.

[Ocalacoffeenews]

Thank you Bill

[Bill Silbert]

Happy to help.

[MW Design]

I want to move into this century and start working in InDesign...

Alternatively, you could just update QXP if you want to be at least in the current decade. You can download a trial copy and see if your files are updated properly. Unless one has each version in the chain, backsaving is rarely easy and going back to version 4 will incur some to a lot of work once opened in ID.

Me? I use both ID and Q. But unless you have a lot of time, the conversion process is a labor of "love" if one isn't pad to do it. So I would personally leave your publications in Q. But maybe that's just me taking the easy way.

Mike

[Willi Adelberger]

I would strongly recommend not to work with converted files as they have a lot of glitches. Character and Paragraph Styles are the most common problem in converted documents, as the work complete different. In InDesign are a lot of advantages in Character Styles as they need a minimum of definition, so they can be applied to all kind of paragraph styles maually and automatically (automtatic numbers and bullets, GREP style, drop caps, nested styles and inline styles). In Quark a Character Style has to be defined completely. Other differences are master pages (InDesign knows dependent masters), layers (also on the master), import file types (don't use EPS in InDesign, but use always PDF/X-4 for vectors) and many other things which are never respected in the conversions.

Create a virgin indt template for the future use.