Making pdf's in Quark 6

[Grafixgurl]

Can anyone please give me a foolproof method for creating pdf's in Quark 6? I'm setting up my Page Dimensions in the Page Setup dialog. Then, I go through the layout, setup, output, etc. (on the setup tab, what setting do you use for Printer description - distiller or pdf?) then I check the preview and then go down to the bottom and hit the save as pdf button. When I get my pdf's, I open them in Acrobat 6, and at first, it appears as if my pdf is opening, I see my image. Then the whole thing gets covered up in a solid color, as if there's a layer above it.

Help!

 

[tperkins]

Grafixgurl,

I am still on Quark 5 here but I would imagine 6 wouldn't be that far aff from 5 here is haw you set up making PDF's in Q4&5:

In Quark 4.11 and 5.0 you can go to your preferences and select PDF, in this window you need to put in where you have your Acrobat Distiller, tell it if you want to distill now or just create a .ps file to distill later, and some other job options for you to look at. Then go back to your document and select "File>Export>Document as PDF" in Q5.0 and "Utilites>Export as PDF" In Q4.11. I create pdf's with Quark all day long without any problem here, You will need ot have Acorbat Distiller though which comes with the full version of Acrobat.

Tony Perkins

 

[Grafixgurl]

Thank you for trying to answer the question, however, the reason why I specified Quark 6 is because it is quite different then both Quark's 4 and 5.

 

[daanmuller]

I have been making pdf's from quark 6 without any problems. The way I do it the same as I did it in quark 4 (and 5 I would guess). I even use the printstyles I exported from quark 4.

It comes down to: setup the page like you would for printing (using the acrobat distiller ppd). select printer, select output options, specify postscript file, specify your distiller in folder. Then print the ps file and let distiller do the rest.

Another way would be to setup your PDF options in the quark preferences the way you want them, and with the option of saving to a ps file instead of to a pdf. Then use export to pdf from the file menu to save your ps file.

You can also make pdf's directly using the export option, these are ok when you have you settings correct. BUT they are several times larger than distiller made pdf's.

 

[Grafixgurl]

I was having a variety of problems with Quark making .pdf's from custom page sizes. I was also getting a dialog box saying that I needed to select a Laserwriter 7 when I tried to Export to either a .pdf or .ps file.

I was also trying to just hit the Save as PDF button, but that was just crashing the program entirely.

I was curious if anyone was using the Save as PDF button directly without having to save each file as a postscript and distilling it. I was also curious if anyone went to the Output Options tab and used the Save as PDF option instead of the .ps option and if that worked for them.

I just ran my system through Disk Warrior, and now everything is working perfectly. Even just going directly to save as .pdf, and even with a custom page size (as long as its set up that way in Page Set-up), I'm getting .pdf's without having to make it a 2-step/2-program process, which Quark was saying was one of the benefits of 6.

When Quark makes .pdf's which are too large, there is a setting in Acrobat 6 under the File tab which allows you to reduce the file size. I've tested it out only once and it seemed to work just fine. I'm just unclear whether or the not the .pdf's would be suitable for publishing. I guess if I need to control the resolution, its still best to rely on the older 2 step method.

Thanks for your help.

 

[ashkoba]

I am sorry that this is such a basic question, but I am at my wits' end after a solid day of searching the Internet and FAQs related to this one. Simply, I cannot export a Quark 6.0 layout to a PDF. I am on the Windows XP platform.

In the File->Export Layout to PDF menu selection, I get this error message as a popup when I select a file to save to:

To save a layout as a PDF file, a PostScript printer
must be set up to print to a file.

Now, one of the reasons we got Quark is because it claimed to be able to write PDF files. It said nothing about requiring a postscript printer to be attached. (A note: I came across a commentary saying something about having to "create a virtual postscript printer and select it", but this note didn't come with instructions so though that sounded promising I am still stuck.)

I tried downloading the English PostScript printer driver and installing it, adding a "Generic PostScript printer" in the process, but when I select that printer in the Quark "Page Setup" menu it does nothing: I still get the above message when trying to export. None of the Setup or Options dialogue boxes have an option for "Print to File", even after having installed the driver software from Adobe.

Can someone who has gone through the process of configuring a Windows XP system with Quark 6.0 (without a postscript printer) to export to a PDF file? It seems like such a basic thing to be able to do. I am a technically-oriented person so this makes me thing I am missing something really basic that other people must have encountered before.

Please help me and I will share the knowledge with our growing desktop publishing community here!

 

[spikeswa]

I was getting an error indicating I didn't have a laserwriter 7 or newer using the "export as pdf" feature as well. I'm using an HP Deskjet 1220c/ps printer and don't use laserwriter 7.

Here's a workaround I found where I don't have to use Acrobat and Distiller and I can make a pdf from within Quark 6.

Create a custom paper size for the page size you need. Set the margins of 0 all the way around. If you want to create a spread, for example, you would create an 11 x 17 page, turned sideways. Give your custom page sizes names that will be useful for you to remember them.

Open "page setup" window from the File menu and open "page setup" in the lower left of the window. select your printer and the custom page size you want to use. Close that window.

Open the "printer" window that was alongside the "page setup" button" next and select "create pdf". Save the pdf where you'd like to retrieve it. Close that window.

Double-check to make sure your layout is configured the way you want in the layout, setup and preview tabs and click print.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that it will work. You may have to "tweak" your page setup a few times to get it to look right but it has saved me a few steps and from having to open additional apps.

 

[Grafixgurl]

I followed exactly this last thread from Spikeswa. When I open the .pdf, in acrobat 6, it initally begins to show the document, but then the whole page turns black. No idea what causes this. I've been fooling around with every setting imaginable. Very frustrating.

 

[ashkoba]

Thanks for the responses. I am still stuck: in fact I don't even have a "page setup" button on the page setup screen that spikeswa talks about, so naturally I don't have a "printer" window next to it either. There is no "create PDF" button anywhere on any screen related to the "print setup" or print selection.

Perhaps this is what one sees on a Mac? (I am running the Windows version which I am told handles printing very differently.)

Group: I really don't know why people are resorting to such elaborate workarounds. Wasn't a big selling point of QuarkXPress version 6.0 the ability to natively create PDF files without having to use Acrobat Distiller? The documentation doesn't make any references to installing third-party software, drivers from adobe, or any menu tricks: it just says "click File->Export->Layout to PDF", and ergo, it is supposed to work: nothing about having to select a postscript printer, or setting it up to print to a "FILE:" port, or any of the machinations people are recommending.

Does anybody know what a Windows (XP) QuarkXPress 6.0 printerless configuration is supposed be in order to export PDF files? Alternatively, it is common knowledge that Quark6.0 doesn't *really* write PDF files, what workaround(s) has Quark itself been able to provide?

I will be happy to write a comprehensive FAQ for this forum with any answers to the above question plus all useful info I have received along the way from independent sources (e.g., there is a nice "virtual postscript" printer available from Adobe that writes PS files from any application, and they offer a cheap service to produce high-quality and dense PDFs from these).

Thanks to all involved, presently and in the future. I am sure between us we can answer this question definitively.

 

[Sabriel]

Ok Im in the same situation as a few people here, all-be-it a little behind. I have quark 6.0 and am trying to save my magazine as a PDF for the printers. I have the post script drivers from adobe and now quark is asking me to set the printer to 'print to file'. Where is the option to set the printer to this option anyone?

 

[tad1952]

I just ran a file through the steps - Quark 6 on Mac.

Print

Page setup button
- Settings - select one of the page sizes or create a custom page if your page is different
- Format for - Adobe pdf

Setup tab
- Printer Description - Adobe pdf
-If your page size not a standard size, select custom & input the width of your page & let the Paper Height default to Automatic.

Output tab
- change to cmyk for press or rgb for proofing and select the resolution you require (higher is bigger)

Options tab
- select the output resolution, etc

Printer button
- Printer - Adobe pdf
- Printer features - 72 dpi for screen, higher for press
- Save as pdf

It's possible I could bypass the Output and Options tabs, but I haven't had time to really play around with all the various combinations and I like to make sure I have all the bases covered. But this method really does produce a pdf.

 

[Sabriel]

Ok, in the very first step, where it says page setup button then settings and format for, I have no idea where any of this is. I have a page setup under file but it doesnt have a settings tab or a format for bit...

 

[ashkoba]

Grafixgurl and others:

I have fixed this problem on our installation here (Windows XP) and PDFs are now printing in all their famous ungainly hugeness (Quark Support today has promised a patch for this that will bring their file sizes into line,
to come out early next year).

The FAQ is in this thread in the Undocumented section (as in, "Yes, Quark 6.0 can write PDFs without a Postscript printer, but how to set up the software to do this is undocumented."

IMPORTANT NOTE that I forgot to put in the FAQ, relating to Windows XP Home Edition (Professional edition users will not have this problem as long as the Quark user is a "Power User", I am told):

The user running the Quark application needs to be able to write intermediate files to whatever directory the printer driver is running in. This creates problems for people running Quark as users without Administrative privileges.

The quick solution is to give your Quark user(s) administrative rights in the User Accounts section of the Control Panel. (The proper solution would be to find the directory where the printer driver/filter is running and make sure unprivileged users can write to it, by popping down into Safe Mode and setting the directory permissions for global read/write.)

Thanks to all for your contributions.
Farewell and happy Quarking!

Robert (ashkoba@yahoo.com)