Getting Started with Quark Publishing Platform 2015 - December 2019 Update (v15.0)

Quark Publishing Platform

• Support for Linux: You can now deploy Quark Publishing Platform Server on Linux. Specifically, this release has been certified on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.

• Quark Platform is now powered by OpenJDK, instead of the earlier used Sun Java SE 8: Quark Publishing Platform Server now uses OpenJDK out-of-the-box. Specifically, this release ships with the Amazon Corretto 8 distribution of OpenJDK.

• Integrates with QuarkXPress and QuarkXPress Server 2019: Support for QuarkXPress 2019 and QuarkXPress Server 2019 enables you to use the power of the Quark Publishing Platform Server to create digital designs.

Quark Author

Excel Integration Enhancements

• Maintain Excel Table Formatting and Styles in Quark Author: You can now copy and paste charts and tables from Excel sheets to your workspace without losing any formatting and cell level styling, such as font, color, background, and so on. Also, table cell styling is maintained within the media asset in an HTML-like format.

• Intuitive Linking of Tabular Data and Charts from Excel to Quark Author: You can now copy and paste tabular data and charts from an Excel worksheet to a Smart Document in a single step. 

  This automatically links the source data to the Smart Document, which enables dynamic linking. Therefore, you can reflect the changes in the Smart Document with a single click.

Collaborative Authoring

• Leverage Enhanced Component & Reference Management: You can now review component details and manage references with contextual icons in canvas itself. Component’s checked out and workflow status are reflected within canvas and updated automatically as they change. 

  For components ‘Pinned’ to a specific version, an icon indicates if an updated version is available and enables the user to update the reference to the latest version of content.

  A set of several utility icons are available for references and components. The indicators not only enhance usability of section components but are also available for figures and even tables linked to Microsoft Excel documents.

Customization Enhancements

• Set Content Rules: Quark Author enforces rules to alert the user about content which is not according to the policy applicable on the type of document. Rules failure appear as ‘Error’ or ‘Warning’ in editor canvas and guide the user to fix the content.

  All tracked changes, including edits of Footnote and Endnote text, are displayed in the ‘Changes’ pane along with comments. Here, an author may review the changes, reject or make them permanent.

• Option to set paragraphs as Mandatory, or Enforced: Configure certain paragraphs as mandatory within your content. Mandatory paragraphs cannot be deleted by general editing actions such as delete, backspace, cut, etc. A placeholder text may be optionally set for mandatory paragraphs which is displayed even if all text in paragraph is removed by user.

• Configure Customized Date Formats: For displaying change tracking and comments details, Quark Author can be configured to use any of the several commonly used date formats. Various predefined formats are available, one of which may be selected using a simple configuration.

• Use CK Editor Widgets in Quark Author: Authors can now use CK Editor widget framework within the canvas to render and pragmatically manage a custom set of content block called Bodydiv.

  This enables better rendering using labels, action buttons, indicators and other custom HTML elements along with content within bodydiv. For editable blocks, Quark Author shall manage change tracking, comments and other standard features.

Editing & Review Enhancements

• Change Tracking for Footnotes and Endnotes: Quark Author 15.0 can now track changes to Footnote and Endnote text. Notes content is automatically tracked if change tracking is enabled for the document.

  All tracked changes, including edits of Footnote and Endnote text, are displayed in the ‘Changes’ pane along with comments. Here an author may review the changes, reject them or make them permanent.

• Support for Ask Queries in the Asset Browser: When using the Asset Browser from within Quark Author, users can now add keywords for their queries in a parameterized format.

Quark XML Author

• Inline Editing in Read-Only Mode: In this release, we have improved read only document usability by allowing inline editing of server references. Now, to make quick inline changes in the individual section of a read-only document, user does not need to open entire document in editable mode.

• Mandatory Attributes: We have improved discoverability of mandatory or required attributes in 'Save' dialog. Now, all the mandatory or required attributes are shown with “*” prefix in the attribute form.

• Option to Select All: We have improved user interface for multi value domain attributes in 'Save' dialog. Now, user can select all domain values of particular Domain Attribute with a single click, using “Select All” check box.

• Details of the Current Environment: This will display helpful details related to the active connection to the Quark Publishing Platform server.

Quark Author

• Autosave Snapshot (Offline) and Version History: See history of current document which includes version number, date-time, revision comments and creator of all revisions of document. Ability to open a ‘History’ pane which shows revision details and timeline of all revisions.

• Autosave as Minor Versions: The application periodically saves document content and saves it permanently as a version in Platform Server such that there is no risk of content loss. Details of all versions for current document are be available in the ‘History’ pane where number, time and content of previous version may be viewed.

• Document Error Recovery: Recover your document easily in case of sudden non-compliance with the structure, or corruption during version changes.

• Add Section Before/After: Users can add a new section before and after an existing section from the Smart Document Tree simply by right clicking on the section and selecting where to add the new section.

• Move Selected Content Under New Section: Users can simply click a section or paragraph and select from options to move the content to a new section, a sub-section or the appendix.

• Maintain Comments in Copy & Paste: Copied content that includes tracked comments, the comments will be retained when the content is pasted within the same document or in a new document.

• Maintain Tracking in Copy & Paste: Copying and pasting content that includes tracked changes, the tracked changes will be retained even when the track changes function is turned off. The changes are noted in the right hand “Changes Pane” along with the date and time of the changes.

• Maintain Word Footnotes in Copy & Paste: Copy and paste footnotes and endnotes from a Microsoft Word document, and the footnotes and endnotes will appear correctly when pasted into the Quark Publishing Platform authoring environment.

• Copy & Paste Complex Figure Elements (Bodydivs): Bodydiv copy and paste ensures you always copy the entire block of content and not just elements of the content. Simply click on the bodydiv figure and two icons will appear, one for cutting and one for pasting. You can then paste the bodydiv in its entirety either in the same document or a new one.

• Large Table Handling: To improve performance when working with large tables, the editor shows only a configurable number of rows as a ‘preview’. To view the entire table, click a control on the canvas.

• Check Spelling Dialog Enhancements: The Check Spelling feature allows to easily modify misspelled words or select a replacement from a list of suggested words.

• Responsive Popups: Warnings, errors and notifications are shown in the most appropriate way possible, according to the device in use, with responsive pop-ups.

• Set Default URL Protocol for Hyperlinks: From the References Tab, select the text that will be hyperlinked and click on the link button. While HTTP is the default protocol, you can choose to change the protocol HTTPS in a couple simple steps.

• Insert section at cursor location

• Save indicator in Quark Author

• Revert to autosave snapshot/previous version on failure

• API support for pasting content with referenced assets for modifying referenced asset collection

Quark Platform Server

• SAML 2.0 Based Platform Login:

  • Enabled users to login to platform using SAML 2.0 based login setup within the organization. The user should be able to securely access platform by authenticating against SAML 2.0 based login mechanism without providing the credentials to Platform itself. 

• Infrastructure Upgrade:

  Highcharts Library Updated: 

  • Upgraded Highcharts library to leverage new features added in the latest version of Highcharts.

  • Upgraded Highcharts from PhantomJS to Node.js based export module. With this the Highcharts version is also updated from 5.0.14 to 7.1.1.

• Publishing Enhancements: 

  • Platform publishing framework allows to parametrize outFileName property for XslTransform activity.

• Improved Platform Logging to Log DTO:

  • Enhanced platform logging so that DTOs to be logged in JSON format in case of exceptions and trace level.

• Upgraded Libraries as per Vulnerability Scnning Report: 

  • Performed security scanning tests using vulnerability scanning tools for identifying potential security threats in third party libraries and updated them as applicable.

Quark Publishing Platform Server

• Infrastructure upgrades:

  • Updated Apose.Words from 18.8 to 19.1

  • Updated Apose.Slides from 18.7 to 18.12

  • Updated Apose.Cells from 18.8 to 19.1

  • Updated Apose.Diagram from 18.8 to 18.12.0

  • Updated CKEditor from 4.10.0 to 4.11.2

• Amazon infrastructure support for data persistence:

  • Added the ability to leverage Amazon S3 as an asset repository.

  • Added the ability to use Amazon RDS for SQL Server as a Platform Server database.

• SDK enhancements:

  • Provided functionality in the Quark Author API to set the spellchecker language using the setLocale() API call and added a new event, LOCALE_UPDATED, fired when the locale is updated.

  • Provided an XREF_TEXT_EVALUATED callback, whenever the cross-reference text is evaluated. An extension can register for the callback to update the text.

QuarkXPress Server

Refer to Getting Started with QuarkXPress Server for a list of changes in the QuarkXPress Server in this release.

• QuarkXPress Server is compatible with QuarkXPress 2018 - January 2019 Update (14.2.1).

• Added support for Indic languages.

• Udpated XTensions for Smart Content Toolkit

• QuarkXPress Server now supports using Amazon S3 for data persistence of the docpool

Quark Author Web Edition

• Proof reading enhancements:

  • Dialog based interactive spell checking extends the spell check feature set in a friendly dialog experience so users can focus on correcting typos and enhance content quality:

    • A Check Spelling option has been added under the Spelling and Grammar toolbar button drop-down menu.

    • Easily navigate to next/previous errors.

    • Fix all errors with a Replace All feature, so you don't have to replace each misspelled word one by one.

    • Ignore proper nouns or acronyms with a new lgnore All feature, allowing the user to ignore all occurrences of a misspelled word at one time.

  • Document-based language selection:

    • The proofreading language is automatically selected when a document is opened, based on configuration.

    • The ability to exclude a set of block type elements from proofreading, based on configuration.

    • The ability to exclude text inside a read-only block from proofreading, based on configuration.

• Reference management enhancements

  • The ability to customize the INSERT CROSS REFERENCE dialog allows you to show/hide certain types of cross-reference target elements (regions, tables, sections, figures, etc.).

  • The ability to change the configuration to disable cross-reference editing helps enforce required formats and allows the user to make edits to target titles.

Quark XML Author for Quark Publishing Platform

Refer to the Quark XML Author ReadMe for a detailed list of changes in this release.

• Smart paste support in Smart Content Configuration:

  • Added support for all smart paste options.

  • Formatting and structure are retained.

• Paste performance enhancements:

  • Paste performance has been improved by 88% on BusDocs and by 45% on Smart Content. 

  • Undo and Redo performance has been improved by 75% on BusDocs and 60% on Smart Content.

    Performance improvement may vary depending on customer data complexity, additional processing, and environmental factors.

• Modular application and document configuration

  • Improves management of custom configurations.

  • Simplifies the merging process for Platform Adapters builds.

• Smart Content Enhancements

  • Extends benefits enabled by new tooling: add new doctypes and stylesheets faster using UI instead of code.

  • Smart Paste integration: copy/paste from Word to XML Author.

• Navigation pane support:

  • Added the ability to drag and drop at the same level.

  • Added promote and demote functionality.

  • Added the ability to disable/enable context menus.

Quark Publishing Platform Server

• Infrastructure upgrades:

  • Updated Apose.Word from 18.2 to 18.8

  • Updated Apose.Pdf from 18.1 to 18.7

  • Updated Apose.Slides from 18.1 to 18.7

  • Updated Apose.Cells from 18.2.1 to 18.8

  • Updated Apose.Diagram from 18.2 to 18.8

  • Updated PDF Box from 1.7.1 to 2.0.8.

  • Updated Font Box from 1.7.1 to 2.0.8.

  • Updated CKEditor from 4.7.2 to 4.10.0.

  • Updated SQL Server JDBC Driver from 4.0 to 4.2.

• SDK enhancements:

  • Added support to enable the publication of specific asset versions.

    • The PublishFacade and the PublishByPathFacade services have been updated to publish previous versions of an asset by adding two new parameters, majorversion and minorversion. These are both optional parameters. When not supplied, the latest version of the asset will be published.

    • Provided a way to rebuild the entire document/component tree while respecting components pinned to specific versions.

• Smart Content Designer support and integration:

  • Added the following channels to allow for the publication of smart documents using Smart Content Designer templates:

    • smartDocPdfNG

    • smartDocJpegNG

    • smartDocHtml5PublicationNG

  • Added a new parameter,  QXP_TEMPLATE_URI, that points to a valid Smart Content template.

  • These channels do not require an XSLT for SmartDoc to Modifier xml transformation.

• Publishing enhancements:

  • PDF Accessibility Features:

    • Added the ability to set alternate text for pictures in a PDF.

    • Added the ability to set layout metadata as PDF metadata.

    • Added the ability to create tagged PDF output from QXPS.

  • Modular XSLT files:

    • Added the following channels which are modular and easy to customize/extend:

      • smartDocPdfEx

      • smartDocJpegEx

      • smartDocHtml5Ex

      • collectSmartDocForOutputEx

    • Added a set of XSLT files to support these channels for Smart Content to Modifier transfomation:

      • SmartDoc2QXPSEx.xslt: Main XSLT file used to defined page sequence. This XSLT can be updated for defining custom page sequences based on the pagination rules defined in the corresponding QXP template.

      • SmartDoc-TransformationsEx.xslt: Responsible for core transformation of smart-content to qxps-modifier XML. This XSL need not be modified for any customization requirements.

      • SmartDoc-StyleSheetsEx.xslt: Responsible for applying custom styles using XPath-based conditions.

• Preferences enhancements:

  • In order to support the Add to Dictionary feature of Spell Checker in Quark Author, the QWE_PROOF_READER_USER_DICTONARY preference constant has been added.

  • This constant is used to store words that the user has added to the dictionary.

• Added support to install the Platform server if the SQL server is configured as Windows authentication.

Deprecated database version: Oracle Database 11gR2 has been deprecated and is no longer supported.

QuarkXPress Server

Refer to Getting Started with QuarkXPress Server for a list of changes in the QuarkXPress Server in this release.

• QuarkXPress Server is compatible with QuarkXPress 2018 (14.x).

• Added accessibility features in PDF output.

  • PDFs published from Platform now include tagging and alternate text for images to enhance accessibility.

  • Added a new URL parameter,  createtaggedpdf (true|false), to configure the tagged PDF setting.

• Added support for box borders.

  • Added a new BORDER element with over 40 attributes to support the ability to apply different borders to each side of a box.

  • The FRAME element has been retained for backward compatibility and still works in modifier-based flows.

  • The deconstruct XML now represents borders and related attributes under the new BORDER element.

• Added support for the ability to span footnotes/endnotes over columns.

  • Specify using the Footnote Across Columns attribute in the footnote/endnote separator style.

  • This feature is also supported in the automation flow.

• Modifier Schema Changes:

  • Added support for heading styles in paragraph stylesheets.

  • Added support for heterogeneous borders and frames.

  • Changed EBOOKMETADATA to LAYOUTMETADATA. This lets you apply metadata to the layout for PDS and eBook export.

  • Added PICTURE@ALTTEXT. This lets you set alternate text for each image to enhance accessibility.

Quark Author Web Edition

• Collaboration enhancements:

  • The CHANGES and the FOOT NOTES panes auto-scroll to remain in synch with the canvas cursor position.

  • Comments, tracked changes and reference notes are auto-selected in the appropriate  pane when these items are clicked on the canvas.

  • Added the ability to show/hide comments on the canvas.

  • Added toolbar buttons to navigate next/previous comments.

  • New comments now appear in the appropriate context in the CHANGES pane when these are sorted by Position.

  • Filter selections by Type in the CHANGES pane no longer impact the canvas display.

  • Added the ability to accept or reject a tracked change and move to the next one.

  • Added the configuration option to show/hide the date/time shown on comment tooltips.

• New spell checker technology:

  • Improves content quality with spell checking and grammar checking features.

  • New button appears under the REVIEW tab:

    • Provides scalable, open source solution with the ability for users to add words to dictionary, ignore words/grammar rules per document, and configuration options to enforce corporate rules.

  • Configuration options:

    • Add words to user-specific or system-wide dictionaries.

    • Provides exclusions list to ignore terms, acronyms, and grammar rules.

    • Enable/disable the service automatically.

    • Enable/disable grammar checking.

    • Add/subtract languages.

    • Set wait time before processing changes to content blocks.

    • Set maximum suggestion count.

• Usability enhancements:

  • Added the ability to configure the option of showing/hiding all region types in the paragraph combo box.

  • Added the ability to copy/paste across documents using the same Web browser, including:

    • reference note content

    • content metadata

  • Metadata use cases:

    • When configured, users may add a new domain value for single-value, non-hierarchical attributes using the CHECK IN dialog or PROPERTIES pane.

Quark XML Author for Quark Publishing Platform

Refer to the Quark XML Author ReadMe for a detailed list of changes in this release.

• BusDocs enhancements:

  • Microsoft Word Review export performance has been improved for parallel review by 50-90% depending on reviewers and content complexity.

  • Save/check-in performance is limited to modified components.

• Authoring consistency features:

  • Apply case changes: UPPER, lower, Camel Case, Sentence case.

  • Managing smart quotes and straight quotes.

• Smart Content Schema support:

  • Initial schema support to enable benefits from the new Smart Content Toolkit.

Quark Publishing Platform Server

• Infrastructure upgrades:

  • Updated Aspose Cells from 17.9.2 to 18.2.1.

  • Updated Aspose PDF from 17.4 to 18.1.

  • Updated Aspose Diagram from 17.9 to 18.2.

  • Updated Aspose Slides from 17.9 to 18.1.

  • Updated Aspose Words from 17.9 to 18.2.

  • Updated PDF Box from 1.7.0 to 1.7.1.

  • Updated Font Box from 1.7.0 to 1.7.1.

• Messaging enhancements:

  • Log-Off: Added session details to the USER LOGOFF message (e.g. machine name, application name, user name, session ID).

  • Asset-Delete: Added additional details/metadata to deleted assets (e.g. object type, content type, collection, version, session ID, server ID).

• Publishing enhancement:

  • The publishing process now resolves keyref and conkeyref elements used in DITA-compliant XML assets.

• Search enhancement:

  • Added the ability to fetch all the assets irrespective of the search result limit configured in "Query.properties".

• Asset Management enhancements:

  • Added the ability to change the content type of an asset.

  • Added the ability to re-index assets.

• SDK Changes:

  • Two new services, AssetFacade and AssetsByPathFacade, have been added, providing the capability to re-index assets.

  • The QueryFacade service has been enhanced, providing the ability to fetch all assets irrespective of the search result limit configured in "Query.properties". 

  • Two methods, checkIn and updateAsset, have been changed, providing the ability to change the content type of an asset.

• 3rd party software changes:

  • WebSpellChecker/SCAYT for spell checking:

    • Plugins have been disabled in the shipped software.

  • Wiris for equation editing:

    • A temporary key is no longer provided in the shipped software. A license key, provided by Quark, is now required.

Quark Author Web Edition

• Usability enhancements:

  • Properties tree pane is now resizable. By default, the width matches the width of the parent combo box, enhancing the view of polyhierarchies.

  • Triple-clicking on content will select the entire block.

  • The CHECK IN dialog supports multi-value attributes.

• Reference notes enhancements:

  • All in-line markup is retained when content from the canvas is pasted to a footnote/endnote and vice-versa.

  • External hyperlinks can be applied in the footnote and endnote content.

• Document validation:

  • The user is alerted when document edits have invalidated a custom structure. This allows a user to easily return to the last successful auto saved draft of the document.

• Third party software plugins:

  • Modified configuration for WIRIS and spell checker plugins.

    • WIRIS, SCAYT and Spell Checker plugins have been disabled in the shipped software.

    • Configuration changes are required to enable these plugins (see Quark Author Web Edition System Admin Guide for instructions on enabling these plugins).

QuarkXPress Server

Refer to the QuarkXPress Server ReadMe for a list of changes in the QuarkXPress Server in this release.

• Compatible with QuarkXPress and QuarkCopyDesk 13.2.1.

• Modifier Schema Changes

  • Added the ability to represent master spreads and its items in XML rendition.

  • Added the ability to create  or modify items on master spreads using modifier XML.

  • Added the ability to represent and modify gradients.

  • Added the ability to represent blend modes in XML and apply blend modes using modifier XML.

  • Added the ability to represent page and spread guides in modifier deconstruct XML.

  • Added the ability to represent lock type in deconstruct XML and lock items on the layout using Modifier XML.

  • Added the ability to represent text stroke in deconstruct XML and apply text stroke using Modifier XML.

  • Added the ability to apply a hyperlink in a table cell.

Quark XML Author for Quark Publishing Platform

Refer to the Quark XML Author ReadMe for a detailed list of changes in this release.

• DITA 1.2 reuse milestone:

  • DITA configuration now includes support for conkeyref and keyref (as keywords, hyperlinks and topic references).

  • The Insert tab provides an option to define keys in a DITA map.

  • Keys defined in a map are listed on the canvas as well as the DITA map navigation pane.

    • Phrases and/or hyperlinks can be inserted as a variable reference in DITA topics.

    • Insert Hyperlink and Phrase Attribute Panel dialog boxes allow key usage for variables defined in the DITA map.

• Usability enhancements:

  • Editing performance is significantly improved when deleting multiple table columns and when editing text before or after tables.

  • Cross-references now support headings and section titles in a referenced section.

  • Paste operations now support tables with merged rows and text containing hyperlinks.

• Additional languages:

  • Authoring support includes Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified), Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Arabic.

  • Bidirectional languages like Arabic and Hebrew with right-to-left (RTL) and left-to-right (LTR) text runs are supported.

• View revisions:

  • Added a new View Revisions button on the ribbon.

  • Added a new View Revisions context menu item for referred components in the Reference pane.

  • Added a new tab, Revisions, on the Smart Content pane.

  • These enhancements provide the user the ability to view revisions of the referred server components.

  • Revisions can be listed in List/Snippet view (default is snippet view).

  • The user can open any version of the document in read-only mode.

• In-line component editing

  • Added a new Edit All Components (Inline) button on the ribbon.

    • This button will check out all the supported components for in-line editing. In the shipped configuration, only unpinned sections/structured, server-based tables can be edited in-line.

    • Nested components which support in-line editing will also be checked out.

    • The canvas refreshes to reflect changes in the checked-out components.

  • This feature can also be configured for use at the component level.

    • Set the Recursive token to true in the EditInline method.

    • When invoked for a particular component, all the nested components that support in-line editing will be checked out.

• Referenced Components:

  • Added new Pin All and Unpin All context menu items to the Reference pane.

    • Pin All will pin all unpinned referenced components in the document.

    • Unpin All will unpin all pinned referenced components in the document.

  • Option availability depends on the document state.

    • For documents containing both pinned and unpinned references, both options are available.

    • For documents containing only pinned references, only the Unpin All option is available.

    • For documents containing only unpinned references, only the Pin All option is available.

• Component save performance optimization:

  • Removed unnecessary download and replace node calls when saving components.

  • Avoided having to redraw components on the canvas during a save using the SetReferenceAttributes delegate.

• Reference Update Notification enhancements:

  • Notifications for reference updates will be shown in the Windows 10 Action Center.

  • Added a notification icon in the notification area.

    • Clicking this icon displays a context menu with the list of all updates.

    • Closing a Quark XML Author document removes the related update reference notifications from the list.

    • Closing all opened Quark XML Author documents, or selecting Exit from the context menu, removes the Updates Available icon from the notification area.

  • Added a notification balloon containing details for updated references.

  • Added an update notification when opening a document with out of date component references.

Deprecated database version: Oracle Database 11gR2 is still available in the March 2018 Update, but shall not be available in future releases once we update our support to Oracle Database 12c.

Quark Publishing Platform Server

• Added Support for Microsoft Azure SQL database: Platform deployments to Microsoft Azure may use Azure SQL.

• Configurable publishing rescue folder: Provided the capability to configure the path to the "PublishingRescueFolder", where publishing data will be stored if there is a failure in publishing.

• Infrastructure upgrades:

  • Updated Aspose Cells from 17.5.5 to 17.9.2.

  • Updated Aspose Diagram from 17.5 to 17.9.

  • Updated Aspose Slides from 17.4 to 17.9.

  • Updated Aspose Words from 17.5 to 17.9.

  • Updated Highcharts libraries from 5.0.10 to 5.0.14.

  • Update Saxon HE from 9.6.0-10 to 9.7.0-20.

  • Updated Commons-fileupload from 1.2 to 1.3.3.

  • Updated Spring-security-core from 3.1.3 to 3.1.7.

  • Updated Jasyps from 1.9.1 to 1.9.2.

  • Updated Bouncycastle from 1.46 to 1.9.1.

• SDK Changes:

  • A new method, promoteClipboardDataToAsset, has been added to the ClipboardService, providing the capability of saving clipboard data to a Platform asset (refer to REST API documentation for details).

Quark Author Web Edition

Usability enhancements:

• Collapsed section nodes

  • When initializing a new smart document, only the first level section nodes are displayed by default.

  • Child nodes can be viewed by expanding a particular node.

• Undo enhancement

  • Enabling/disabling the change track highlighting no longer clears the undo buffer.

Enhancements to the Review feature:

• Added the ability to sort changes by position.

  • Both comments and track changes can be ordered by their position on the authoring canvas.

  • Changes can be sorted by ascending or descending order.

• Color coded comments:

  • Every user has a distinct color to highlight their comments and track changes.

  • The same background color is shown on the editing canvas and the Changes pane.

  • Color palette is configurable. 

• Added new comment navigation buttons.

  • Previous and Next buttons stay enabled in read only mode to allow easy navigation of changes in the editing canvas.

Enhancements to the Reference Notes feature:

• Custom inline tags in Reference notes:

  • Custom inline tags can be applied to footnote and endnote content.

  • Available tags are configurable by section.

• Metadata for Reference notes:

  • Metadata for a refnote can be edited by clicking the Edit Properties icon shown on the Foot Notes toolbar.

  • Metadata fields for the reference note are shown on the Properties pane.

Infrastructure Updates:

• Added support for Safari browser (latest).

• CKEditor version updated to 4.7.2.

• Debugger prototype for CKEditor.

New Features:

• When removing a component reference from the server or when pasting a table from the server clipboard, content is tracked if tracking was enabled.

• Excel Integration: Pasting from the server side has been enhanced to promote the clipboard data as an asset.

QuarkXPress Server

Refer to the QuarkXPress Server ReadMe for a list of changes in the QuarkXPress Server in this release.

• Compatible with QuarkXPress and QuarkCopyDesk 13.1.

• Configuration Changes:

  • New option to configure the path for QuarkXPress Server “PublishingRescueFolder”. Stores publishing data to accelerate troubleshooting publishing failures.

    • Two ways to configure the path:

      • Edit the “PublishingUtilContext.xml” file ([install-path]/Server/publishing) to set the path as a value for the rescueFolderPath property (requires server restart).

      • Use JConsole (no server restart required).

Quark XML Author for Quark Publishing Platform

• Quality Improvements.

• Cross-reference enhancements:

  • Ability to make reference captions read-only.

Microsoft Office and Quark XML Author Adapters

• Microsoft Excel adapter:

  • Server clipboard enhancements:

    • Easily copy a chart to the server clipboard using a keyboard shortcut (CTRL+Shift+C).

    • Excel components copied to the server clipboard can be exported based on the configured mime type.

  • Push updates

    • New button on the Ribbon (Push Updates),exports all updated components.

  • Native Chart Export

    • Allows you to export charts to the Platform server using the native Excel method.

    • Added a new token called UseNativeExport to the Tag attribute in the ribbon.config file.

• XML Author Adapter:

  • Self cross-reference enhancement: the URL scheme for intra document cross-references has been enhanced to use a more universal ID pattern. 

  • Configuration changes:

    • In the Config.xml file:

      • Added a new event handler method (InsertComponentEventHandler) for InsertComponent with the argument: PasteNode.

      • Added a new event handler method (InsertElementXomEventHandler) for InsertElementXom with the argument: XomCurrentNode.

      • Added a new event handler method (AfterSaveEventHandler) for the save events with the arguments: XomRoot and Filename.

      • Added a new event handler method (RegisterNotifications) for registering for server notification with the argument: XomRoot.

      • Added a new event handler method (UnRegisterNotifications) for unregistering for server notification with the argument: XomRoot.

      • Added a new event handler method (ReRegisterNotifications) for re-registering for server notification with the arguments: XomRoot and PasteNode.

      • Added a configuration option (EnableOpenDocxSupport) to enable or disable the .docx (buddy files) support for document opening flows. True by default.

    • In the AppConfig.xml file:

      • Updated the BeforeOpenEventHandler method. Renamed the ImportSettings argument to OpenSettings, making it generic for all opening settings.

    • In the AppConfig.xml file:

      • Added a new configuration for exporting local references.

Quark Publishing Platform Server

• New features and enhancements:

  • Server-side clipboard manages user-specific clipboard data on Platform server to enable clipboard access across multiple devices.

  • The Office service has been enhanced with new content types and publishing channels to enhance Excel data reuse.

  • Component management has been extended to regions and tables with features just like section components, allowing you to reuse, edit and save these as a single source in Platform.

  • Parallel resolution of references when publishing componentized documents.

  • HTML5 publication enhancements.

  • Publishing rescue folder - publishing data is saves to the "publishingRescueFolder" if publishing fails.

  • Platform monitoring enhancements.

• Infrastructure changes:

  • Added support:

    • Windows Server 2016

    • SQL Server 2016

  • Removed support:

    • Windows Server 2008 R2

    • SQL Server 2008 R2

  • JDK/JRE updated from 1.7 to 1.8.

  • Spring Framework updated from 4.2.6 to 4.3.8.

  • Tomcat updated from 7.0.61 to 7.0.77.

  • Elasticsearch updated from 2.3.3 to 5.4.

  • DitaOTK updated from 1.6 to 2.4.6.

  • ActiveMQ updated from 5.11.1 to 5.14.5.

  • ImageMagick updated from 7.0.2-9 to 7.0.5-4.

  • Apache Tika updated from 1.1 to 1.14.

  • Jackson updated from 2.6.6 to 2.8.6.

  • Aspose Cells (default PDF handling in MS Office) updated from 9.0.0 to 17.5.5.

  • Highcharts (static and dynamic charting service) updated from 4.2.3 to 5.0.10.

  • Waffle updated from 1.8.1 to 1.8.3.

  • Xerces updated from 2.8.1 to 2.11.0.

  • Xalan updated from 2.7.1 to 2.7.2.

  • Apache Lucene updated from 5.5 to 6.5.1.

• Configuration changes:

  • "log4j.xml" updates:

    • Added the following appenders for logging all events generated by Platform in the “MessagePublisher.log” log file:

      • MessagePublisherAppender

      • MessagePublisherAsyncAppender

      • MessagePublisherFileAppender

    • Added the following appenders for logging information helpful in monitoring database health after certain intervals in the “DatabaseMonitoring.log” log file:

      • DatabaseMonitoringAppender

      • DatabaseMonitoringAsyncAppender

      • DatabaseMonitoringFileAppender

  • "ManagerConfig.xml" provides new default values for the maxretries and requesttimeout properties.

  • "Wrapper.conf" -  debugging options were added to enable tracing and printing of the JVM information.

  • "ServerApp.properties":  the DITA_HOME property was changed to surface the new software library for the DITA Open Toolkit.

  • "PluginsContext.xml":  added an entry for importing clipboard-specific Spring beans.

  • "custom-xml-types.xml":  added additional mime types to support the new content types.

  • "content-mimetype-mappings.xml":  Added a content type to the mime type mappings to support the new content types.

  • "ClipboardConfig.xml":  Added a new file which contains configuration information for managing clipboard formats.

  • "ChannelConfig.xml":

    • Added the following new channels to support relevant new product features:

      • smartBlockJpeg: Used to generate previews for "Smart Content Block" asset types.

      • fetchExcelTable: Used to render “Microsoft Excel Table” assets types in various possible formats.

      • fetchExcelChart; Used to render “Microsoft Excel Chart” asset types in various possible formats.

      • pptHtml: Used to convert PowerPoint documents to HTML format.

      • pptPpsx; Used to convert PowerPoint documents to PPSX format.

    • Changed the following publishing channels:

      • Added the RESOLVE_QPP_RELATIONS parameter to the following channels: ditaDocTransformation, ditaDocPdf, ditaDocJpeg, ditaDocHtml.

      • Added the OUTPUT_STYLE, TOC_SECTION and LAYOUTS parameters to the following channels:  smartDocHtml5Publication and busDocHtml5Publication.

      • Added the CONTENT_TYPE parameter to the following channels to support source data streams or URIs in addition to Platform assetId: wordDocPdf, excelDocPdf, visioDocPdf and pptPdf.

    • Deleted the following channels: (if using deleted channels, switch to smartBlockJpeg)

      • smartTableJpeg

      • smartTablePdf

      • smartTableHtml

  • "PublishingConfig.xml": Updated the following:

    • Mapped the xmartBlockJpeg channel to Smart Content content type.

    • Mapped HTML and PPSX channels to Microsoft PowerPoint Template and Microsoft Excel Template content types.

    • Added channel mappings for the Smart Content Block content type.

    • Removed the mapping for the Smart Table content type to reflect the removal of the smart table publishing channels.

  • "IndexingChannels.xml": Added mapping for the following channels: busDocJpeg, smartDocJpeg, ditaDocJpeg, ditaDocJpeg. Publishing channel mapping for default content types are no longer hardcoded, allowing users to change channel mappings even for default content types.

  • "ESAttributeIndexSettings.json": Updated so that mappings are no longer specified in this file, only the index settings are specified here.

  • "ESAttributeIndexMappings.json"; Added a new file which contains the mapping definition to be used when create the attribute index.

  • "ESTextIndexSettings.json": Updated so that text mappings are no longer specified in this file, only the text index settings are specified here.

  • "ESTextIndexMappings.json": Added a new file which contains the text mapping definition to be used when create the text indices.

  • "Log4j2.xml": Added a new file used to configure log4j2 based logging appenders and log levels for specific Elasticsearch cluster logging.

  • JMX MBeans updates:

    • "Filter Process Time Out”: Updated to add timeout property for the following missing filters:

      • APSFilterTimeOut: Timeout in milliseconds for indexing “App Studio Package” asset types.

      • AsposeFilterTimeOut: Timeout in milliseconds for indexing “Microsoft Office” asset types.

      • XADocFilerTimeOut: Timeout in milliseconds for indexing “XML” asset types.

    • "Database Health Monitor”: Updated so that the database monitoring thread is switched on by default.

    • "Publishing” : Updated to add the following attributes:

      • ReferenceResolutionMaxParallelism: Refers to the maximum number of parallel threads used for resolving references.

      • SavePublishingDataOnError: A Boolean flag which provides a capability to save failed publishing data to the PublishingRescueFolder folder.

    • "Query Properties": New MBean added to define the maximum number of fetched query results:

      • MaxAssignmentFetchCount: The maximum number of results fetched in the assignments query.

      • MaxRowFetchCount: The maximum number of results fetched in other saved/adhoc queries.

    • "Time Watch SQL statements": Added the ActiveConnectionsBenchmarkToLogSqls attribute to automatically log SQL statements when the number of active database connections reaches the value specified in ActiveConnectionsBenchmarkToLogSqls.

• SDK Changes:

  • Updated Publishing Façade bean API (a potentially breaking change). The method signatures in PublishFacade and PublishByPathFacade were modified by adding the httpServletResponse argument. This argument sets the appropriate content-type header values in the http response for publishing requests. Although this change impacts no REST URLs, any custom code using these methods by injecting PublishFacade and PublishByPathFacade as a Spring bean will encounter compile errors. These errors can be avoided by passing the argument as null.

  • New REST APIs (refer to REST API documentation for details):

    • REST APIs have been introduced for the new service ClipboardService.

    • REST APIs have been added in OfficeFacade and OfficeByPathFacade to retrieve assets of type Microsoft Excel Chart and Microsoft Excel Table in various formats.

  • Updated Content Types:

    • The Smart Data content type has been renamed to Smart Content Block.

  • New Content Types:

    • Under Smart Content Block, new content types were added:

      • Smart Region - A new content type to create and manage region asset types.

      • Box - A new content type to create and manage “Box” type region assets.

      • Callout - A new content type to create and manage “Callout” type region assets.

    • Under Microsoft Excel, new content types were added:

      • Microsoft Excel Chart: A content type for “Microsoft Excel” type assets consisting of a single Excel chart.

      • Microsoft Excel Table: A content type for “Microsoft Excel” type assets consisting of a single Excel table.

QuarkXPress Server

Refer to the QuarkXPress Server ReadMe for a list of changes in the QuarkXPress Server in this release.

• Compatible with QuarkXPress 2017:

  • Responsive HTML5 Publication (Multi-device Output)

  • Para/Text shading

  • Column Flow - Column Split & Span

  • Support for Item Styles

• QuarkXPress Server usage reporting.

• Transaction-level font management.

Quark Author Web Edition

New features:

• Dynamic ribbon tabs based on cursor location, similar to Microsoft Office.

  • New toolbar organizes commands for editing regions and tables.

  • Configurable options for activating/hiding ribbon tabs in editor UI.

• Extended Component Management:

  • Manage regions and tables as reusable components.

  • Includes a rich configuration infrastructure to enhance greater reuse.

• Review Enhancements – Comments & Replies:

  • Ability to add Replies to review comments.

  • Ability to add text emphasis to comments/replies.

  • Enhanced UI for Changes pane and comments.

• Metadata Editing UI:

  • New right pane for metadata called PROPERTIES.

  • Enrich content with fully-featured forms for assigning metadata to Smart Content elements.

  • Configure metadata UI behaviors using XML.

• Insert Microsoft Excel Tables and Charts more easily:

  • Add Excel assets to your Smart Content with fewer steps than before.

  • Choose from two new content types:

    • Microsoft Excel Table

    • Microsoft Excel Chart

• Paste from Server:

  • Paste clipboard content using the Server Clipboard.

  • Boosts productivity when working across multiple applications or devices.

  • Supports Microsoft Excel Table and Chart content copied from Microsoft Office desktop applications using Quark Office Adapters.

• Configuration Changes:

  • "editor-config.js":

    • The following new plugins provide functionality for regions and tables. By default, these plugins are configured as core Quark Author plugins and apply to all document types.

      • region

      • regioncomponent

      • blockcomponent

      • tablecomponent

      • pastefromserver

    • The following plugin has been removed and its functionality was merged with the  tablecomponent plugin.

      • datatable

  • "xmleditor-config.xml": The following elements have been updated/added:

    • New:

      • <block-bursting-config>: Bursting rules for block-level components are defined using the new <block-bursting-config > element.

      • <blockpicker-settings>: Asset browsers corresponding to block-level region or table components may be configured using this new element.

    • Updated:

    • <headertoolbar>

    • <panels>:

      • A new panel with view-name metaPanel has been added. The panel enables managing meta on sections and content blocks within a document.

      • The declaration for the Changes action pane has been updated. Action pane functions may be configured in the “commentpane-config.xml” file.

    •  

    • <assetpicker-settings>:

      • Three new Platform asset browsers have been configured in "Workspace-Config.xml". These enable Platform asset selection for the following default content types:

        • Region

        • Microsoft Excel Table

        • Microsoft Excel Chart

      • The asset browser setting “EXCEL_BROWSER” has been merged with the EXCEL_TABLE_BROWSER” asset browser setting and the corresponding <assetpicker-setting> elements have been added to "xmleditor-config.xml".

    •  

    • Contextual toolbar tabs: Quark Author configuration now includes dynamic, contextual toolbar tabs which appear only when the cursor location is in a specific document location (e.g. region, table, figure, etc.).

  • "Workspace-Config.xml":

    • PreviewSettings/ChannelMappings have been deleted. New channels for HTML5 Publication and PDF for Smart Table have been included which replace these former settings.

    • AssetBrowserSettings:

      • New asset browser settings have been added:

        • REGION_BROWSER

        • EXCEL_TABLE_BROWSER

        • EXCEL_CHART_BROWSER

      • The browser setting id EXCEL_BROWSER has been changed to EXCEL_CHART_BROWSER.

  • "metapane-config.xml": (New) This file defines configuration settings for the “Properties” action pane. Configuration scope dictates UI behavior for specific metadata fields including controls to show/hide fields, define read/write controls, and manage the definition of available meta values.

  • "commentpane-config.xml": (New) This file defines configuration settings for the “Changes” action pane.

  • "previewchannel-config.xml": (Updated) This file defines configuration settings for the “Preview” action pane.

• SDK Changes:

  • Refer to SDK changes guide for details.

Quark XML Author for Quark Publishing Platform

• Enhanced DITA support:  in addition to adding recently delivered features to the DITA installation, this release includes the following:

  • DITA map navigation pane: the document outline is now easily navigated using a functional pane to manage document structure.

  • DITA map editing: enhancements to DITA topic reference management make it easier for users to build reusable outlines from your content corpus.

  • Updated referencing infrastructure: consistent with DITA 1.2, an indirect referencing mechanism enables key-based referencing, opening new use cases for referencing and reusing content and structure.

• Infrastructure changes:

  • 64-bit Microsoft Word 2016 compatibility

• Performance enhancements:

  • Open performance - reduced the time it takes to open files by an average of 40%, depending on document length and complexity.

  • Portion mark optimization - enjoy increased performance for portion marks with a more granular configuration at the element level.

Microsoft Office and Quark XML Author Adapters

• Usability improvements:

  • A cleaner backstage menu integration when opening and saving documents to the server (for Office Adapters).

  • All Office adapters now honor document closing, prompting the user to save or discard changes for server documents.

• Configuration improvements:

  • Excel Adapter - Configuration for worksheet protection options.

  • Excel Adapter - Control component export behavior for workbook calculation.

  • PowerPoint Adapter - Configuration to reference unsupported image types from server (e.g. PDF).

  • XML Author Adapter -Simplified the table elements. The  label Tables replaces Simple Table, HTML Table, and Word Table in the out-of-the-box adapters configuration.

• Functional improvements:

  • Added the ability to replace components (for XML Author Adapter).

• PowerPoint Adapter:

  • PowerPoint slide assembly - Added the capability to assemble slides, by reusing slides or complete PowerPoint decks from the server (for PowerPoint Adapter).

  • Component references - Relationships are created on Platform Server for all component references. Multiple reference types are supported including: Pictures, Media – Audio and video, Microsoft Excel Charts and Tables

  • Notifications - Users are notified of component version updates and icon updates. Notifications are shown through the Update icon in the Smart Content pane, a Notification balloon and the Windows Action Center.

  • Publishing Support -  Added support for publishing PowerPoint in supported channels.

  • Added the ability to visualize referenced assets/slides in a separate pane.

  • Added the ability to replace assets.

  • Added the ability to preserve local changes while the server slide is updated.

  • Added the ability to scale slide thumbnail size in the Reuse Slide form according to the width of the pane.

• Added the ability to burst an Excel range or chart as a separate asset while inserting a reference.

• Added the ability to enhance the copy/paste/move and save as file flows.

• Added the ability to update component after relink.

• Notifications: Users are notified of available updates (for XML Author Adapter)

• Server-side clipboard support - Allows you to copy/paste to and from the server-side clipboard (copy is allowed from the Excel Adapter and paste is only allowed in PowerPoint and XML Author Adapters).

• Document Protection support - Enabled ‘configurable’ document protection support for exported Excel table and chart components (for Excel Adapter).

• Multiple Server connections - Added the ability to manage connections to multiple servers, allowing users a way to switch connections through preferences (for both Office and XML Author Adapters).

• Server drafts supports - Infrastructure support for saving drafts to the server(for Office Adapters).

• Buddy file support - Performance improvements when saving or opening XML Author files from Platform server due to the presence of buddy files (for XML Author Adapter).

• Publishing support in PowerPoint adapter - Added support for publishing PowerPoint in supported channels (for PowerPoint Adapter).

• Added the ability to resolve local references in the CFO channel (for XML Author Adapter).

• Added the ability to show the edit attributes from the task pane or the context (for XML Author Adapter).

• Added the ability to add elements through bidirectional indexing for child sections as well (for XML Author Adapter).

• Added the ability to support new contents types, "Excel Table" and "Excel Chart" (for Excel, PowerPoint and XML Author Adapters).

• Added the ability to enable a Word review for documents with editable inline (for XML Author Adapter).

• Infrastructure upgrades

  • 64-bit Microsoft Office support (added for XML Author Adapter)

  • Compatible with Quark XML Author 6.0 (for XML Author Adapter)

Quark Publishing Platform Client

• New Features: added Publishing support for Office documents.

Quark Publishing Platform Server

New features:

• Added the ability to dynamically configure Quark Publishing Platform, allowing you to define and initialize publishing activities, channels, and content types without restarting the server application.

• Added the ability to install the database without mixed mode authentication, using Platform scripts.

• Added a new default search, Checked Out Assets that searches for and displays all of the assets currently checked out by the current user.

• Added support for displaying a count for the assignments query.

Publishing enhancements:

• Provides publishing support for all new features in Quark Author Web Edition and Quark XML Author.

• Added support for rendering Business Documents and Smart Documents using HTML5 publication output generated by QuarkXPress Server 2016.

• Added an enhanced responsive HTML output for Smart Documents and Business Documents.

• Added support for SVG formats of office components (Excel, PPT and Visio) in HTML output for Smart Documents and Business Documents

Publishing channel updates:

• New publishing channels:

  • smartDocHtml5Publication - Provides HTML5 publication output generated by QuarkXPress.

  • busDocHtml5Publication - Provides HTML5 publication output generated by QuarkXPress.

  • visioDocPdf - Provides PDF output of Visio document.

  • fetchVisioPage - Fetches the given Visio page in the specified format.

  • fetchPowerPointSlide - Fetches the given Visio page in the specified format Microsoft PowerPoint.

• Added additional support for tracked changes including:

  • Enhanced the DITA based publishing channels to support Accept/Reject options for tracked changes.

    Added a new channel parameter, TRACKED_CHANGES, to the following publishing channels: ditaDocTransformation, ditaDocPdf, ditaDocWordRTF, ditaDocJpeg and ditaDocHtml.

• New publishing channel parameters:

  • VISIO_DATA_IMAGE_FORMAT - Image format of Visio pages to be overridden during publishing.

  • POWERPOINT_DATA_IMAGE_FORMAT - Image format of referred PowerPoint slides to be overridden during publishing.

  • MATH_EQUATION_IMAGE_FORMAT - Image format of math equations to be overridden during publishing.

• Publishing activities update:

  • New publishing activity - ResolveMathEquations - replaces math elements (that represent a math equation) with an image element generated using WIRIS editor's client library.

• New content types:

  • Microsoft PowerPoint

  • Microsoft PowerPoint Template

  • Microsoft Visio

  • Microsoft Visio Template

• New relation types:

  • PowerPoint Data Object Reference

  • Visio Data Object Reference

  • Review Document Reference

• Highlighted Infrastructure upgrades:

  • Integrated with Elasticsearch to eliminate copying Lucene indices for each node. This allows for multi-server scalability.

  • Aspose Cells (default PDF handling in MS Office) updated to 9.0.0 from 8.7.2.

  • Spring Framework updated to 4.2.6 from 4.1.6.

  • Apache Lucene updated to 5.5 from 5.1.

  • CKEditor updated to 4.5.11 from 4.5.5.

  • ImageMagick updated to 7.0.2.9 from 6.9.1.

QuarkXPress Server

• QuarkXPress Server is compatible with QuarkXPress 2016.

• Added support for index generation.

• Added support for equation publishing with Wiris Math Equations.

• Added support for table auto-fit rules.

• Added support for Azure Cloud Service configuration.

• Added support for using the DITA Open Toolkit as a publishing engine for your DITA content.

• Added the ability to apply hyperlinks on inline boxes.

• Added the ability to process nested <PARAGRAPH> elements.

• Added the ability to dynamically re-adjust static boxes on a template using the <FIT> element. This also prevents callout boxes from overlapping a footnote region.

• Added the ability to specify ELLIPSIS/CLIP/CUSTOM STRING for text overflow.

• Added support for QuarkXPress cross-references.

• Added a new HTML5 namespace.

Platform XTensions

• Compatibility update:

  • Platform XTensions for QuarkXPress and QuarkCopyDesk features are now compatible with QuarkXPress 2016 and QuarkCopyDesk 2016.

Quark Author Web Edition

New features:

• PowerPoint slides - Added the ability to insert PowerPoint slides into your Smart Documents.

• Visio diagrams - Added the ability to insert Visio diagrams into your Smart Documents.

Usability enhancements:

• Table enhancements:

  • Added support for merging table cells and splitting individual table cells horizontally & vertically, allowing you to create highly complex tables.

  • Issues with multiple cell selection have been corrected, making it easy to delete entire rows or columns, merge two or more cells in a single column and apply paragraph or character styles to multiple cells at one time.

  • Added the ability to copy a subset of table cells and paste them as a new table elsewhere in the document.

• UI enhancement:

  • Added a new highly-configurable, ribbon-based UI to enhance usability.

  • Added support for editing hyperlinks and cross references.

  • Added support for Index term marking, to allow you to build an auto-generated index in your output.

  • Integrated with Wiris Math Equations to edit equations.

  • Added offline support to allow you to edit checked out documents in offline mode. (Only supported by Chrome browsers and requires HTTPS configuration.)

  • Added the ability to promote and demote sections in the document hierarchy and convert sections from one type to another.

  • Added additional keyboard shortcuts.

Quark XML Author for Quark Publishing Platform

• Reviewer workflow has been integrated into Quark XML Author. Quark XML Author documents can now be exported from XML Author and reviewed in Microsoft Word without the need for any additional software.

• Referencing enhancements - add document cross-references, define titles, and set custom formats.

• Hyperlinked image - add interactivity to your content with images that resolve to Web links.

• Page breaks in tables - organize data in longer tables by adding page breaks that impact your print output.

• View final markup - cycle through multiple views of your tracked changes.

• Validation - catch potential content errors before you save, with friendly alert messages.

• Infrastructure upgrade - modernize your deployment with Word 2016. (We no longer support Word 2007.)

• Table performance - open and save documents with lots of complicated tables in almost half the time.

• Save performance - infrastructure changes improve the amount of time it takes to save edited documents by as much as 95%.

• Improved handling of local assets which have the same name as server assets.

Microsoft Office and Quark XML Author Adapters

• New options for diagrams - you can reference visually-rich Visio pages and PowerPoint slides as components in XML Author.

• Usability enhancements for DITA maps - you can now pin component references, create new sections from a map, and configure status-based color shading for topic and map references.

• Save or discard all components - users can enjoy better editing usability by saving or discarding all open components in both BUSDOCS and DITA.

• Word Reviewer for XML Author - enable Platform-based collaboration with Word users without installing extra client software or invalidating your XML Author documents.

• New Visio Adapter - Microsoft Visio users can now create and open files on the Platform server like you can with PowerPoint, Word, and Excel.

Highlighted infrastructure upgrades:

• .NET 4.6.2

• Office 365/Office 2016 support (for both Office and XML Author Adapters)

• 64-bit Microsoft Office support (for Office Adapters only)

• Visual Studio 2015

Deprecations

• Deprecated APIs:

  • QXmlEditor - this API interface is still available in the September Update, but shall not be available in future releases. This API shall be replaced by the new QXmlEditorEx interface. Note that any features required for offline mode are required to use this interface starting with the September 2016 Update.

    The SDK docs (available in the SDK download) for Quark Author Web Edition contain details about specific deprecated APIs.

  • DWR (Dynamic Web Remoting) - this library is still available in the September Update, but shall not be available in future releases.

• Deprecated database version - SQL Server 2008 R2 is still available in the September Update, but shall not be available in future releases because we'll be updating our support to SQL Server 2016.

Quark Publishing Platform Server

Infrastructure upgrades:

• Updated Aspose libraries from 8.7.0.2 to 8.7.1.2.

• Updated Highstock and Highcharts libraries from 4.2.1 to 4.2.3.

• Updated PhantomJS library from 2.0 to 2.1.

QuarkXPress Server

• Added the ability to capture outline numbering in ToC.

• Added the ability to generate ToC under Box Reference under static content.

Microsoft Office and Quark XML Author Adapters

• Added the ability to add a topic reference up to level 6 in Map documents.

• Added support for .xlsb Excel files.

• Added the ability to locate and edit the original Excel file associated to a referred image element.

• Added the Insert Map Reference and Insert Topic Reference ribbon buttons.

Quark Publishing Platform Client

• For macOS, added the ability to export search results with an expanded view so that the attributes that are only applicable at the component level can be  viewed in the exported results.

Quark Publishing Platform Server

Quality improvements:

• Excel charts - improved automated rendering for Excel charts with a focus on supporting a broader range of complex scenarios.

•  Charting service - enhanced static and dynamic chart publishing to print and web for key financial services data.

API enhancements:

•  Standard request parameters - our REST framework now supports the standard JSON format for POST requests, providing better structure for multi-value scenarios.

•  JSON object change - null values no longer appear in JSON responses.

Publishing enhancements:

• Improved the Image Preview Performance by adding the ability to get the JPEG preview as a multipart response, or as a downloadable .zip file.

• Added support to resolve 'https' URIs in publishing.

• Component-based Publishing – the publishing framework now provides parameters for previewing a single section or table rather than previewing the whole document.

  Added the following channel parameters in channels " smartDocJpeg " and " busDocJpeg ":

  • BOX

  • LAYOUT

  • SCALE

  Specifying the id/name of the box using the BOX parameter returns the image of that particular box instead of the whole document. The LAYOUT parameter is required if multiple layouts exist in the template.

  This capability provides a faster preview for a single section or table instead of rendering an entire document preview.

• Chart rendering – to increase the flexibility of rendering charts via our charting service, you can now specify a chart image format during the publishing process. Added the ability to override chart specific parameters during publishing by using the channel parameter CHART_IMAGE_FORMAT which has been added to the following publishing channels:

  • smartDocPdf

  • smartDocJpeg

  • smartDocAppStudio

  • smartDocAppStudioPackage

  • smartDocQxpCheckin

  • busDocPdf

  • busDocJpeg

  • collectBusdocForOutput

  • collectSmartDocForOutput

• Added the channel parameter RESOLVE_QPP_RELATIONS in the following channels:

  • smartDocPdf

  • smartDocJpeg

  • smartDocHtml

  • busDocJpeg

  • busDocPdf

  • busDocQxp

  • busDocQcd

  • busDocAppStudio

Infrastructure upgrades:

• A throttling mechanism has been provided to handle parallel requests being executed by the OfficeService and ChartingService. The throttling properties for these requests can be managed using Jconsole during runtime. The following property files have been added to the conf (server/conf) folder containing various throttling properties:

  • ChartingPool.properties

  • OfficePool.properties

• Aspose (default PDF handling in MS Office) to 8.7.0.2 from 8.5.4.2.

• Highcharts (static and dynamic charting service) to 4.2.1 from 2.1.9.

• PhantomJS (JavaScript library required for Highcharts) to 2.0 from 1.9.8.

QuarkXPress Server

• Publishing support for Region types Box and Callout in PDF/HTML output.

• Publishing support for list item enhancements.

• Added the ability to insert footnotes and endnotes in table cells.

• Added the ability to insert footnotes and endnotes in BOX and CALLOUT regions.

• Extended the behavior of INLINETABLE, INLINEBOX, and CALLOUTANCHORS to add support for the new Regions feature:

  • Added the ability to break tables nested inside a BOX region across pages.

  • Added the ability to place callouts in an BOX region.

  • Ability to place callouts in cells of tables nested in BOX regions.

Platform XTensions

• The user is able to see the number of words and characters for an Article in addition to the number of words and characters at the component level.

Quark Author Web Edition

New features:

• Regions - Ability to add Regions containing block items such as Paragraphs, Figures and Table, and render the content in the Region with different styling in output channels like PDF, AppStudio and HTML.

  Optionally titles can also be added to Regions. Nested Regions are supported and cross-referencing the Region in other parts of the Smart Document is allowed. In addition to the out-of-the box Region types "Box" and "Callout", custom Region types are configurable per the Content type.

• Expanded list structures - you can add multiple Block elements like paragraphs, figures, tables, and regions to individual list items.

• Increased metadata coverage - the new regions and lists both include our full range of metadata functionality, so you may apply relevant information to additional areas within your business-critical content.

Usability enhancements:

• Improved table editing - you can assign a Header Row to a Table while editing existing tables.

• Image insertion- you can insert images from your local file system. After insertion of a local image, the image will be checked in to the server. You can easily change images to a formal figure structure.

• Image conversion - you can convert an Image to a formal Figure structure.

• Table enhancement - added support for adding cross reference to a referenced table having a caption and description (formal table).

• Cross Reference - you can add references with in the document pointing to a Region semantic wrapper.

Quark XML Author for Quark Publishing Platform

Enhanced reliability and Performance:

• Improved table editing performance – working with tables is easier with improved performance for inserting or removing rows and columns, aligning text, making selections, and copy/paste.

• Faster keystroke response – end users will notice a marked performance improvement in the rendering of typed characters in the authoring canvas, moving closer to the native MS Word experience.

• Increased speed when opening or saving documents – documents made from multiple server-based components now open and save in seconds, a 1500% improvement in some cases.

• .NET upgrade – the dependency for .NET 3.5.1 has been removed, enabling the latest features and fixes. This requires any 3.5 level custom EIs to be recompiled at a .NET 4.6 level.

Infrastructure update:

• Initial Arabic support demonstrates right-to-left editing.

Microsoft Office and Quark XML Author Adapters

• New installer – the Windows MSI Installer for Microsoft Office Adapters supports multiple user profiles on a single system and is now shipped in addition to  Quark’s existing installer (which is based on standard Microsoft ClickOnce technology).

• Component usability – referenced components now include additional metadata information and may be edited directly from the XML Author canvas. Added the capability to export components as MS Excel components. For the Excel adapter, added the ability to see a live preview of a component reference.

• Improved component naming – local components can now be named before saving them to the server, with increased options for validating names and ensuring they are unique.

• By default, internal cross references in the same document are excluded from appearing in the Task pane.

• Users can initiate editing a referenced table or chart directly from Quark XML Author.

• Users can open Excel components from the Platform server using an option from the context menu on the Smart Document Pane. The content type of referenced components is shown in the References tab of the Smart Document Pane.

Administrative enhancements:

• Improved configuration distribution – easily push managed updates to your configuration from the Platform server.

• Bulk data loading performance – improved performance when checking-in large numbers of assets by an order of magnitude.

• Added a new sample for the XA adapter - allow you to see a selective preview of just a specific component.

API Enhancements:

• Cancel all checkouts – users may cancel all active checkouts within a single document in one step.

• API enhancements to support easy relocation of existing ribbon buttons.

Quark Publishing Platform Client

• Compatibility with Windows 10.

Quark Publishing Platform Server

User Interface enhancements:

• Added the ability to edit saved searches by right-clicking to display a context menu.

• Added the ability to nest track changes from multiple users.

• Added the ability to configure how User ID's are displayed in the User Activity pane.

Logging/messaging enhancements:

• Added the ability to configure the log4j.xml file to add the User ID and User Name to each logging event.

Publishing enhancements:

• Enhanced the publishing framework debugging support for monitoring individual elapsed time on activities, persistent temp folder collections, and persistent QXPS doc pool collection.

• Added support for passing XSL parameters in Quark publishing channel/activity configurations.

• New publishing channel configuration parameter to accept/reject all tracked changes when publishing.

• Added a new channel parameter TRACKED_CHANGES to provide a provision for accepting or rejecting tracked changes during publishing. Possible values for this parameter are ACCEPT and REJECT.

Infrastructure updates:

• Updated the "Aspose PDF" filter (default PDF handling in MS Office) from 8.4 to 8.5.

• Updated EXT-JS to 4.2.4.

• Updated CKEditor to 4.4.3.

Quark Author Web Edition

• Nested Change Tracking - You can now view and edit a list of all comments and a nested list of tracked changes from all users.

Quark XML Author for Quark Publishing Platform

Usability enhancements:

• Smart Paste and Review Workflow enhancements.

• Dynamic Configuration.

Performance enhancements:

• Table performance improvement.

• Added the ability to visualize table metadata.

Reliability enhancements:

• Windows 10 and Office 365 Certification.

• Arabic support Testing and Readiness Report.

QuarkXPress Server

• Table rows now break across pages by default (this feature is configurable).

• Enhanced TOC building, including TOC support within a callout box.

• Bug fixes related to callout tiling in odd-even pagination patterns.

Microsoft Office and Quark XML Author Adapters

• Office Adapters will be compatible with Office 365.

Infrastructure enhancements:

• Added programmatic indexing support for Office adapters.

• Added the ability to also index document metadata while creating components, including object properties.

Quark Publishing Platform Server

Accessibility and Privilege model enhancements:

• Added support for assigning a role to a group.

• Added support for overriding a role for a group at the collection level.

• Enhanced the current privilege model to determine user privileges based on the union of user and group role assignments.

Directory server integration enhancements:

• Added support for importing groups from directory servers.

• Supports periodic synchronization of imported users and groups.

Messaging enhancements:

• Enhanced asset change messages to reflect changes to configured attributes.

• Added a new message type called ‘Asset Workflow Change’ which publishes old and new attribute values.

Database creation enhancements:

• Supports the creation of platform database objects in an existing Oracle/SQL Server database.

• You may now define a database account and password for creating the database. The system account information is no longer needed. Note that the defined database account and password must not change or expire.

Publishing enhancements:

• The OTB publishing channel now uses QXPS new features.

• Automatic table layouting.

• Added support for specifying Master page sequence through templates.

• Added support for Notes.

• Added new optional channel parameter to specify the removal of the CDATA section.

• Added new optional channel parameter to specify a layout ID.

Other minor changes:

• Added a new content type for the Auxiliary Dictionary.

• Added the new default role, “No Privileges”.

• Added an optional “Aspose PDF” filter.

Quark Author Web Edition

• Ability to show and hide the Add Section option in the Smart Document pane.

• Usability improvements during Save and Close operations.

• Added the ability to add Footnotes and Endnotes to Smart Document. Also added the ability to specify the styling configuration for individual note types.

• Selecting a Footnote or Endnote in the Notes pane also highlights it in the authoring canvas.

• Cross references may be added to Section, Table or Figure structures located in the same Smart Document.

• Drafts are auto-saved as copies, including referenced components. The auto-save is depicted in the status bar.

• Change tracking is now maintained as a state associated with a document during Check in and Check out.

• Previous versions of a document may now be opened in read-only mode.

• When a document is in work by a user and that same document or component is checked-out by another user with higher privileges, the initial user is notified and may save the work in progress as a new document.

• Provided keyboard shortcuts for all editor functions (e.g. CK Editor Plugins, Save, etc…).

• Added a new Close button to close a document after saving the changes done by user, to allow for continued editing later.

• Updated the Smart-Content Schema version to 2.0, added support for Cross-References and Reference Notes and added Automatic Upgrade on load.

WebAdmin

• Added the ability to import groups from the LDAP server.

• Added the ability to associate roles with groups.

Quark XML Author for Quark Publishing Platform

• Attribute indexing may be ignored for attributes with blank or invalid XPath values.

• Added the ability to support the is not equal to (!=) operator in filters.

• Enhanced configuration to export selected range as a Platform asset.

• Excel Integration enhancements.

• Added the ability to apply transforms on Excel Table data.

• Added the ability to multi-select assets in the Reference dialog.

• Added the More Options settings in the Check In dialog as an SDK enhancement.

• Added support for the Macro-Enabled Excel file format (.xlsm), consistent with the Open XML standard.

• Limited searches to PARENT_LOCATION when the relinkOption is set to REPLACE/LINK in the "Quark.CMSAdapters.config" file.

• Added an SDK enhancement which allows hiding the refresh button in a specified task pane tab.

• Exposed the Save as Draft functionality in the user interface.

• Exposed Save options via SDK callbacks to enhance the check-in process.

• Added the ability to save a revision of a new document to the server without saving it locally.

• Added the ability to have a configuration to expand the More Options in the Save dialog.

• Added a new preference setting to specify a default location for Open from Server work flows.

• Added the ability to support an XSL transform to capture indexed attribute values.

• Added auto-close behavior to the content validation dialog when document content is valid according to configured rules.

WebHub

• Added the ability to honor accessibility and privileges of the logged-on user based on the new group model.

• Added the ability to associate groups to a collection.

• Added feature which shows user group assignments in the Routed To and Auto Routing fields.

Quark Publishing Platform Client

• Added support for a Group's Role Functionality in Platform Client in the following ways:

  • Added the ability to assign privileges based on group roles.

  • Added the ability to assign assets to groups based on the roles.

  • Added the ability to support group assignments in assignment searches.

  • Added the ability for group members to view a collection.

  • Added the ability to assign group roles in a collection.

Platform XTensions

• Added Articles option for duplicate Layout spaces.

• Added retention of project template attributes for new projects.

• Added macOS keyboard shortcut integration with Platform XTensions.

• Integrated auxiliary dictionary with Quark Publishing Platform.