Smart Content Designer User Guide

Import a Reference Document in QuarkXPress 

There are two ways you can import a reference document to QuarkXPress:

• Create a blank project with the same page dimension as the reference document and then import the reference document pages one by one (recommended for small documents with different page layouts)

• Directly import the reference document as a QuarkXPress project (recommended for large documents with same/similar page layouts)

To import the reference document into a blank QuarkXPress project: 

1. Capture the dimension of the reference document.

   For example, you can capture the page dimension of a PDF file in Adobe Acrobat Reader through the Document Properties dialog, which you can invoke via right-clicking on the document. 

2. In QuarkXPress, select File > New > Project to open the New Project dialog.

   

3. In the New Project dialog, set the page size (height and width) as of the reference document and then select Ok to create a blank project. 

   

   Make sure to select the Automatic Text Box checkbox. Automatic text boxes allow you to flow the content of your source document from one box to another within and across pages. More on this in the sections Create Master Pages and Box-tagging.

4. Right click on the blank project and then select the option Import in the context menu to open the Import dialog.

5. In the Import dialog, select the file you want to import, select the page in the file you want to import, and then select the button Open. 

   

To directly import the reference document as a QuarkXPress project:

1. From the header ribbon bar, select File and then select Open (to import from a local machine) or Open from Server (to import from the server). 

   

2. In the file browser dialog (Open or Open from Server), select the file you want to import and then select the button Open to open the dialog box Options in which you can do a few settings related to your import.

3. In the dialog box Options, you can do the following settings: 

   1. Select the pages of the reference document you want to import.

   2. Choose a bounding box option.

   3. Decide the positioning of the pages (for example, allow odd pages to paper on the left)

   4. Preview the pages before importing

      

4. Select the button Ok on the dialog box Options to import the document.

Convert Foreign Elements to Native Objects 

When you import a reference document (PDF or EPS), QuarkXPress does not automatically recognize the elements such as text, images, icons, and so on. To make QuarkXPress understand these elements and to be able to edit them, you have to convert these unrecognized foreign elements into native QuarkXPress objects. 

To convert foreign elements into native QuarkXPress objects:

1. Go to the page whose elements you want to convert. 

2. Right-click anywhere on the page and in the context menu, select the option Convert to Native Objects. 

   

Merge Text Boxes

By default, QuarkXPress captures each line of a paragraph as separate elements. To put them back together: 

1. Select all the lines of a paragraph by holding the key Shift on the keyboard.

2. Right-click over the selected lines, and then select Merge Text Boxes > Top Down in the context menu. 

The option Top Down in the Merge Text Boxes context menu option merges the lines of a paragraph in order. If you want a different order, you can select the lines in that order and then select the option Selection Order instead.

Capture Styles of the Reference Document Elements

When you convert foreign elements into native QuarkXPress objects, QuarkXPress also imports the images and styles of the elements (text, images, boxes, and so on) in your QuarkXPress project. You can capture and use these styles as they are or you can modify these styles based on your requirements.

For a text-based document, you primarily have to capture or manage the following two styles to cover the most important styling aspects of the text elements:

• Character Style: The styles related to the font, size, color, shade, opacity, and so on of the characters in a paragraph or heading.

• Paragraph Style: The styles related to the alignment, spacing, indent, columns flow, and so on of a paragraph or text box.

  QuarkXPress does not capture paragraph styles of the elements converted to native objects from an imported PDF. To apply a paragraph style, first, capture the character style of the text, create a new paragraph style, and then use the captured character style in the paragraph style.

For media-based documents, you may have to capture additional styles such as item styles, and some element-specific styles such as table styles, footnote styles, callout styles, and so on.

To capture or modify the paragraph and character styles of an element:

1. From the header ribbon bar, select Windows and then select Style Sheets, or use the keyboard shortcut F11 (both Mac and Windows) to open the Style Sheets palette.

   

2. Select an element in your reference document, and then:

   1. To capture and modify the character style, select the icon  in the Style Sheets palette to open the Edit Character Style Sheet dialog, modify the character styles within the dialog, name your style, and then select the button Ok.

      

   2. To modify the paragraph style, select the icon  in the Style Sheets palette to open the Edit Paragraph Style Sheet dialog, select the Character Style applied to the selected element, modify the paragraph styles within the dialog, name your style, and then select the button Ok.

      

      For more information on Paragraph and Character style sheets, see QuarkXPress User Guide.

3. After you have saved a paragraph or a character style, QuarkXPress lists the style in the Style Sheets palette.