QuarkXPress How-To: Creating PDF Files

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This story is taken from “Real World QuarkXPress 6.”

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That PDF is an important format for print production is now an accepted fact. But until recently, QuarkXPress — the dominant page-layout application — had no built-in support for PDF. You had to launch Acrobat Distiller to create PDF files of your QuarkXPress layout — certainly not a hardship, but a bit of a nuisance nonetheless.

While you can still make PDF files that way, it’s no longer necessary in QuarkXPress 6. That’s because Quark licensed Global Graphics’ Jaws technology — a PDF “clone, if you will — that allows you to export your layouts as PDFs directly from within QuarkXPress.

In this excerpt from “Real World QuarkXPress 6,” David Blatner explains the three main methods of making PDF files from QuarkXPress. If you produce print projects in QuarkXPress, you won’t want to miss this one.

We’ve posted this excerpt as a PDF file. All you do is click this link “Acrobat PDF Files” to open the PDF file in your Web browser. You can also download the PDF to your machine for later viewing.

To open the PDF, you’ll need a full version of Adobe Acrobat (4 or higher) or the Adobe Reader, which you can download here:

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To learn how to configure your browser for viewing PDF files, see the Adobe Reader tech support page.

Excerpted from “Real World QuarkXPress 6” © 2004 David Blatner. Reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Peachpit Press. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

David Blatner is the co-founder of the Creative Publishing Network, InDesign Magazine, CreativePro Magazine, and the author or co-author of 15 books, including Real World InDesign. His InDesign videos at LinkedIn Learning (Lynda.com) are among the most watched InDesign training in the world.
You can find more about David at 63p.com

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  • anonymous says:

    If you REALLY want to create PDFs get Adobe InDesign CS.

  • anonymous says:

    All fine and dandy but my experience is that the files are not good enough for professional printing. Also you have to have a laser printer driver installed.
    I have tried to download them and have done it for the PC but not Mac. any ideas?

  • anonymous says:

    I have new computer and much to be installed yet. Did install QuarkXpress 6 but need to work it out. I had a request to send a brochure I created ASAP and tried to do it as a PDF. I could send it easily enough but all the graphic elements were reduced incorrectly and I could not understand from David Blatner’s explanation what or why it went wrong. I need to install Adobe’s CS Suite and try it again I guess.

  • Anonymous says:

    When I export my files for print they do not come out with the settings in my Distiller setup, files with PDF/X-1a:2001 compliant which I selected and set up for pdfs setting.

    And when I make files through the printer way they take a very long time to produce,
    a one color book that is 140 pages could take over a half hour to print as a PDF.
    What could be slowing it up?

  • Anonymous says:

    I use this when touching up images of lingerie models for a lingerie retailer.

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