Running QuarkConverter
To run QuarkConverter, click the QuarkConverter menu at the top of your screen in Microsoft Word. Then click “QuarkConverter.”
QuarkConverter will ask which documents you would like it to work on:
1. The active document.
2. All open documents.
3. All documents in a folder.
Choose the option that fits your needs.
Converting All Documents in a Folder
If you need to convert all documents in a folder, first copy them to a working folder called something like “Copy.” That will leave your original files intact in case you need something to go back to, if necessary. Also, make sure only the files you want to convert are in the Copy folder. Then you won't inadvertently convert, say, some press-ready files that you have spent many hours editing and formatting. Show all files to be sure.
In addition, make sure none of the files is protected or read only. QuarkConverter converts your files and then saves them. If the files are protected or read only, QuarkConverter will not work. You may also run into problems if your files need to be converted into Microsoft Word from a different word-processing format. Please make sure all of your files are in Microsoft Word format before running the program.
If you select the option to convert all the documents in a folder, QuarkConverter presents a dialog box that allows you to select the folder to which you have copied the documents to be converted (leaving your original documents safe in their original folder). After you have carefully selected the Copy folder (don’t get the wrong one!), click the OK button or press ENTER to continue.
Selecting the QuarkConverter Options
After you’ve selected the documents you want to convert, QuarkConverter presents you with options about how you want them converted.
First, it asks you to select the operating system under which you will be using QuarkXPress:
1. QuarkXPress for Macintosh.
2. QuarkXPress for Windows.
Second, it asks you to select certain conversion options (I recommend using all of these unless you have a good reason not to):
1. Tag paragraph styles, either on each paragraph or on each change of style.
2. Tag character styles (with the option to include or exclude character styles named Italic, Bold, Bold Italic, Underline, Strikethrough, Superscript, Subscript, Small Caps, All Caps, and Hidden, which some people use instead of Word’s built-in character formatting [bold, italic, etc.]). Please note that if you use this option, character formatting (such as italic) applied on top of a character style will be lost.
3. Tag character formatting (including bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, superscript, subscript, and raised 3 points). Here you have the option to tag superscript as superior (with the <V> tag) or as superscript (with the <+> tag). Please note that whichever option you choose, formatting raised 3 points will be tagged with the opposite tag (<+> or <V>). Many typesetters prefer the first option, as the second may interfere with leading in QuarkXPress.
4. Tag special characters (such as dashes, quotation marks, and accented characters).
5. Break hyphenated words only after hyphen.
6. Break words joined by em dash only after em dash.
7. Prevent bad breaks on certain words.
8. Prevent breaks on last word of paragraphs.
9. Make ellipses nonbreaking.
10. Convert index entries.
If you decide to tag special characters (which you should), QuarkConverter will include angle brackets as some of those characters. If you already have XPress Tags in your document, that’s a problem because they start and end with angle brackets. You can get around this by formatting your existing XPress Tags in a color: red, green, blue, cyan, yellow, or magenta. Then QuarkConverter will know that they are XPress Tags and won’t tag them as angle brackets—as long as you tell QuarkConverter to preserve existing XPress Tags in the color you’ve used. This option also preserves colored, straight (uncurly) quotation marks, which are sometimes used in XPress Tags.
There’s an easy way to color existing XPress Tags and the information inside them:
1. Click “Edit > Replace” to bring up the Replace dialog.
2. Enter \<*\> in the Find What box.
3. Enter ^& in the Replace With box.
4. With your cursor still in the Replace With box, click the “Format” button (you may need to click the “More” button before this is available).
5. Click “Font.”
6. Click the color you want to use (red, green, blue, cyan, yellow, or magenta).
7. Click “OK.”
8. Put a check in the box labeled “Use Wildcards” or “Use Pattern Matching.”
9. Click “Replace All” to mark everything in angle brackets in the color you selected. If you want to pick and choose which bracketed material to color, click the “Find Next” button and then the “Replace” button as needed.
After you’ve selected the QuarkConverter options you want to use, click “OK.” (If you don’t select any options, QuarkConverter won’t convert your document for QuarkXPress.) The documents will be converted based on your options and saved to their original folders as text files with the extension .xtg.