A Test of QuarkXPress 7 PDF Export

QuarkXPress’ capability to export a layout to PDF is notorious for being flawed. I put QuarkXPress 7 to the test and, to my surprise, it passed.

Back at the time of QuarkXPress 4, the only way to make a PDF with that layout application was through the use of Adobe Acrobat Distiller. With QuarkXPress 5 and 6, the option of exporting PDFs without the use of third party applications was added, however the results were poor and I found myself spending more time battling the program to create PDFs in the first place, rather than looking for prepress issues after the files were created. With version 7 of QuarkXPress, I could create PDFs without the hair ripping step. That’s very useful for people who like me have got long hair.

Comparing version 6.5 to 7

First I want to show you the differences between the PDF Options windows of QuarkXPress 6.5 and 7. Aside from the cosmetic change, version 7 has also additional functions, such as JDF Jackets.

QuarkXPress 6′s PDF Options window. Click on the picture to see the enlarged version

QuarkXPress 7′s PDF Options window. Click on the picture to see the enlarged version

As a sidenote, I have saved down the file I created in QuarkXPress 7 to version 6, in order to show you the two different PDF Options windows. You can see the difference between the file opened in version 6 and the one opened in version 7 in the illustrations below. QuarkXPress 6 doesn’t see the area that contains drop shadows and transparency effects, which have been introduced only in version 7.

A QuarkXPress file saved down to version 6 from version 7. Transparency and drop shadows present in the original file are not supported

The original QuarkXPress 7 file with trnsparency and drop shadow

Creating a press-ready PDF

When I created the PDF from the QuarkXPress file, I have used the settings suitable for CMYK offset printing. With previous versions of QuarkXPress, I would often get unexpected errors when creating PDFs, but with version 7 I had no problems at all.

When I created the test file with QuarkXPress, I have placed a transparent shape on top of another, in addition to a text element with a drop shadow. This often results in problems at RIP stage.

The settings I used to create the PDF were:

• Verification against PDF/X 1a standard
• Resolution of the graphics at 300 ppi
• Colour mode: Composite CMYK
• I included all fonts (in this example I have only used Century Gothic). QuarkXPress 7 didn’t give me the choice of whether I wanted to subset the fonts, but it only let me choose which fonts I wanted to include.
• I set the bleed to 3 mm (the standard for European presses) and I have added the printer’s marks. Note that QuarkXPress does not let you choose which printer marks to add to your PDF and does not include colour bars, while InDesign does.

QuarkXPress created the PDF with no problems. I then ran the PDF through Adobe Acrobat 7′s preflight tool using the Magazine Ad, PDF/X 1a 2001, PDF/X 1a 2003 and the Sheetfed Offset (CMYK) profiles and no problems were found. The transparency and drop shadow were properly flattened with no trouble.

I created another PDF, this time I made it using QuarkXPress 7′s option to make the file PDF/X 3 compliant. This time when I ran the file through Acrobat’s Preflight tool against the same profiles, I got the error: “PDF/X label missing or incorrect”.

This is the magzine ad that I have designed to suit the demonstration purposes of this article

The Verdict

These tests were done using the public beta version of QuarkXPress 7, the final release might still have changes. Having said that QuarkXPress’ ability to create PDFs has much improved with version 7, but it is not perfect. PDF files created with QuarkXPress are definitely more reliable.

Even though this is not related to making PDFs, while I was testing I noticed that QuarkXPress 7 Beta cannot import PSD files. I have not tried to use QuarkXPress 6′s PSD Import XTension with version 7 to see if this problem persists, but I believe that Quark will fix this problem with the final release of the of their layout application.