Quark Forums

I use Quark 6.5.2 for our newsletter and when I  send it to the printer they want a font file so that they will use the exact same fonts when printing the newsletter.

 1)  Is it necessary to have a separate folder for the fonts I use in Quark to give to the printer? 

 2)  Does Quark automatically provide the fonts used in the file I sent to the printer?

If the answer to 1 is yes or the answer to 2 is no how do I establish a path for Quark to the folder I am sending to the printer? I can see the path in the USAGE tool but how do I change it to the font folder I am giving the printer?

 This is not a font question but a path question.  How do I specify the path for pictures?  When I start a new newsletter Quark will use the old file for pictures or graphics that don't change from issue to issue.  Once again I have to give the printer a file of pictures that I am using.  I usually hide the old folder and crreat a new one that Quark can find.  Can't I just change the path?

Thank you in advance for any help.  I have been dealing with these problems for years.

 Ben

Ben.

1. No. Not neccessary. Both Windows and Mac OS store fonts used by programs in hardcoded font locations. Because of that many designers use Font Managers (Suictcase Fusion, Font Reserve, etc) to allow them to organize fonts better. But you don't have to keep a separate folder for that. In fact, if you pull fonts out of the standard font folders the system will probably not recognize them anymore.

2. No. It does not. But, it provides the user with a MANUAL way to to this. It's called Collect for Output and it's in the File menu. XPress 6.x is the first version though to actually allow you to collect fonts. Before version 6.x, XPress would collect images only and you needed something like Flightcheck to have fonts collected.

Some other notes here. Whatever paths you can see, either to fonts or images is irrelevant to your printer. Your fonts and images will be going on their computers, stored in their folder structure so it doesn't matter how you link to an image or a font (even if you could link to a font, which you can't) because it is going to change anyway.

It is your printer's responsibility to make sure everything is good to go when they print. The only thing you are responsible for is providing the images and the fonts. And you can do that using the aforementioned Collect for Output.

If there are images that you will be using issue to issue, I'd suggest creating a folder specifically for those images. They aren't going to change issue to issue so why aggravate yourself by having to relink to them when you can keep them in a folder separate from new images?

As of version 7.x QuarkXPress can now see images that are one folder down from the folder the document is stored in. Unless you upgrade to 7.x or newer you will continue to suffer having to relink images anytime you move a folder that is more than one level deep from the one the document is stored in.

 Hope something here helps. 

 Erik,

 Thank you for your fast response.  You have answered most of my questions and helped me a great deal.  I wasn't clear about the "printer".  It isn't my printer in my office but a commercial printing company that prints my newsletter.  They want a file of the fonts that I use along with a file for all the pictures and artwork.  I give them a raw Quark document and not a pdf file.

 I see from your answer that I cannot make a "path" in Quark to the fonts that I use or the pictures.  At least now I can give up trying to do something impossible.  I have discovered that I can see the path via the Usage command and change the font selected by the substitution command so I can make sure that the fonts that I am using are identified and thus I can copy them into a file for my commercial printer.

 The same is true for my artwork and pictures.  I need to make sure that the file I give the commerical printer is linked to the pictures in the Quark document.

For each issue of my newsletter I have a unique folder including the Quark document and all the fonts and images.  That is why I am having the linking problem.  When I copy the font file to the next newsletter folder Quark still links to the older file.

 I have Mac with 10.5 and I understand from other comments that I have found on the internet that there are some compatability issues between Quark 6.52 and Mac 10.5.  One of the issues might be "Collect for Output".  I receive a message that it wants to save my file first.  The only option is to agree.  I then receive an error message that the file has already been saved in that location, which it isn't since I gave it a new name.  Im seriously considering changing to Quark 7.x.

 Thanks again for your help.

Ben

Hi again Ben. Yes, Usage is where you reestablish links if they are missing. If there are no links showing as missing for your images then Collect for Output will know where to get your images and also your fonts.

Collect for Output has pretty much always asked the first question you mentioned. What you want to do though is save to an entirely different location then where the document is now currently. Most people create a temporary folder on their desktop and tell XPress to Collect for Output in that folder. XPress is usually pretty unhappy when you try to Collect for Output to the same folder you have the original document in. That's not a conflict with Leopard. In any case, yes, version 7.x functions better on Leopard than 6.x does.

Perhaps I should explain what happens when you collect for Output. After you have made your selections as to what you are wanting to collect and save the file in the temporary folder, XPress will then create two folders in the temp folder called Fonts and Pictures. It will then go and place all the fonts used in the document in the fonts folder and all the Pictures used in the document in the Pictures folder. It will then establish links to the images to the Pictures folder. Don't worry. XPress does not move ANY files. It simply COPYS the files, so your original font file and picture files will be left where they are. You then give that entire temporary folder to your printer.

Thanks for clarifying about what kind of printer you meant. I had guessed that that was what you meant.

Hope that makes it a little clearer. 

 Thanks Erik for all of your help.  I sure do appreciate it.  I now feel that I am in control of my document and can make sure that my commercial printer gets the correct information.

 Thanks again,

Ben

You're welcome Ben. Anytime.