Quark Forums

It seems to be the 'done' thing nowadays for designers to lock most, if not all, items in their Quark documents before sending them for printing. Whether they think it makes their jobs safer I don't know, but it makes it awkward for me when I have to edit them later. So is there an extension available that will either unlock all items on a page, or throughout an entire document?

 What if there are used different layers (or just a single one)? You can block a whole layer with a single click.

HTH

I would simply run an AppleScript that'd unlock all locked items.

That would be perfect, but I've never really explored AppleScript. Would you write one for me Jean-Marie? I'd be very grateful!

max.peter:

What if there are used different layers (or just a single one)? You can block a whole layer with a single click.

HTH

Unfortunately, no, the documents are usually only one layer, and some items are locked and some are not.

Hi britsmith,

how about Command+A and F6 (per spread)?

Regards
Matthias

Hi britsmith,

no, it doesn't. Then you need to a second click (for unlock content).

Out of curiosity, do you have any insight why they do that?

Thanks
Matthias

britsmith:

That would be perfect, but I've never really explored AppleScript. Would you write one for me Jean-Marie? I'd be very grateful!

OK so there you go:

Let me know if it does the trick. (Note: depending on the complexity of your doc, it might take a while. It's unpredictable "from here". After the script is done it beeps twice so you know when it's finished.)

Matthias Guenther (Quark):

Out of curiosity, do you have any insight why they do that?

I have no idea, and cannot contact the designers because these files come to me via an intermediate agency. I have the same trouble with InDesign files too, so maybe a design college somewhere is advocating the practice.

Jean-Marie Schwartz:

OK so there you go:

tell application "QuarkXPress"
activate
tell document 1
try
set locked of (every generic box whose locked is true) to false
end try
end tell
end tell

beep 2

Let me know if it does the trick. (Note: depending on the complexity of your doc, it might take a while. It's unpredictable "from here". After the script is done it beeps twice so you know when it's finished.)

Thanks Jean-Marie, it looks so easy when you know how! I will try it and let you know.

 Hi guys, I've tested your suggested methods ...

Jean-Marie, the script works only to unlock picture box Positions, it doesn't unlock the contents. Is there a way to make it do both?

Matthias, the F6 command similarly only works on picture box Position, not the content. Is there another command to unlock content? Also if a box is not locked, F6 will lock it, which is no good.

Thanks for you help so far.

Sorry! You should add those two lines after the similar one in the code you got yesterday.

set content lock of (every image whose content lock is true) to false
set content lock of (every story whose content lock is true) to false

No time to test that right now. Please report any trouble. HTH.

 Thanks Jean-Marie, I've tested it, and Applescript accepts the syntax OK (with your corrected spelling of 'iamge'), but it still doesn't work. Text areas highlight momentarily, but remain locked, as do pictures. It would be great if you could crack this for me and my colleagues.

Sorry! I've tried it too and no way. That's very odd cause if I run "get content lock of story 1" it returns true. But I can't seem to set it to false as it's supposed to accept. I'll try to play with it and to get it work but it might take me a while. Unless Michel is around and knows the trick to get it run! Stay tuned!