Markzware is know for it’s invention of preflighting and of course the stand-alone application FlightCheck Professional. Markzware is also very popular for our easy-to-use desktop publishing conversion Plugins, XTensions and applications. Here is a small overview:

Q2ID – QuarkXPress to Adobe InDesign – 199 – Macintosh/Windows
A great Plug-in for any Adobe InDesign user. With one click, open your QuarkXPress documents right within Adobe InDesign; the complete layout, ready to edit and use! Adobe CS4 Plugin or CS3.

ID2Q - InDesign to Quark XTension – 199 – Macintosh/Windows
A great tool for any QuarkXPress users, as there is a growing number of InDesign files. With one click, open your InDesign documents right within Quark; the complete layout, ready to edit and use!

PUB2ID – Microsoft Publisher to Adobe InDesign – 199  – Macintosh/Windows
A CS3 or CS4 plugin which makes getting MSPub files into InDesign simple as can be!

MarkzTools 8 – Recovers bad Quark files – 199 – Macintosh
An XTension QuarkXPress 8 (Quark 7 version also available.) which can keep your files in good order, allow you to down-save to a lower version and can most amazingly fix or recover bad or corrupted Quark files, most of the time!  Read more... (347 words, 1 image, estimated 1:23 mins reading time)

Every once in a while, we hear people looking for, Adobe Publisher! Now we know they really mean Microsoft Publisher or wait, did they mean Adobe InDesign? Nine times out of ten though it is someone who needs Publisher to InDesign conversion to get an indd file and are looking for the InDesign Plugin, PUB2ID (Mac or Win; $199) from Markzware.

Since this just happened today and it’s Friday, I thought it as good as any time to share this little tidbit of page layout information. You can try an InDesign demo by clicking here and a Microsoft Publisher demo by clicking here. No matter which you end up using, an InDesign file extension or MSPUB, we are here to help you free your content!

“Content is free. Formats are not” is the article’s title from cnet. Now, this strays away from purely printing, although content in the digital printing world and certainly the publishing sector faces a similar fate:

“Content may be free, but the format in which we buy it certainly is not. As Apple, Google, Red Hat, and others increasingly demonstrate, consumers and enterprises are happy to pay for “free” when packaged in convenient formats that add value to digital goods.
….
All of these (re)purchases strike me that the media world may have problems, but they are mostly of discovering convenient formats in which to deliver content. Formats that suggest, and sometimes demand, payment.”
….
Good content is a necessary precondition to getting paid, but it’s not going to be reason we pay anymore. That reason for payment is the format in which the content is delivered.
Perhaps it’s always been that way, but the physicality of the delivery mechanisms confused us: we were buying the paper but thought we were buying the news.”
Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10369471-16.html  Read more... (348 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

Email Tuesdays. Here was a good question, which we often get for our Quark to InDesign Adobe Plugin, Q2ID:

On Aug 31, 2009, at 7:00 PM, Xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxco.uk wrote:

=======================================================

Question::
Hello, I am currently considering buying Q2ID but I need to know if it will convert Multiple Language Quark Documents. I look forward to your reply.
Thanks James.

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Hello James,

Yes indeed, Q2ID will convert multiple language files (good question though, we get asked that often.). We only have some issue with 2-byte character languages (Chinese, Arabic, etc), but even then, the layout converts fine. So yes, Q2ID will open any western language document and convert the entire design layout for you with one click! (As will Publisher to InDesign- PUB2ID and ID2Q or InDesign to Quark, the  other way around, btw.)
See:
http://www.markzware.com/q2id

Cc’ed is our partner in the UK whom can assist with your order or any other questions, XChnage International.

Friendly Regards,
David Dilling
Markzware Europe

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FlightCheck v6.5 with CS4 and QuarkXPress 8 support – NOW SHIPPING!
http://www.markzware.com/flightcheck_professional  Read more... (268 words, estimated 1:04 mins reading time)

“It’s features like that in all their programs that make Markzware one of my favorite go-to companies for problem solving programs, Xtensions and Plug-ins.”
Here was a very nice product testimonial we got submitted through the web site last night. It was such a great Markzware customer review, that I felt obligated to share it in full…

August 27, 2009 3:17:33 AM GMT+02:00
Name: Roy Behymer
Company: IPC Graphics
Country: USA
Website: www.ipcstl.com

Testimonial:
I have used many Markzware products over the years: Flightcheck Designer; Pub2ID; Q2ID; Markztools; Pict Attributes XT; PM2Q. There’s a reason I keep coming back and why I’ve purchased and recommended so many of their products, they simply work, which helps to make my work more simple. Even as we’ve progressed from one design program to another, dropping some along the way, Markzware’s products have always helped us, no matter which professional design program we use. Even their discontinued products are still useful for us. PM2Q still allows us to extract embedded files at full resolution from legacy PageMaker files when InDesign’s built-in conversion of PageMaker results in low resolution embedded files. It’s features like that in all their programs that make Markzware one of my favorite go-to companies for problem solving programs, Xtensions and Plug-ins.  Read more... (397 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Contact:
Mary Gay Marchese
949-756-5100, ext. 250
pr@markzware.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Markzware Announces A New Updater v2.10 For PUB2ID
Easily Convert Microsoft Publisher Documents To Adobe InDesign Conversion Software, *FREE Download Now Available

SANTA ANA, California – July 16, 2009 –  Markzware (www.markzware.com), the leading software developer and inventor of preflight has released an upgrade to its popular conversion solution PUB2ID v2.10, today. PUB2ID (Microsoft Publisher to Adobe InDesign) is an Adobe plug-in for InDesign. It provides a quick, easy and affordable method for users to convert Microsoft Publisher content into new Adobe InDesign documents that preserve content, as well as the styles and formatting.

The Adobe InDesign user simply clicks on “File” in the toolbar, then “Open,” and selects the appropriate Microsoft Publisher file for conversion.  This simple two-step process initiates the conversion and opens the document in Adobe InDesign, saving graphic artists, printing and publishing professionals countless hours that would otherwise be spent recreating the document from the ground up.

This PUB2ID update provides the following enhancements:
• Grouped items in Publisher remain grouped in InDesign
• Text wrap around an image works more consistently
• Image scaling issues are resolved preserving the original scaling in InDesign
•.Pantone names are preserved as are custom RGB and CMYK values and tint values  Read more... (381 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

It is nearly impossible to make a truly standard, yet open (i.e., allowing many and any customers in) design-to-print workflow; but their are standard tools, tips and tactics to make things flow properly. Here was a great post on the PrintPlanet forum asking for preflight, prepress and general workflow help. It reads:

Basic Workflow Standardization
“I am a print shop manager in an in-plant. One of my biggest problems is fonts. Most of the documents I get are from Word or uneducated Publisher users. Some other problems are users creating a two-color jobs in CMYK and black text not being pure black. Currently we handle everything we get on an individual basis, but it is getting completely out of hand. I need to start putting in place some systems to handle some of these problems

Is there a easy way to convert documents to pdf with the correct specifications before I get them? For example is there a pdf print driver that I can put on my web site or push out to everyone on my network that it will create a pdf to my specifications so I do not have to worry about fonts or poor resolution? If so how much does something like that cost?  Read more... (373 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

We are working hard on new features and functions for our preflight and conversion software and as such, are always glad to share other customer experiences, including with QXP, Adobe InDesign CS3 and Adobe InDesign CS4 (preflight a file without InDesign missing quality control checkpoints). You can also convert QuarkXPress to Adobe InDesign and move content with the Q2ID plug in in InDesign.  Markzware has a nice growing list of video testimonials and also a page with customer quotes. We have taken some of the more interesting ones and highlighted them in this video:

Hi, I’m Khristyl Clerigo and I’m going to show you some of the most interesting Markzware product testimonials.

Let us hear what Shellie L. Hall of Ducktype Digital and Get Creative News has to say about FlightCheck Professional.

As a prepress professional I have spend many hours going through customers’ digital files one by one, checking for everything from fonts, to page size and image resolution to make sure the files would print correctly on press.  Read more... (671 words, estimated 2:41 mins reading time)

Take advantage of Markzware Summer Special and save $200. You can choose of one our award winning conversion solutions for a FREE  Q2ID, PUB2ID and ID2Q. with the purchase of FlightCheck Professional.

Here are some testimonials on how these document conversions tools have helped to save the day:  Read more... (354 words, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

Live Preflight from InDesign, PitStop or FlightCheck?

Markzware April 2009 News

Contents:

• * MarkzTools 8 – now shipping!
• * PUB2ID v4 (MSPublisher to InDesign) conversion tool ships!
• * New Q2ID (Quark to InDesign) and ID2Q (InDesign to Quark) videos!
• * “In flight, preflight, and post flight” by Print & Paper Monthly
• * Cannot Open InDesign- always crashing: What can I do?
• * Markzware Support Videos
• * S P E C I A L  – QuarkXPress 8 – Upgrade from any version AND get ID2Q FREE!

Spring is in the air and with that warm thought we bring you this fresh Markzware newsletter for April 2009! If you would like to order or have questions, comments or feedback, please reply to this email or contact us today.

Friendly Regards,
David Dilling
Markzware b.v. Europe
http://www.markzware.com

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MarkzTools 8 XT now shipping!
Fix corrupted or damaged QuarkXPress 8 (or lower) projects.
Markzware releases the latest version of MarkzTools, version 8. This XTension will work within QuarkXPress 8 or 7 and amongst other features, can attempt to repair or salvage your crashing or damaged QuarkXPress files. See:
http://markzware.com/markztools  Read more... (573 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)